Need Advice Re Cut Foot

[Guest Travelover]

So my five year old girl was spinning circles and cut a pad on her rear foot. I dutifully took her to the vet who stitched it up and gave her some pain pills and antibiotics. After I took off the vet's bandage I only take her out to pee on a leash(no long walks). I keep the foot covered with a plastic baggie inside a nylon booty made for sled dogs when outside. Alas, the stitches are already pulled out. My girl is rambunctious and likes to scratch the ground after she pees and rares up when she sees a deer or rabbit.

 

So, I feel like if it is stitched again we'll just have a repeat. On the other hand, after a week there is little healing, though no infection. I tried re-bandaging it, but she chews it off right away.

 

Suggestions, war stories?

[Guest mirthlesstroll]

You can cover the end of her muzzle with Duct Tape (Oh, Duct Tape, is there anything you can't fix?) to keep her from getting the bandage off, then just replace the bandaging. She'll be pissed about the muzzle, but her foot will get a chance to heal.

[KF_in_Georgia]

Mirthlesstroll (great name!) is right. Muzzle, with duct tape if necessary. (You can cut a small hole in the tape so she can still drink with the muzzle on.)

 

And before she makes you feel too guilty about the muzzle, know that I had to keep my girl muzzled nearly 24 hours a day for months to keep her from chewing at an inflammation on her front leg. Silver routinely smacked my leg with the muzzle when she was pissed off. She scraped the muzzle along the furniture and walls, trying to dislodge it. And she smacked poor Sam in the face with the muzzle on a regular basis. But the muzzle paid off, and the leg got better.

[mychip1]

Muzzle...

 

Maybe therepaw boot?

[greysmom]

Keep BOTH the muzzle and the boot on. Especially outside. She won't like either, but she needs to let the foot heal. Keep it clean and dry. You might rub on some Bag Balm every day to help speed up healing and keep the skin supple so it doesn't tear.

 

 

[cleptogrey]

it takes 2 weeks for a cut paw to heal, w/ or w/o stitches. some dogs are just a pita when it comes to keeping a foot bandaged, some not. if you don't want to muzzle try a bite-not collar, she shouldn't be able to turn her head to bite the bandage and eat it off. do contact your vet, most likely since the stitches were in for a while the pad has started to heal and it will now just heal on it's own. as to bag balm, i never use the stuff. the cut needs to dry out and stick together, the bag balm prevents that. it's also not an antibiotic ointment. i treat a cut w/ saline irrigation then one glob of triple antibiotic ointment and cotton between the toes then wrapping w/ gauze, then vet tape(elasticon sp). i have an old mitten that i put over the bandage which is reinforced w/ my all time favorite- duct tape. it works as well as a therapaw since you can fit a bandaged paw into it.felis is crazy and eats all bandages, as long as it clots and starts to scab i'm happy, but pads do need protection. try the mitten or a shortied athletic sock, that works well and enjoy making a duct tape bootie. that stuff is hard to nibble thru.

[Guest Travelover]

Thanks for the suggestions. I think the muzzle is the answer, though she will hate me for it. I don't see a thing around her neck working, as with her long nose and long legs, a rear foot is just too easy to reach.

 

Do I need to continue with oral antibiotics, or just use an antibiotic salve?

[cleptogrey]

Thanks for the suggestions. I think the muzzle is the answer, though she will hate me for it. I don't see a thing around her neck working, as with her long nose and long legs, a rear foot is just too easy to reach.

 

Do I need to continue with oral antibiotics, or just use an antibiotic salve?

if the vet gave you oral antibiotics finish it up- the same as when you get a rx for antibiotics- the full regime and yeah some probiotics won't hurt. remember it doesn't cost anything to call your vet and double check if in doubt. mine is always glad that i call, keeps his day simplier...but we have a 33+year relationship.

[kickchick2000]

I had to use a muzzle for a almost 2 weeks last year when Milky Way ripped a toenail clear out of his foot. He hated it but the toe had to heal. I would take the muzzle off when we were home and could monitor him but when we were at work or out he was muzzled until the toe healed over and had decent granulation.

[Guest Travelover]

OP here.

 

Thanks again for your suggestions. She is wearing the muzzle now and not amused. Initially I tried the muzzle with no duct tape and she quickly chewed the bandage off. So, for now it is muzzle all the time with duct tape. We'll change the bandage every day and see the vet in a week or so, or sooner if anything changes.

[Maddiesmom]

Yep, Muzzle with duct tape or a stool gurad. Maddie had to go to the evet (first time ever in the 6 1/2 year that I had her for a cut in the weebing in her front paw. They sent me home with a plastic e collar which I told them she would not wear. I was right she got it off. I put a puiece of ribbon through it to keep it on til I could think of something else as she was miserable and was bumping into things, mainly my legs. I did the muzzle with duct tape when I was not home and left the muzzle off when I was home. She had 4 layers of bandages on, that I was able to take off after 4 days but had to keep bandaged for 14 days and also she had to stay inactive during that time, not fun for her or me, but the muzzle with duct tape and we used a therapaw and we got through it.

[Guest Travelover]

OP Here:

 

I'm happy to report that my pup's foot is all healed up. Thanks for all your advice and encouragement.

 

I took the stitches out myself, changed the bandage every day and protected it in a plastic bag and a nylon boot when she was outside.

 

She thought I was a mean ole daddy for a while there and was even a little depressed, but bounced back like new one the muzzle was off.

[Guest itsagreytlife]

Just curious--when taking the duct tape off (whether from muzzle or paw) does it hurt the pup or rip off skin? Have had some problems even with plain cotton gauze on a wound tearing a bit of skin and/or fur off.

[PrairieProf]

Just curious--when taking the duct tape off (whether from muzzle or paw) does it hurt the pup or rip off skin? Have had some problems even with plain cotton gauze on a wound tearing a bit of skin and/or fur off.

 

No one is suggesting duct-taping your dog ... the muzzle everyone is talking about is the plastic kennel muzzle all greyhounds have.

[Guest itsagreytlife]

Okay. Sorry for the stupid question.

[Batmom]

Not a stupid question. Lots of people have plastic basket-style muzzles like the pups wore during turnouts at their racing kennels, see here: http://halemar.com/Halemar-Plastic-Kennel-Muzzles-100.htm . They're useful for greyhound playdates, if you have more than one dog and they get competitive/nippy with each other, and for keeping the dog from picking at injuries as in this case. You can get a plastic cup to cover the nose end -- called a stool cup -- or fashion your own out of duct tape (some on the outside, some on the inside, stuck together). Ex-racing greyhounds are used to wearing one so they might give a bit of stinkeye but generally put up with it.

[Guest Travelover]

UPDATE

 

OP here. I screwed up big time. I thought my girl's foot was all healed up, and I took off the nylon boot I'd been making her wear on on daily walks. She got a little rambunctious and her foot split wide open back to the original injury level.

 

So it is back to wearing the muzzle and bandaging her foot.

 

Lesson learned. Vet says that it takes at least 5 months to get to 90% of original strength for a deep tissue wound like this. I'm just sharing this as a caution to others.

[PrairieProf]

I'm sorry, that's a bummer. My girl had a cut on a toe that opened up again and my vet put in subcutaneous sutures, which worked great. And it takes months for them to dissolve, which I guess helps too.

[Stoney]

it takes 2 weeks for a cut paw to heal, w/ or w/o stitches. some dogs are just a pita when it comes to keeping a foot bandaged, some not. if you don't want to muzzle try a bite-not collar, she shouldn't be able to turn her head to bite the bandage and eat it off. do contact your vet, most likely since the stitches were in for a while the pad has started to heal and it will now just heal on it's own. as to bag balm, i never use the stuff. the cut needs to dry out and stick together, the bag balm prevents that. it's also not an antibiotic ointment. i treat a cut w/ saline irrigation then one glob of triple antibiotic ointment and cotton between the toes then wrapping w/ gauze, then vet tape(elasticon sp). i have an old mitten that i put over the bandage which is reinforced w/ my all time favorite- duct tape. it works as well as a therapaw since you can fit a bandaged paw into it.felis is crazy and eats all bandages, as long as it clots and starts to scab i'm happy, but pads do need protection. try the mitten or a shortied athletic sock, that works well and enjoy making a duct tape bootie. that stuff is hard to nibble thru.

 

We use baby socks here, small like their feet, relatively tight so you don't have all that excess material taunting them to chew.

[Guest Travelover]

I'm sorry, that's a bummer. My girl had a cut on a toe that opened up again and my vet put in subcutaneous sutures, which worked great. And it takes months for them to dissolve, which I guess helps too.

 

 

Thanks. I asked about restitching with absorbable stitches, but vet said there wasn't enough meat to stitch into at this injury site and recommended just bandages and a bootie. So far, so good. I found really nice heavy duty booties at Dogbooties.com - 1000 denier nylon for $2.50 each - pretty reasonable I think.

[tbhounds]

You can use a medipaw boot too.