Puncture Wound Through Webbing

[Guest montyb]

Hi Everyone,

 

On Wednesday Monty stepped on a stick in the backyard in just the right way for it to go completely through the webbing on one of his back feet. We've been to the vet, the wound has been flushed thoroughly and looks very clean. It almost completely stopped bleeding about 2 hours after it happened. We are also all antibiotic'd up, and I had applied triple antibiotic ointment to it on the first couple of days.

 

The hole is not overly big, but so far I have been keeping his activity level down (no zoomies!), soaking the foot in epsom salts once a day (he's not thrilled about this), and he wears a baby sock and rubber Pawz booty to go outside. Inside I have been leaving the foot free to the air. But since the hole is about as far back on the webbing as one can go, I'm having some trouble actually getting any air in between his toes to help dry the wound and so its still quite weepy (though no pus or swelling or anything nasty).

 

Does anyone have any tips for helping the wound heal? For the airing issue, I was thinking of stuffing a small wad of sterile gauze or something between his toes to open them up a bit, but it falls out as soon as he moves (and wrapping it up would defeat the purpose of airing things out!). Anything else I should be doing to help him?

[cleptogrey]

annie split her webbing, my vet had me clean it 2xs a day w/ hydrogen peroxide which is usually a no-no. he didn't want anything but scar tissue to form so the edges would be nice and strong. it was bandaged for a week, trust me changing it twice daily was a PITA. but she's fine now, vulcan salute- live long and prosper- and runs like mad. the triple antibiotic ointment is good for a one time cleaning but it does retard the healing. personally i would let nature take it's course, epsom's salts is wonderful and won't hurt, but if you miss a soak or so, i don't think anything will happen. generally, if it's not bleeding i would just keep it clean if your dog's tongue isn't doing the job and continue w/ reduced activity. air is the best healing agent in the world, the salts dries things out, but the sock will help retain moisture. i wouldn't worry about dirt from walking.

[kudzu]

In my experience, which is admitted limited on this issue, once damaged, the rest of the webbing can split fairly easily. My vet's opinion is contrary to cleptogrey's. He feels scar tissue is not as strong as regular tissue. Was directed to soak foot in epsom salts 2-3 times a day & then dry thoroughly. The cotton baby sock idea is a very good one. It helps protect the wound from dirt but also breaths. That space between the toes tends to hold too much moisture becomes problematic with regular bandaging. When going outside, I usually use a PAWZ dog boot over the sock. A sled dog bootie works well also. Dirt always seems to work it's way into the sock outside, at least in our yard. We don't keep the dog boot on inside, just the sock. To be quite honest, the sock is as much to protect the flooring from any oozing that occurs in the first a few days from the wound. Once that's stopped we just do the boot outside for the next week as a precaution.

 

To prevent the wound from splitting open, leash walk him only for at least two weeks. We learned the hard way how quickly a small tear in webbing can widen if the dog suddenly takes off. In the case of one dog I found out it can happen from him doing silly spinning in the living room.

 

Good luck! Hope it heals fast.

[greysmom]

Inside you can use the small wad of light gauze and put a baby sock over it to hold it in place. That way the air can still circulate. Good luck.

[macoduck]

Inside you can use the small wad of light gauze and put a baby sock over it to hold it in place. That way the air can still circulate. Good luck.

And ditto on the epsom salt soaks.

 

When staples didn't work on my Thane, a second used glue.

[MP_the4pack]

While I've never tried it, lots of people here recommend Manukau honey to speed up healing.

[Guest montyb]

Thanks for the tips everyone!

The hardest part of this is trying to keep him from running about too much, even in the house. I think he's starting to get a little sulky about not being able to have any crazies. Does anyone have any thoughts on activities I could do with him indoors that are low key but will maybe get his brain working and tire him out a bit? I do "hide the treats" and he has to sniff them out (they're usually hiding under his toys ).