How do I clean a dogs wound?

Question

My greyhound got her tail caught in the door and has a small wound on her tail. I cleaned off the blood with a warm cloth and am on my way to the pet store to get some gauze. She is not in any pain, should I take her to the vet or just keep an eye on it for the next few days. What would be some signs that I should take her to the vet?

Hey everyone thanks so much for your answers. I ended up stopping by a vet to ask them and they pretty much told me the same thing on how to look for infection. I decided to make an app. for later today bc if it does get ifnfected over the holiday weekend I would have to pay emergency prioce. So i figured to be on the safe side to take her in tonight. I will keep you updated thanks again!!

Answer 1

It sounds like your dog is okay. If the wound is not open and bleeding really badly then you may want to take the wait and see approach. It might swell a bit because of the trauma to the tail.

If the wound is really deep and there is alot of tissue or bone showing through please take your dog to the vet and not mess around with this on your own.

Does the tail still bend, move past the area where it was injured? Than it's probably okay. But do keep an eye on it for infection. If the tail begins to look black in anyway take your dog to the vet immediately. This would mean the circulation has been diminished and you don't want to have to dock your dogs tail if you can avoid it.

You can safely clean a wound out with Saline solution and that's probably all you will need. Sometimes I use Peroxide to abrase the area and to minimize infection. I'd leave the wound open and not cover it at this point. Your dog will probably pull gauze right off. You can find self adhesive products at the pet store, grocery or drug store to wrap around your dogs tail but it will probably get pulled off. These products are called Sportwrap, Vetwrap and can be found in the wound department of the store.

I've got a feeling any kind of salve you put on the tail would be licked off.

Hope this helps

Answer 2

Hydrogen peroxide is always good, but also stings. That might cause your dog to not allow you to clean it in the future.

As far as taking her to the vet, it depends on the wound. If it's a slice and appears to be deep, then yes, call your vet. If it's a puncture wound (small), there's not a whole lot the vet can do either but clean it and put some meds on it.

You can clean it with warm soapy (anti-bacterial soap) water or peroxide. Pat it dry with a clean soft towel that won't leave residue in the wound. The you can put some neosporin on it to help reduce the risk of infection. You need to clean it 2-3 times a day.

Also, you don't have to purchase your gauze at a pet store, it would probably be cheaper to just get it at Wal-mart or Walgreens or something. I would get some gauze and some medical tape. Put neosporin ont he wound, wrapt he gauze completely around the tail and then wrap the tape (not too tight) around the gauze (this prevents it from ripping out hair).

Good luck and I hope her tails heals quickly!

Also, neosporin won't hurt her if she licks it.

Answer 3

Keep it clean. Check it every day. Any sign of pus or weeping or anything abnormal and you should take her to the vet. Try to keep her out of the dirt and stuff for the next few days and don't let her chew on the gauze. If she gets it wet, change the wrapping and dry the wound again. Given she's not in any apparent pain, it shouldn't be too bad. If that changes, take her off to the vet immediately!

Look at it as you would a wound on yourself. Think about what would make you worry about a cut on your own body, what signs you would look for and look for those in your dog!

Answer 4

do this section purely once: sparkling initially with hydrogen peroxide and bypass as deep as you could. this may damage. The extra frothy the further useful action. stop in the adventure that your life is at risk. Do perfect right here whenever you sparkling the wound: save hydrogen peroxide as a techniques far flung from the canines as attainable. He already hates that. Wash your fingers sparkling then dry previously proceeding. save on with up by cleansing with iodine. hide the injured section from the midsection outwards which includes element of the healthful (and hairy) factors. do no longer (I repeat, do no longer) hide with bandage to % up drying. enable the antiseptic strive against the an infection. it really is extra substantial to empty the wound. overlaying a canines's wound besides is ineffective. he will take it off perfect away besides. hide with over the counter antibiotic ointment, the stickier, the further useful.. if you're able to do this 3 circumstances an afternoon (with the exception of the hydrogen peroxide section), the further useful. once an afternoon is completely the minimum. he will heal ok from the seems of it. He might want to were aspect swiped or something yet became waiting to circumvent contained throughout the time of nick (quite somewhat).

Answer 5

If it is just a scrape just put some antibiotic ointment (Neosporin, etc.) on it. If it is a deep wound it should be flushed with hydrogen peroxide, and then you should apply the antibiotic ointment.

Watch it for signs of infection: swelling, abnormal redness, warmth around the area, or pus-like discharge. If you see the signs you should take her to the vet, who will probably prescribe a course of antibiotics. From the sounds of it though it probably will heal over fine.

Answer 6

The best thing you can do when a dog has a cut is put some hydrogen peroxide on it then wash it off and let the dog lick the wound clean. Dogs are very good about licking cuts they get clean.

Answer 7

keep it home and go head to the pet store to get that. my cat did the same thing, it was bleeding, she felt no pain, let her/ him lick it clean, thats what i did, but put a little medasine on it after she/he is done licking, cause some medasine can hurt them if they lick it, so just be careful, hope i helped! :)

Answer 8

use saline solution on all wounds for dogs ,put it iin a sryinge and let the saline solution wash over it and it should be fine , a sign of infection would be swelling and redness .

Answer 9

you can try a topical antibiotic ointment that you can buy from any drugstore, then wrap some gauze around it.

if the area swells, or turns red, or feels warm to touch it, then you should take her to the vet.

Answer 10

Don't bother!!!!

DON"T bandage!
NO stupid peroxicide OR useless antibiotics!!!!

LEAVE IT *ALONE*!!!

NO BIG DEAL!!!
Lord,you folks are SUCH *WUSSES*!