Wound! - Update With Photos On Post #18

[Greydawg]

Here's what we came home to tonight. Alex and Heisman greeted us at the door like the always do, as if nothing was wrong. Not sure what happened. There was a piece of Alex's skin and hair on the tile, smaller than the wound which is about 2" wide. This gash is on his back, just behind his right shoulder. We see no other signs of a problem. No blood on Heisman. (sorry if the picture is enormous, I tried to make it smaller but can't seem to master that function)

 

DH just took Alex to the ER. Are we over-reacting? Any suggestions?

 

Edited October 20, 2012 by Greydawg

[vjgrey]

Ouch! I don't think you're overreacting. Wounds like that can be much deeper than they look. Diamond had a smaller one that needed three layers of stitches.

[Guest happygrey]

I probably would have taken mine to the vet. If it's a bite, it can get infected really pretty quickly so it needs a really thorough cleaning (we had that happen once). He might need a stitch or two to close it as well.

 

Poor Alex! I hope he's feeling better quickly!

 

My guess is that it's probably a bite unless you find evidence of a scrape or weird fall somewhere around your house.

Edited October 19, 2012 by happygrey

[mychip1]

From the picture, it does look a bit deep. Even if it doesn't end up stitched, I am sure some profilactic antibiotics won't hurt.

[tbhounds]

I see some staples in your near future :-)

Edited October 19, 2012 by tbhounds

[JAJ2010]

Hope it heals quickly!

[Sambuca]

Just a quick hint. Putting a t shirt on with a maxi pad on the inside over the wound will keep him from licking and scratching the wound. It also keeps the wound from oozing onto his beds. I hope he heals quickly.

[Hubcitypam]

Buck had one almost exactly like that in almost the same place - he ran under a branch or something in the yard. His flap of skin was still attached though. My vet glued it and said if it could hold on even a few days it might be the boost for it to heal up on its own without staples. It worked even tho I got some flack from someone on here for being too weenie to cut the flap off myself when it came loose later.

 

My theory on ER visits is that if the dog is drinking, not in distress, not vomiting or bleeding it'll wait until morning. I wasted far too much money at the ER in my early days.

[kudzu]

I'd have been off to ER with that one. There are many, many wounds I treat at home or wait until regular vet is open. Deep gashes, cuts that expand like a crack in a windshield, wounds that coincide with a dog acting ill or puncture wounds on lower legs & feet fall into the category that make it worth ER treatment. Your pup's appears to fall into the deep gash category. Will fully admit that deep gashes get vet checks because I not only loath looking at them but cannot even bring myself to clean them up. (As I tell the vets, there's a reason I'm in accounting.)

 

What I would work very hard to avoid is having a dog being anesthetized for wound treatment. That's something I like to avoid anyway but hate it for wound treatment even more. Took an incident with Goofydog's Get Em to teach me that lesson.

[silverfish]

Buck had one almost exactly like that in almost the same place - he ran under a branch or something in the yard. His flap of skin was still attached though.

 

That's what it looks like to me; a tear from running/pushing himself under something. Is your other hound muzzled? In the absence of something obviously in the way of fixtures and fittings, I'd be looking at the underside of a muzzle to see if there's a sharp bit.

 

I'd probably have taken him in, too. Yes, if the dog is otherwise OK and you're sure there's no internal bleeding it can wait until morning, but in my experience, unless you cover it very well, there's a chance that the dog will make it quite a bit bigger overnight.

[cleptogrey]

staples are wonderful, so go for it- least invasive and it will heal really fast. i use a "bite not collar" when staples are involved. the last thing i want is for felix to rip a staple out.

[mychip1]

Any word on this guy??

[jamngrey]

How is your pup doing? Yes I would have gone. Greys skin tears easly so it is much easier to deal with if it is closed

[Trihounds]

Hope all is well. I would have gone to the E-vet as well, though not in a panic or anything. It also looks to me like he caught his back on something in the house (or yard if he has access to it).

[BatterseaBrindl]

How's he doing????

[Riverhound]

I've gotten a couple PMs from Cheryl. Alex was uncomfortable the morning after he got hurt, so the vet gave Tramadol. She says he's gotten back to being his goofy self since then.

[mychip1]

Thanks for the update!

[Greydawg]

Update...

Alex is doing okay, thank goodness. Stoic, of course, like most Greyhounds. We now think that Heisman may have jumped on him - maybe in the excitement of us coming home Thursday night - and clipped him with his nail. The vet didn't think it was a bite.

 

We have him on an antibiotic (Cephalexin 500mg) for two weeks and a painkiller (Tramadol HCL 500mg) for several days.

 

Here is a picture of Sir Goofyhead from this morning, when we were getting ready to leave the house. He was standing between us and the door to the garage, looking all cute and everything, petitioning us to go for a ride. (It worked by the way... how could we possibly resist? )

 

 

The wound site. The e-vet (who happened to work part-time at the local dog track) first wanted to use staples, but decided stitches would be best for his injury. He used local anesthesia and reported that Alex just stood through the stitching process. Here, he is resting with his bunny (the same toy he had when he was rescued from the county pound three years ago.)

 

The night of the incident, there was this little tuft of hair and skin on the tile in the foyer. I have always heard that Greyhounds' skin tears easily. This is proof and it is amazing that this little "divot" turned into a much bigger wound. I am glad our instant reaction was to go to the ER that night.

 

Thanks, everyone, for your input. I always learn so much from all of you!

 

[tbhounds]

So cute with his stuffies--glad he's doing ok :-)

[sweetdogs]

Glad he's doing well. At least he won't need a cone of shame - hard for him to get at it.

[hikinghounds]

Glad he is okay. He is super cute with his bunny.