dog and stitches

[momtotwo]

My dog recently had to have alot of stitches for a wound that opened up due to his excessive licking. He has a "satellite" collar which i refuse to take off. he had a bandage and then just a sock. he will not keep anything on it and can reach his wound with his collar on, he pulls off socks so i placed a bandage on it, i found it off of him this morning torn to shreds. I rescued some of it and rewound it on and duct taped it the whole way around. I doubt that he will keep that on either as i had duct taped his socks on and they didn't last either. he has the largest collar they had, does anyone have any suggestions? We don't leave him for long periods of time but he can do damage even as we sleep. he is a large dog. I need helpful suggestions please.

[Tambrey]

hi Mom...Maybe Traci or davet will have another idea after they get online...but my mom has a dog who was just neutered and he is an excessive licker as well and was not leaving it alone and had opened everything up back there...the tech gave her some Bitter Apple to apply AROUND the wound, but not directly on it, to deter his licking...can you get Bitter Apple there in Canada?

BTW...did the vet do a skin scrape or culture of the area he was licking to see if there is a reason WHY he is licking?...or maybe find a thorn or some other irritation that was causing him to lick?

Hope all is well otherwise...

[momtotwo]

hi Tambrey, i'll have to check on the bitter apple to see if it is found in local pet stores, we have a pets unlimited handy so if they don't carry it i don't know who would, does it irritate the surrounding skin, he was shaved in that area? i don't think she did a culture or if she did it wasn't made known to me, she was very quick about everything as it was a busy Saturday. she said it was a small wound that just wouldn't heal due to the licking, the area he had opened up must have been 3 inches or more in lenth. i'll try to get that stuff tomorrow as i want to expose the area to air to quicken healing, so far he hasn't got the duct tape off but i'm sure he is thinking about it! thanks again

[Traci]

The problem with an unprotected open wound is potential for increasing bacteria, which means the wound will never heal properly. I strongly suggest getting your dog back to your vet for a recheck on the wound, a topical antibiotic and ask her about placing a temporary splint or cast on the wound to prevent him from further damaging the wound. Your vet should have materials to construct a make-shift splint using hard plastics (either splint material, very large cc syringes, or even pcv piping. Any method used would probably have to include a wrap that extends up and around the shoulder (or hip) to secure it in place and prevent the dog from getting at the wound. Whatever method used will have to be easily changed by you at home.

The e-collar may need to be refitted or a larger one used.

If your vet isn't helping you, see a new vet, and opt for additional diagnostics to get to the source of what is causing the infection.

[momtotwo]

hi traci, as far as i can tell there is no infection, the wound looks like there is no pus or anything and isn't swollen, she recommended that it be left open to speed the healing but leaving it open means that he can get at it. He is on antibiotics in the pill form. I will ask about the splint tomorrow when they open if she is on duty, if i can't get ahold of her i will have to wait for his recheck next week as it appears to me that they don't like giving advice to each others patients. Will a splint hamper his movement? it's on the inside of aback leg. I wasn't unhappy with the treatment but it was a little too fast, it was extremely busy there that day with all kinds of peolpe coming and going and she was the only vet on duty, thanks for the advice and i'll call about the splint tomorrow. I think he has the biggest e collar there was but i will check on that too. what is the liklihood he won't chew off the splint? again thanks and i will look into those suggestions

[Traci]

If the materials used are a hard plastic, this will help prevent him from chewing it up. The major concern here is prohibiting him from chewing so that the wound is allowed to heal. The methods noted could be taken into consideration.

The BitterApple can be used on the material used to bandage or cover the wound, don't use the spray directly on the skin.

A properly placed splint won't hamper his ability to get around, but it must be applied so that you can change bandaging at home. Your vet should be able to be creative about this, I'm sure she has had many cases such as this, and she knows how important it is to prevent the dog from chewing and creating further damage to the wound. For example, a couple layers of gauze, a layer of vet-wrap, with the wrap extending up and over the hip, and secured with proper tape should suffice, as well as the e-collar being properly fitted. Changing the bandage at least once a day should suffice (as long as it appears to be healing each day, a topical antibiotic should be used with bandaging)

[momtotwo]

Hi got a bigger collar today, it is the next size up and if i went to the biggest it would have been the one used for horses. Wound is healing nicely and we allow him to go without the collar as long as he is laying beside us on the couch. The vet did wrap his wound originally with gauze and a bandage wrap but it only went up to just above his stitches and not over his hip. I did use a clean sock, cut the toes out, slid it up over the wound and used duct tape to secure it. It seems to be working and i change it daily, wound looks good. I need to take him in for a recheck on Wednesday and if the vet says it needs more attention i will ask her about the splint and/or the green apple, thanks again, evelyn

[davet]

here is a type collar that can also work..take a towell and fold it and then wrap it around the next and fasten with duct tape...keeps dog from being able to reach most stitches...works a little better than an E-collar...

[momtotwo]

thanks for the suggestion davet, the stitches were in his indide back leg below the "knee" so it was an easy spot to get at, they are healed now and i solved the problem by getting the biggest "cone" collar, next size up was for horses!