Diesel Tore Up His Paw Pad...

[cricketsmygirl]

Originally Posted by JessLough

...too late for stitches? That's bull. It won't heal up nicely on it's own if it's too deep. Sorry to hear about Diesel

It looks like it's about an inch deep. I just wish my reg. vet wasn't on vacation. This guy is stupid. But I'm keeping it clean and wrapped. Hopefully it will be okay.

[bubbatd]

Note to self : add super glue to the meds container !

[dogsarebetter]

if its the paw pad... most vets dont stitch it. they dont hold stitches well at all.

[cricketsmygirl]

Darks there are to small cuts on the pads on his toe. One cut in between his toe and then on the other leg his...heel? has a nice sized gash on it. Which is NOT on the pad.

[bubbatd]

Through the years , I've only had one stitched . Bless Rufus's heart , he went through it without being put out !

[Izzy's Valkyrie]

Actually, there is a time limit on stitches for humans so why shouldn't there be one on dogs? My brother had a pretty deep head gash nearly to his skill during an MMA fight and because he didn't get to an ER for stitches within 8 hours there was nothing that could be done for it (It healed fine btw, mom is a nurse and the house is well stocked with medical supplies)

An idea for the future is to get some of those single use sterile medical staplers. You can't really screw those up and they're gauranteed to be sterile since they're in individual packaging (I say this mostly because my dad bought a box for my brother's future fights lol) You can also buy packs of suture sets for individual use complete with curved stitching needle!

But yeah, I think I'd sacrifice one sututre pack to get the curved needle then practice like crazy on fruit/veggies/raw meat to get the hang of it if I live in an area with uncooperative vets.

I hope your boy feels better!

[wcladymacbeth]

In humans, we're not supposed to stitch hands or feet if the cut is older than 5 hours. The risk of infection is just too high. Hopefully the vet searched the wound very carefully for any glass. I almost always get an x-ray to look for glass if that's what caused the cut (unless it was just a large piece of broken glass, or if the cut is shallow enough that I can search it thoroughly myself.)

Luckily I'm all set if my dogs ever get cut... I suture all the time at work You can look up videos online that'll show you how. Just make sure you ALWAYS clean wounds very thoroughly and most importantly irrigate copiously (tap water should work.)

Here's a pretty good suture tutorial.
YouTube - Suturing: 1 Infiltrating local anaesthetic
YouTube - Suturing: 2 Technique, Inserting the sutures
YouTube - Suturing: 3 How many sutures, Gaping wound, Wound edges

[bubbatd]

Interesting videos .....

[OutlineACDs]

Super glue can be used instead of stitches. If you don't have access to a vet close by then I would suggest adding a tube of super glue and a roll of vetwrap to your first aid kit.

My dog ripped her pads off all four feet about two weeks ago. It was a bloody mess, she was fetching on rough concrete. I came home and cleaned her feet, put some neosporin on each one and thoroughly wrapped them in vet wrap. She was uncomfortable walking for about two days, but after 4 she was pretty much back to normal. I would take the vetwrap off daily while she was crated to allow her feet to breathe, then rewrapped when she came out of the crate.

It only took about a week for her to completely heal.

[cricketsmygirl]

Looks like I need to get me a first aid kit. I don't have one...hmmm