what to use on incisions ?

[Guest Anonymous]

sorry to bother everyone again, my puppy had to have her rear dewclaws removed and has bandages on her back legs so she won't tear out her stitches. i was just changing my dog's bandages on her back legs and noticed that the incision areas still look a little bit inflamed and one of the stitches was bleeding a little bit (she grabbed it and yanked it while i was changing her bandages this morning....). i was just wondering if anyone knew of anything i could get that would not cost an arm and a leg to help her heal faster and keep infection away. can you use neosporin or tea tree oil on dogs ? thanks....

[Guest Anonymous]

[quote name='marble']sorry to bother everyone again, my puppy had to have her rear dewclaws removed and has bandages on her back legs so she won't tear out her stitches. i was just changing my dog's bandages on her back legs and noticed that the incision areas still look a little bit inflamed and one of the stitches was bleeding a little bit (she grabbed it and yanked it while i was changing her bandages this morning....). i was just wondering if anyone knew of anything i could get that would not cost an arm and a leg to help her heal faster and keep infection away. can you use neosporin or tea tree oil on dogs ? thanks....[/quote]

I would not use the tea tree oil on an open wound.
However I have used small amounts of triple antibiotic (which has neosporin as one component) successfully with my vet's concurrance and of course Betadine is an excellent cleanser for this kind of thing. If you are in the US you might choose to use Peroxide to rinse the areas off (other countries apparently do not have it in the concentration we use here for small wound cleansing). Don't let the dog drink it though as it also works well to induce vomitting :roll:
Your best bet IMO is to ask your vet what he or she would advise for your particular pet's situation - a simple phone call should do it.

[Guest Anonymous]

Yes, you can use neosporin.

Maybe you could buy some gauze and baby booties.

Apply neosporin to the area, wrap leg in gauze and slip a baby bootie (first, cut out the feet) over the dogs leg. If your dog is determined to get at the stiches, apply tape snuggly (not too tight as to cut off the circulation). over the bootie.

If you think that the wound is not healing properly, or if it continues to bleed you need to see your vet.

Cody had surgery to remove a growth on his pad, and my husband (who happens to be a paramedic), would apply betadine the first two days after surgery (after 2 says, he was using neosporin), he wrapped the wound in gauze, put a baby bootie on the foot, and put a dog boot on over the baby bootie to keep cody from licking, and to also keep the wound from getting dirty. The dressing was changed in the morning and in the evening.

Cody healed quite nicely and the vet was very impressed with the at home care Cody received.

I hope I have been of some help to you :)

Good Luck :P

[Guest Anonymous]

hey guys- thank you for your advice, i was scared to use anything.......it was healing nicely till she decided to tear off her bandages non-stop and grab the stitches whenever possible. she won't leave her bandages alone for anything and if i did not have to use really durable tape on her (she's torn everything else off no matter what i put on it to keep her from chewing) i know it would be healing faster because it could breath. it's not oozing or really red and puffy it's just too bright a pink to look like it should. if it does not look better by this afternoon after work i'll call the vet and see about taking her in. it's just that i've spent at least $400 on my dogs this month and i'm a student so i figured if you guys knew of something that would work it my save me a $35 vet visit ( and that's just for the vet to look at her). thanks for your help.

[Guest Anonymous]

What if you try a sock that goes all the way up the whole length of the leg, and tape it at the bottom, in the middle and on the top.


Before putting the sock on, spray it with bitter apple, or even yellow listerine. I believe I read in a prior post that somone used vicks vapor rub for something; I'm sure that will work just as well.

The dog is not going to want to lick what tastes unpleasant.

The only problem with this is that you wil have to keep reapplying the biter apple, or listerine. I'm sure the vicks vapor rub will have a more lasting effect.

Good Luck! :D :D

[Guest Anonymous]

Eeewwww!
I don't want to think of tasting Listerine or Vicks Vapor Rub! :o
Yuck!
Oops! Gotta go before Mom sees me on the computer, bye!
-Ruby :P

[Guest Anonymous]

Ruby,

You're too cute! :D :P

[Guest Anonymous]

hey, just wanted to thank you all for your help. i used the neosporin and dresden's incisions look a lot better already. i used a gauze pad, then that elastic tape that sticks to itself, then cloth medical tape, then an inch wide strip of duct tape around the top edge of the medical tape to keep it from unraveling, then a spraying of bitter apple. so far so good, i've been changing them twice a day. i don't know what is so special about this whole bitter apple thing, i saw some unusual stuff on the ingredient list bit it's overpriced and smells just like rubbing alcohol........anyway, that's my good report :) appreciate all your input.

[Guest Anonymous]

Marble-
Your puppy will be better in no time! :D
(If you get hooked on this site, you will not notice the time flying by!!) :lol:

[Guest Anonymous]

make sure you clean the inside of the insicion. Since they heal from the outside in if you dont clean the inside it will still be infected. Puss will accumulate under the skin and the incision will appear again over time.

[Guest roo]

[quote name='K']How do you clean the inside when it has been sewed up? :-?[/quote]
Very good point mentor :lol:
Actually i would use warm salt water and gently pat dry
Roo