nasty cut

oats 2

was out for walk tonight wit 5 springers.came on a fox aboout 40 yards away.he muched off a little but once got into field dogs picked cent.one bitch
went full steam ahead on path fox went.she trailed him 40 or so yards into small plantation.she was really licking it so was thinking she cant be far behind him.couple seconds an she gives a good squeel which she never does.comes back out after few mins slightly limping but carried on her normal self.i presumed she caught him up in the dark an he snaped at her.came home an just looked at her to see any scrapes
.she has a nasty tare on inside of her upper leg.about 3 inches long seems to be down to the meat.not much extra skin or fat on her so looks bad.

to get to the point eventually wat should i do?dont want to spark another debate about vets cost but how much should it cost?
sorry about long winded story.
p.s im only presuming twas the fox but could of been wire

FISMA

I'm wondering if this is something that you can do yourself.

Those springers just have no fat, any scrape during a run in amongst trees just seems to open them up.

We're not talking plastic surgery on a facial area here. If I were you, I would try and get some sort of an anesthetic, cleaner, and do the stitching myself, if you are up for it.

There's also some kind of glue, so to speak. I do not know what applications it covers, but it may be an option.

You may want to try the vet. However, if she's like some of the springers that I know, you'll be in for regular visits to the vet and will conclude that something else has to be done.

deerhunter1

FISMA wrote: »

I'm wondering if this is something that you can do yourself.

Those springers just have no fat, any scrape during a run in amongst trees just seems to open them up.

We're not talking plastic surgery on a facial area here. If I were you, I would try and get some sort of an anesthetic, cleaner, and do the stitching myself, if you are up for it.

There's also some kind of glue, so to speak. I do not know what applications it covers, but it may be an option.

You may want to try the vet. However, if she's like some of the springers that I know, you'll be in for regular visits to the vet and will conclude that something else has to be done.

+1 on that try and clean it up and strap it yourself,unless it is really bad, sometimes it is not as bad as it looks,good luck

terminator2

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056808210 maybe this will be of some help or not......... here we go again

hunterpajero

if i was in your situation it would be the vet,good only knows what infection might be in that cut,it may be nothing but still if anyone has dogs they should be prepared for the costs for the dogs sake

tomcat220t

Hi Oat2, dogs are far hardier than most people give them credit for .......
If the cut can be licked ..my advice is leave nature run its course .
Regards ,Tomcat.

oats 2

thanks for the advice

terminator2

hows the dog now lad

stoeger

Was talking to my mate he's a doctor
I asked his about super glue there is medical form its called skin glue its non toxic you have to shave and clean the cut first and put on skin only you may have to apply 2 to 3 times it won't work if its on a goint .

terminator2

i wonder can you buy it in the chemist

terminator2

ill add it to the first aid kit

stoeger

terminator2 wrote: »

i wonder can you buy it in the chemist

Don't no ill ask him might get some my self handy to have gust in case

deeksofdoom

I have a tin of Alamicin which is an antibiotic/disinfectant spray that I give the dogs a shot of when they get cuts.

oats 2

terminator2 wrote: »

hows the dog now lad

dogs not heeling much.gona take her to vet tomorrow.not much skin in area to glue or stick so going to do safest option

garv123

One of the lads i shoot with had a cocker who cut her leg on the open day above the knee from barbed wire.

the chemist gave powder and stuff for it but the cut got infected into the bone. She missed the whole season in the end because it took so long to heal.

Vets left it open again to avoid any infection getting caught inside.

SillyMangoX

If it was a fox that bit the dog it might not be able to be stitched. Most animal bites shouldn't be stitched (unless truly awful) to allow any infection to drain. I would bring to the vet though, at this stage it may need a deeper clean to get infection out which would prob have to be done under sedation, if it's infected you can imagine the pain!

thelurcher

Vet was telling me the other day that they had a farmer in with his sheepdog - cut on the leg - the farmer had poured jays fluid on the wound to sterilise it.
Never underestimate how stupid people can be.

Glue is a waste of time - stitching is best left to someone with plenty of practice and that knows what they're doing. The latter is a slow process and better off done when the dog is at least given a local anaesthetic.

If I had no access to a vet for whatever reason here's what I'd do -

- Rimadyl - fairly safe to use. Check online for dosage. It gives some pain relief but more importantly is an anti-inflammatory. Inflammation restricts blood flow so therefore slows healing.

- Wash the wound with a mild solution of hibiscrub or savlon - clean all around the wound too. Even get a cheap plastic razor - break off the guard rails and carefully shave around it making sure no hair gets in the wound - shave out from the cut.
A big syringe with no needle is handy for flushing out and debris.
A tweezers is also good for removing any hair etc. from inside the wound - make sure everything is sterilised.

- A lot of the time you can leave it at that.

- If when the dog moves it's pulling the wound open or it's in an area where the skin is stretching it apart you could try a few staples. There are a few people on ebay.co.uk selling skin staples. They're fairly painless to administer - tried them on myself. Practice on a DEAD rabbit or something first - but it's very easy and very quick.
Make sure you leave a section open so that the wound can drain - otherwise you're trapping in any infection and creating an ideal environment for it.

- If the dog can lick the wound then get one of those elizabethan collars at most pet shops.

- Antibiotics - they're not that hard to get. If all else fails you can get that fishflex from the US. No prescription required and the dose is right for a terrier sized dog.
It contains Cephalexin - same as Cephacare that vets hand out here.
Google for more info.
I'd prefer a vet to advise on this but one dose twice daily for a week minimum or until all signs of infection are gone.
If there's a lot of flesh missing - therefore little blood supply - you may need to use something like Antirobe as it has better penetration via bone.

- Don't wait and see either - you need to staple while the wound is still fresh as it won't adhere as well otherwise.

- One of the handiest things to have in your first aid bag is any of the debridement type sprays.
Granulex is tried and trusted but there are loads more on the market locally and a lot cheaper. Vetericyn is available here.
These sprays help get rid of the necrotic (dead) flesh. You don't need anything stronger - the antibiotics are taking care of that.

- Use a saline solution for washing the wound after day one. The likes of savlon can actually slow the healing process.


I'm not a vet - I never took so much as a first aid course. Any qualified medical practitioner is probably laughing their ass off at what I wrote - so if you're replying to this post don't make it personal - tell me where I'm going wrong and explain why and I will be delighted
I just think that a lot of the advice being given on this type of thread recently isn't great and is overly simplified.

SillyMangoX

thelurcher wrote: »

Vet was telling me the other day that they had a farmer in with his sheepdog - cut on the leg - the farmer had poured jays fluid on the wound to sterilise it.
Never underestimate how stupid people can be.

Glue is a waste of time - stitching is best left to someone with plenty of practice and that knows what they're doing. The latter is a slow process and better off done when the dog is at least given a local anaesthetic.

If I had no access to a vet for whatever reason here's what I'd do -

- Rimadyl - fairly safe to use. Check online for dosage. It gives some pain relief but more importantly is an anti-inflammatory. Inflammation restricts blood flow so therefore slows healing.

- Wash the wound with a mild solution of hibiscrub or savlon - clean all around the wound too. Even get a cheap plastic razor - break off the guard rails and carefully shave around it making sure no hair gets in the wound - shave out from the cut.
A big syringe with no needle is handy for flushing out and debris.
A tweezers is also good for removing any hair etc. from inside the wound - make sure everything is sterilised.

- A lot of the time you can leave it at that.

- If when the dog moves it's pulling the wound open or it's in an area where the skin is stretching it apart you could try a few staples. There are a few people on ebay.co.uk selling skin staples. They're fairly painless to administer - tried them on myself. Practice on a DEAD rabbit or something first - but it's very easy and very quick.
Make sure you leave a section open so that the wound can drain - otherwise you're trapping in any infection and creating an ideal environment for it.

- If the dog can lick the wound then get one of those elizabethan collars at most pet shops.

- Antibiotics - they're not that hard to get. If all else fails you can get that fishflex from the US. No prescription required and the dose is right for a terrier sized dog.
It contains Cephalexin - same as Cephacare that vets hand out here.
Google for more info.
I'd prefer a vet to advise on this but one dose twice daily for a week minimum or until all signs of infection are gone.
If there's a lot of flesh missing - therefore little blood supply - you may need to use something like Antirobe as it has better penetration via bone.

- Don't wait and see either - you need to staple while the wound is still fresh as it won't adhere as well otherwise.

- One of the handiest things to have in your first aid bag is any of the debridement type sprays.
Granulex is tried and trusted but there are loads more on the market locally and a lot cheaper. Vetericyn is available here.
These sprays help get rid of the necrotic (dead) flesh. You don't need anything stronger - the antibiotics are taking care of that.

- Use a saline solution for washing the wound after day one. The likes of savlon can actually slow the healing process.


I'm not a vet - I never took so much as a first aid course. Any qualified medical practitioner is probably laughing their ass off at what I wrote - so if you're replying to this post don't make it personal - tell me where I'm going wrong and explain why and I will be delighted
I just think that a lot of the advice being given on this type of thread recently isn't great and is overly simplified.

The reason advise is over simplified is as far as I know boards doesn't view giving detailed medical in good light. I could tell you exactly how to debride a wound correctly but then if anything goes wrong it would be on my ass. I wouldn't advocate getting antibiotics online because god knows what you could be getting.
And as for stapling a wound and that I really would have a vet look at it first, some wounds just aren't suited for that at all.

oats 2

took her to the vet this morning.she keeping her for thr deay.going to stitch it up an local anasthetic.65 euro incl antibotics.wat ya think of that price????.an shes highly reccomened.great advice there from everyone about simple first aid.

SillyMangoX

oats 2 wrote: »

took her to the vet this morning.she keeping her for thr deay.going to stitch it up an local anasthetic.65 euro incl antibotics.wat ya think of that price????.an shes highly reccomened.great advice there from everyone about simple first aid.

That price sounds pretty standard for a stitch, she'll probably need a wee bit of sedation with the local anaesthetic as well as being injected with antibiotic so I would say it's reasonable! Fair play for getting her checked out.

thelurcher

SillyMangoX wrote: »

The reason advise is over simplified is as far as I know boards doesn't view giving detailed medical in good light. I could tell you exactly how to debride a wound correctly but then if anything goes wrong it would be on my ass. I wouldn't advocate getting antibiotics online because god knows what you could be getting.
And as for stapling a wound and that I really would have a vet look at it first, some wounds just aren't suited for that at all.

I'd prefer to see the mods delete these threads altogether - it's too dangerous to give half-arsed veterinary advice - including my own.
That said my advice is for fairly superficial lacerations - as you pointed out in your earlier post some wounds are next to impossible to clean out properly without putting the dog under. Also flushing a deep penetrating wound will most likely drive dirt further in.

But then people are genuinely very hard up for money at the moment - I'd prefer to see the dog get some treatment than none at all. I'd hate to hear of another jays fluid incident though.

I'd agree with you about buying from certain places online - but there are plenty of reputable retailers represented on the net - do your research and it's no dodgier than buying from the high street.

Anyway by the time you'd have bought your antibiotics, staples, sprays etc. you're actually not saving a whole pile of money :rolleyes:
The vet is always my first choice.

thelurcher

oats 2 wrote: »

took her to the vet this morning.she keeping her for thr deay.going to stitch it up an local anasthetic.65 euro incl antibotics.wat ya think of that price????.an shes highly reccomened.great advice there from everyone about simple first aid.

That's for nothing. Wish I knew a vet that cheap.

garv123

thelurcher wrote: »

I'd prefer to see the mods delete these threads altogether - it's too dangerous to give half-arsed veterinary advice - including my own.

Its against the rules of boards to give medical advice to a person.. dont see why it should be any different for a animal.

Someone could follow the advice and the dog die and lead to someone getting sued.

oats 2

got the dog back.medication for 5 days an another one for 3 days.jaz tats very good value 65 euro considering wat has being charged in the past.
sorted.glad i went.

terminator2

oats 2 wrote: »

took her to the vet this morning.she keeping her for thr deay.going to stitch it up an local anasthetic.65 euro incl antibotics.wat ya think of that price????.an shes highly reccomened.great advice there from everyone about simple first aid.

who and where is she

oats 2

country practice vetinary nenagh

charlie10

i take my dogs to the vets regulary and have built a good relationship with the vets and wouldnt attempt to stitch a dog up first reason :i couldnt second reason:i wouldnt i owe it to my dog that when he gives me that much enjoyment that i dont put him through that much pain. if something happpens in to the car and down to vets . same way i wouldnt try to respray my car cause no matter how good u think u are u will never do as good a job as the the person trained to do it.