Using Dettol on dogs?

Kinzig

Folks ive just been reading that its okay for dettol to be used on dogs over on the shooting forum...but my vet told me its a no no and said to clean minor wounds with a saline solution,,whats your thoughts or am I missing something?

DBB

I'm pretty sure you shouldn't use it. Can't remember off the top of my head why it's not suitable for using on dogs, but I'm pretty sure it's not.
Salty water is hard to beat, guaranteed to do no harm!

scudzilla

Used Dettol (watered down) on all my animals for years, so did my parents/grandparents, never caused any issues at all. Cleans up any wounds nice

anniehoo

Diluted Dettol i use all the time, just not neat as it stings too much. Saline solution is good for wounds...but not for burns. Hibiscrub is the solution of choice though.

boomerang

It contains phenols so poisonous to cats if ingested - say, if they licked a wound after you'd cleansed it with a Dettol solution.

It's possibly cytotoxic so not the best thing to use on anything other than a scratch.

boomerang

PS Same goes for Savlon.

Pumpkinseeds

I'd never use anything that turns cloudy when diluted to treat our animals. Our vet always says salt water is best for cleaning wounds. Even for cleaning the floors I use Dettol multi-surface dilutable and the clear Dettol spray for work surfaces in case the cats get anything toxic on themselves.

scudzilla

This is one of those threads where some people will say yes, been using it on my animals for years without a bother, and others will say never to use it as it's harmful!!

anniehoo

scudzilla wrote: »

This is one of those threads where some people will say yes, been using it on my animals for years without a bother, and others will say never to use it as it's harmful!!

Yeah, but Boomerang is probably right with the toxicity of it regarding phenol concentration. My parents used Dettol non stop on us as kids, with cuts n grazes, but we didnt lick it off ourselves I do use it, but very dilute (probably 1:50 dilution) on minor stuff and never straight from the bottle.

boomerang

http://www.fabcats.org/owners/poisons/article.html

JustAThought

Well -if your vets said no then don't do it!

Maybe it's cos the wound is too deep/wrong location /tissue would that might burn the dog etc.

Why psych the vet for good professional advise & then ask others !!!

I used Dettol ( v diluted) to clean my dog after she'd rolled in terrible shyte when a pup -she howled & howled - I diluted it but think it mad still too strong for her : (

I use the dettol burn cream ( the expensive tube of stuff) when she cuts herself & she LOVES it & hasn't had any adverse side effects.

I've also used the Savlon tube of cream on her various cuts & grazes & had no problems with that either -thou its harder to get off the furniture!

If your vet says not to use it then go with his/her advise ; it's got to be for a good reason!!!

BillyMitchel

Hey that was my thread :mad: :P

I used savalon in the end. If I remember correctly, years ago Dettol used to only come in one type but these days there's a few these days i think.

Anyway its all sorted now.

While we're on the subject of the do's and dont of what to use on dogs. Ive heard people saying that for an emergency that its ok to use glue to close bad wounds? Is that true?! Just watched breaking bad and Walt just used normal glue too!!

muddypaws

BillyMitchel wrote: »

Hey that was my thread :mad: :P

I used savalon in the end. If I remember correctly, years ago Dettol used to only come in one type but these days there's a few these days i think.

Anyway its all sorted now.

While we're on the subject of the do's and dont of what to use on dogs. Ive heard people saying that for an emergency that its ok to use glue to close bad wounds? Is that true?! Just watched breaking bad and Walt just used normal glue too!!

I wouldn't want to seal any wounds, if they weren't cleaned out properly, you'd be sealing the bacteria in there. Same as if you get bitten by a dog, the hospital doesn't sew the wound, they leave it open.

BillyMitchel

muddypaws wrote: »

I wouldn't want to seal any wounds, if they weren't cleaned out properly, you'd be sealing the bacteria in there. Same as if you get bitten by a dog, the hospital doesn't sew the wound, they leave it open.

But it is true though, people do use it?

I find using glue on an animal madness! What about all the chemicals and stuff that its made from, surely that cant be good?

scudzilla

BillyMitchel wrote: »

But it is true though, people do use it?

I find using glue on an animal madness! What about all the chemicals and stuff that its made from, surely that cant be good?

Off topic but in Vietnam a tube of Super Glue was part of all troops med kits, anyone wit an open would were just glued up and transported outta there

muddypaws

BillyMitchel wrote: »

But it is true though, people do use it?

I find using glue on an animal madness! What about all the chemicals and stuff that its made from, surely that cant be good?

yep, superglue, used on people as well as animals.

Edited to say by medical professionals in the right setting

bluecherry74

BillyMitchel wrote: »

While we're on the subject of the do's and dont of what to use on dogs. Ive heard people saying that for an emergency that its ok to use glue to close bad wounds? Is that true?! Just watched breaking bad and Walt just used normal glue too!!

A couple of months ago I suspected one of my hens might have had an impacted crop, so I did a bit of Googling to find out more. Turns out people actually perform home surgery on their hens by slicing open the crop (located at the bottom of the hens' neck), emptying it and closing the incision with superglue. :eek:

Needless to say I didn't go down that road, but some of the things people do amazes me. In the right hands I'm sure superglue can be very useful in an emergency. I don't think it has any place in the average person's pet first aid kit though!

BillyMitchel

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Aru

Surgery without some sort of pain block is just cruel.
Vets use special surgical glue (not superglue!) in some situations but very very rarely for wounds as they are so high risk for infection.
If its big enough to need to be glues back together it definitely needs to be flushed clipped and cleaned before being closed over and stiches are much much better than glue in those situations. If the wound gets infected under the glue the animal would need to be knocked out and all the glued shut area cut off in order to reclose the wound...terrible idea!

Kinzig

Thanks for the replys folks, ill be sticking with a saline solution if needed in future..thought maybe I picked the vet up wrong...on the subject of superglue for closing wounds in vietnam...that wasnt the superglue we find on the shelf for everyday use..it had different properties iirc..