Cut Paw - What To Do?

[marckymarc]

We have just come back from the dog park and my dog is bleeding everywhere :D

her paw has a cut through it - it doesnt seem to bother her as she is still walking on it (and was running around everywhere at the park as normal) and she ill let me touch it but there is a bit of blood.

has anyone had a similar experience? does it just heal by itself? i am not sure what to do to.

thanks in advance

[Erny]

Not sure how deep the wound is, but here's a link to a web-site which will give you a few tips :

http://dog-care.suite101.com/article.cfm/h..._paw_pad_injury

Some web-sites suggest a change of bandage every two to three days. I'm inclined to prefer a change of bandage at least daily - more often if the bandage is inclined to become wet/dirty, provided I am not disturbing the wound too much in the process - that allows me to assess the wound regularly for signs of infection. The essence is to make sure there is nothing inside the wound (eg. shard of glass that might have caused it in the first place) and to keep the wound clean.

If the wound does not appear to be healing within two or three days or begins to look worse inside that period, then I'd be consulting a Vet.

Edited April 12, 2009 by Erny

[puggy_puggy]

Depends on how deep the cut is really. Give your vet a call to see if they put stitches in because I can't recall if they do or not.

If you decide to treat yourself....

Bath the foot with some luke warm salty water.

Stop the bleeding with a compression bandage. You could even sit holding her holding her foot to stop the blood. I would do this for a good 10 minutes or so to get a good clot.

Once you have stopped the bleeding I would keep the foot bandaged and keep her to a restricted are so that she can not run around and reopen the wound.

She might need antibiotics which you would have to go to a vet for.

[marckymarc]

thank you so much for your fast replies. It sems to be bothering me a lot more than her!

i have bandaged it to stop the bleeding but will have look now to make sure theres nothing in it, clean it and bandage again.

thanks again so much

[persephone]

wash, dry, ice to stop bleeding, betadine, bandage if you feel it needs it. Stop incessant licking.. REST :D

[marckymarc]

Thanks again for all your replies. I bathed it in salt water, aplied pressure until it stopped bleeding then used bedadine and wrapped in a bandage.

The only problem is making her rest! She's been on it all day and limping slightly now but still doesnt seem to be any major problems. I just bathed it again and applied more antiseptic, the wound is quite deep but doesnt appear to have anything stuck in it and it isnt bleeding so i'll keep an eye on it for the next few days to make sure it's heeling and not getting infected. Thanks so much again

[VJB]

When Heidi cut her paw on an oyster shell, there was a lot of blood. I was so worried, rang the vet and they suggested a surgical powder from the chemist. We did that for a few days and kept an eye on her and limited exercise as she had a limp. Within about 10 days she was fine. Vet told us to just keep an eye on signs of infection. Hope she'll be ok. The powder worked a treat... especially with drying the wound. It was easy to put on as we did this when she was asleep morning, noon and night.

[marckymarc]

When Heidi cut her paw on an oyster shell, there was a lot of blood. I was so worried, rang the vet and they suggested a surgical powder from the chemist. We did that for a few days and kept an eye on her and limited exercise as she had a limp. Within about 10 days she was fine. Vet told us to just keep an eye on signs of infection. Hope she'll be ok. The powder worked a treat... especially with drying the wound. It was easy to put on as we did this when she was asleep morning, noon and night.

Thanks vjb, do you know what the name of the powder was? As usual I am far more worried than Ruby is!!!! But good to know of a similar situation that turned out all fine...she'll be shattered at limited exercise though!

[Danois]

I have learnt useful stop bleeding tips after Boo was wounded on his ear. Vaseline and haemorrhoid cream stop bleeding - cream is the better option. Other is styptic pencil from chemist - was $6 and found with shaving stuff. Useful for cut quicks too!

[VJB]

When Heidi cut her paw on an oyster shell, there was a lot of blood. I was so worried, rang the vet and they suggested a surgical powder from the chemist. We did that for a few days and kept an eye on her and limited exercise as she had a limp. Within about 10 days she was fine. Vet told us to just keep an eye on signs of infection. Hope she'll be ok. The powder worked a treat... especially with drying the wound. It was easy to put on as we did this when she was asleep morning, noon and night.

Thanks vjb, do you know what the name of the powder was? As usual I am far more worried than Ruby is!!!! But good to know of a similar situation that turned out all fine...she'll be shattered at limited exercise though!

OK, the powder is called "EDP - antiseptic first aid powder". We were amazed at how quickly it dried her wound up, as, on inspection it seemed quite deep. We didn't bother with bandaging, but I guess that would depend on how necessary it is to do that. We did have to be careful when she decided to run on concrete (as much as trying to keep her quite!!), as this would sometimes make it start bleeding again. When this happened, we would put some more powder on it. I would say in 10 days she'll be fine without limping..... a long 10 days. We were lucky that when it happened to Heidi we had a run of heat wave days which kept her quieter initially.

[Vehs]

if it's deep get it stitched

I clean and bandaged my shepherds paw only until I could get him to the vet

http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...c=155282&hl