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Last night I saw that her foot pad, the very high up on on the front paw, was ripped or torn. I tried to hydrogen peroxide it (I know, not the best choice but all i had), and then decided to check it in the AM.
This morning I found bloody prints on the carpet upstairs and under the bed (that's where she goes when she first gets into the bedroom ).
So I read online...does this sound right?...
1. clean it out with betadine
2. bandage it with 2 - 3 layers of gauze
3. wrap it in a plastic bag (HA! this will go over well with her!) when she goes outside
4. keep it dry
Does that sound right? I hope I can buy those colored twisty self adhering wraps at the drug store, but I can't imagine that she will leave it alone, even if I spray it with bitter apple.
If anyone has any other tips, I would appreciate it. Guess I should call the animal ER, too. I just want to make sure it does not get infected before the vet opens on Tuesday.
I would clean/rinse the wound with saline, use a non-stick pad and wrap it with stretch gauze, and put a clean sock or other breathable barrier over it to keep your pup from chewing off the bandage. Do not place the paw in a plastic bag as it needs to "breath".
Not sure how deep or bad, but as above not in a bag, use gauze or something that can be changed easily as it gets soiled from going outside. We had that happen with our cockers when moving to AZ last year with hot rocks, the pads started to dry and peel. I used some Neosporin and the gauze, then after a couple days soaked in Epsom salts while holding, then more Neosporin and the gauze. I also used aloe gel after the healing process started.
One of our dogs chewed off the pad on his foot and was bleeding/limping horribly. We rushed him to the vet. All they did was clean it carefully, wrap it up in vet wrap, and tell us to keep him from chewing on it. We were advised by the vet that paws are very easy to heal as long as you keep them clean and prevent further injury. The stuff they did was all stuff we could have done at home, and it healed with no issues (we used an E-collar and bitter apple to prevent chewing).
I like to let dogs lick their wounds too!
May sound weird but its what animals do in the wild and when he cut his paws or legs up and I let him lick them vs just treating his head where he couldn't lick it healed pretty quickly.
Thanks for all the responses. I cleaned it with Betadine and put an e-collar on her. I tried a self-adhering bandage (soaked first in Bitter Apple) with gauze underneath it, but she got it off (while wearing collar) in less than a minute (sigh).
But she can't bite or lick the pad, so so far, so good. I realize now that this must have been there for quite awhile. I had seen some blood spots on the deck about a month ago and couldn't find the source and have seen a few blood spots since. It's on the top (higher up on the leg) paw pad vs the toe pads, so that's good. And it flaps down, so apparently doesn't bleed unless she bumps it.
I may take her in to see if it needs to be stitched.
Thanks to all who offered advice!
P.S. Since she's had the cone on, she follows me everywhere and "tailgates" me, constantly bumping my legs with her cone head. I hope she gets over this, it's getting on my nerves!!
Might be good for the OP to check the nails on her deck to see that there aren't some sticking up that the dog is tearing her pads on. They have to be pounded back in from time to time, the decking nails that is.
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To be clear: Are you talking about a "deep slice" type of injury that incises into the pad or did she have a "skinning" type injury where she lost a layer of the tough callous?
If it's the latter then she'll be right as rain in no time if you keep it clean, let the wound get some air and let her rest for a few days.
If it's the former, she may need to see a vet if the injury doesn't want to stay closed on its own.
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