Leg Grazes

[JohnF]

Peggy grazed her lower back leg at the weekend after jumping out of the car before I had the mat ready. Yhe vet says the 2" scrape wasn't full thickness and so antibiotics for the next few days are needed and also a little girl's sock with the toe cut off for when I'm not watching her. I'm doing my best not to let her off leash and that's OK in the park, but not so easy in the garden.Grazed leg pic

 

I thought her tail problems last year were bad enough, so how would you manage something like this, and what would help to keep the sock on with the leg being so mobile and shape-changing?

[Guest KennelMom]

The vet gave you antibiotics for that? Seems like overkill.

 

How would I manage that? I probably wouldn't do anything at all...it should heal fine on it's own. If the dog is obsessing and licking it, then I'd probably put a 2x2 sterile nonstick pad with vet wrap around it for while I'm gone, but leave it open to the air as much as possible. I wouldn't restrict activity for a scrape.

Edited June 15, 2011 by KennelMom

[OwnedBySummer]

Unless that picture isn't doing justice to the scrape... I wouldn't give antibiotics for that and I wouldn't restrict her activity for longer than a day (one day should put a bit of a protective scab onto it). I'd just spray it now and again with colloidal silver or an EMT spray.

[TheFullHouse]

To be honest, if it were one of mine, I'd just leave it alone. Mine probably wouldn't even get antibiotics for a scrape. It should heal up just fine, whether she licks it or not.

[Guest BrianRke]

I've got this pink horse cream that works great for scrapes like that. It doesnt look that serious to me. There is no really good way to keep a sock on her leg.

[Remolacha]

I have to agree, unless it is a lot worse than it looks in that picture, I would probably put on some AB cream, or spray on it on day one, and leave it alone after that, although I'd keep an eye on it to make sure it was healing ok.

[Guest iconsmum]

antibiotics...really? I would have sprayed it with colloidal silver and let it go...m/be a soft collar to keep her from bugging it IF she bugged it, but gosh..

[Guest Stripeyfan]

A few weeks ago Kelly tried to mount our friend's grey bitch out in our garden (he's been 'done' but obviously got a little overexcited!). She turned round and growled at him, and next thing I know there's a huge shriek from behind me and when I turned round... dog in the pond!

 

I didn't realise until later on, when he started licking his legs, that he'd scraped himself up pretty good on the rockery around the pond - the cuts weren't as long as Peggy's but he'd taken the fur off and they were bleeding slightly. I cleaned them up with cotton wool and some tea tree shampoo, and put on some liverine skin unction. It's like pink vaseline - amazon.co.uk sell it here. Stopping him from licking the cuts was IMPOSSIBLE but they healed up pretty quickly nonetheless. I didn't wrap them and didn't restrict activity as he wasn't limping.

 

Couldn't resist a look at your other photos of Peggy... she's very pretty! Hope her leg is better soon.

[Guest sheila]

This is what I made to cover a leg wound in an awkward place. It's a sleeve that has elastic around the top to hold it over the *knee* and a slit up the side that I put velcro on. I lined it with a self adhesive woman's panty liner as a way of absorbing any fluid and it also worked as an extra barrier to deter licking. What I liked about it is that it left the wound open to air while also keeping the area clean. This is the *unfinished* prototype because I wanted to see how it would work before I did the finish work.

There are many topicals you can use such as the ones suggested already. I have had good experiences using Bach Rescue Remedy Cream.

[Sambuca]

I personally wouldn't do anything for that scrape except maybe clean it when it first happened.

 

As for covering weird places, I like k9 voyager boots.

[kjw]

If licking is going on, we use something similar to Sheila's contraption, but not as nicely finished as hers lol. An old cotton sock, held on with vet wrap above the joint, and with the toes cut off to ensure good ventilation. That's only if the dog's a licker. Otherwise, a spritz of CS and leave it..

 

Hope her leg heals up nicely!