Dog Bite

[Guest daytonasmom]

About a week and half ago, my grey Daytona was bit at a dog park (I know, dog parks are a whole other issue to discuss!). It was right on his chest, just ripped the skin so it popped open, about 3” long and looked wide with the way his skin fell open. When I took him to the emergency vet hospital, he was obviously very nervous – panting, shaking, etc. I was told he would need to be put under so they could really clean out the wound, cut away bad parts, and put in stitches and a tube to drain excess fluid. I was expecting just stitches, so all this seemed way over the top to me. They said he had to be put under because he was so nervous, there was no way he would be able to be still for all they needed to do with just a local anesthetic.

 

I didn't have any information on the other dog (owner and dog disappeared FAST, before I could see how bad it was). We got to the vet and had him looked at less than 2 hours after the bite happened. It wasn't his regular vet, since it was after hours, so they don’t have a lot of experience with greyhounds but did know about using less anesthesia, etc.

 

Thankfully he came through it all just fine, we got the stitches out yesterday and he’s healing up just great. My question for all of you is, was this overkill? Could it really have been taken care of with local anesthetic? I’m wondering if I was taken advantage of, or if all that was necessary to be on the safe side. I can’t really do much about it at this point, and hopefully I’ll never be in this situation again, but I’m wondering what all of you think, or if any of you have been through something similar?

 

And NO – we won’t be going back to that park!

[macoduck]

A local anesthesia would not have been enough, in my opinion. Without a thorough exam you may not have been able to see how deep the wound really went.

Is there a drainage tube?

Don't be surprised to find a pooling of blood at the lowest point of his chest. Eventually it will get reabsorbed.

 

Wishing Daytona an uneventful and fast recovery.

[KF_in_Georgia]

How many stitches?

 

My feeling is "no," they didn't take advantage of you. Bites on greyhounds grab the skin and pull it away from the underlying tissue. That means infection gets between the skin and the tissue, and stitching it closed like that is absolutely the worst thing they can do. So the wound will need a drain, and clean edges, and lots of antiseptic solution, and that is absolutely nothing you'd want to have happen to you while you're awake. Your dog would not tolerate it and shouldn't be expected to.

 

A local is for three staples in a wound on a dog's foot. Like this.

 

(Sam was okay with getting the staples with a local. But he screamed bloody murder when it was time to remove the staples.)

[greysmom]

Sometimes the e-vet does go for overkill treatment, but not, I think, in this case. Bite wounds are notorious for being deeper than they look, with pockets that aren't necessarily visible from the outside. It's great that he's healing well! A lot of that is due to him getting seen and treated quickly!

[KF_in_Georgia]

Regarding the drain: Did you see even a little goopy stuff leaking from the drain? Or from his skin around the drain? If so, the drain did exactly what you needed for it to do.

[gracegirl]

Not overkill at all. Almost always, bite wounds are worse than they look.

 

That said, last time I took Fenway in for a nip I thought for sure he'd be getting stitches, instead they sent me home with ABs. It was worth the trip to the evet for just the meds, you don't want a bite wound to get infected.

[Guest daytonasmom]

Whew! I feel so much better - knowing I'd put my boy through all that when it wasn't necessary would have been awful!

 

He had a drainage tube, it was taken out last week. Lots of gunk came out of that, especially the first couple of days. Super-smart vet suggested having Daytona wear a t-shirt which kept the goop from getting everywhere, and made it a lot more difficult for him to lick the wound. He's cute in a shirt, but wasn't all that thrilled about putting them on after the first couple of days LOL

 

I didn't think to count the stitches, but there were several - between 5 and 10 probably. Right in his pretty white patch - the rest of him is a dark brindle, just the white spot on his chest and some on his toes.

 

He's healing great, back to his normal wonderful/stubborn self that I just love! I should say too that the vet was great, from the doctor who treated him to the vet techs. Daytona hated being at the vet in the waiting room, but as soon as the tech would come out to get him, he was all excited to see them and perfectly content to walk into the back with them They were awesome, with me and with him!

 

This has been the hardest time with him so far for me. Leaving him at the vet's for a couple of hours was devastating! I probably took it harder than he did - but saved the meltdown until I was in the car and not with Daytona

[EllenEveBaz]

Sorry Daytona got hurt, but glad to hear he's healing well. Give him an extra ear scritch from all of us.

[juliemac]

Glad to hear that Daytona is healing so well. Don't be surprised when the skin turns dark and the scarring becomes quite evident in his little white spot (that's also normal).

[racindog]

Sounds like you lucked out and got a very good e vet! Not overkill at all imo. And you can't argue with success-so glad he healed so well!