At My Wits End

[win4profit]

I haven't posted in a while but I am going out of my mind dealing with an injury and need advice or sympathy. On June 1st Slick cut his paw pad out in the back yard after work. It bled for a while but I was able to get it stopped and didn't have much problem with it the rest of the night. Saturday morning it started bleeding again after he came in from his morning potty break and again I got it stopped. Around noon, I was taking a good look at it and moved his toe and I could see all his insides. It was obviously a very deep cut. We took him to the Evet and the doc said he would need stitches and that the cut was close to the bone. They were unable to do the stitches with just a pain block and needed to put him under. So several hours later we took a very groggy hound home. We followed the after care instructions and removed the bandage after 24 hours. For the first few days he was fine, then he started licking and we put him in the E-collar. Surprisingly, he did well in it. Gypsy is terrified of him in the e-collar though. We made it 1 week and I thought we were on the down side. Monday morning, 10 minutes before I had to leave for work, he ripped all his stitches. I bandaged him up and went to work. I took him to the vet that evening and she put 4 staples in. This morning he ripped out the staples and now he will need surgery. As the vet explained it, the way the cut is curved on his pad, she will need to make a relief cut so that it will heal. In any case, she cannot do the surgery until Friday, so I need to keep Slick bandaged and in his e-collar until then. God help me!

[TheFullHouse]

My gosh Sue, what an ordeal! Hope the surgery is successful and your guy heals quickly.

[Maddiesmom]

I am so sorry this happened to you. Maddie also cut her paw in January and had to go to the evet and needed stitches, they had to put her under for it. Sehe got an ecollar as well (as much as I told the vet that Maddie would get out of it (she did and was very proud of herself)- I had to use string to keep it on her and after her bumping into my legs and rubbing against everything- I switched to a muzzle with duct tape to keep her from licking. That might work for you in this case.

[greyhead]

Not much advice, but lots of sympathy. We've always just used toddler socks and sometimes boots for foot stuff, and sometimes had to add tape or vet wrap to keep the sock on.

[Guest BlueCrab]

Not much advice, but lots of sympathy. We've always just used toddler socks and sometimes boots for foot stuff, and sometimes had to add tape or vet wrap to keep the sock on.

 

We've been doing the same with Trixie - she keeps opening up the hole where she ripped out her nail. I've been using EMT gel covered by a baby sock and then vet wrapping it. When we go out, she wears one of her tall boots on that leg so it goes over the whole bandage. But she's good about boots and wraps and such.

 

Sorry Slick's been through all this...hopefully he'll be on the mend soon!

[win4profit]

The vet wanted us to leave the wound uncovered and open to the air for healing purposes. So, no booties or vet wrap. (Maddiesmom)-I am sure I have bruises all over my upper legs and bum from being pushed around and bumped into with the e-collar.

[greyhead]

Yeah, that worked out well. Maybe your vet can think of a different way to foster healing while keeping it wrapped?

[OwnedBySummer]

You can leave it uncovered and put a man's tube or sport sock on his leg. Vet wrap above the mid-leg joint and then fold the extra sock down over the vet wrap, so he can't pick at the vet wrap. This way, the sock is very secure plus it's loose enough to promote healing. I like to use cotton/mostly cotton socks. I love this method for foot and lower leg injuries as I don't need to deal with e-collars or muzzles. You didn't say which foot it was but this works perfectly greyt on hind legs... I've never done it on a foreleg.

[galgrey]

Sending lots of sympathy your way.