cleaning a dog that cannot be washed, ideas please?

twiggy2

twiggy2

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due to the loss of my elderly dogs we are in a position to foster again, so I have.

she will possibly be with us for a fair while as she has a large very deep open wound that needs to heal by secondary intention and may need surgery at a later date.

she is fluffy (possibly JRT x yorkie), smelly and greasy, she has coat coming off with skin as an infection has meant she is regrowing skin and losing scabby bits fast, she has fairly large areas of skin that are expected to slough off.

So all that info is to explain why we cannot bath her or use anything that has a chance of irritating the skin further, I am only thinking of cleaning up areas that are non affected by what has happened to her-so how do I make her a bit cleaner (if at all possible) as she wont be able to be bather for 6-8 weeks at the very least.

I gave her a bit of a groom today and it did help as lots of dead coat came out-I need to trim round mouth, feet and eyes too, the only area I have found her a bit unsure about is her feet she is so good and has been since she was first at the vets and she would have been in terrible pain as all the injuries are infection based.
 
Poor little mite! I think just a soft brush (like a baby hair brush) and keep brushing? Will stimulate good hair growth too :)
 
Good on you for fostering this poor girl. Have you thought about using a dry shampoo?

I googled a while back for one for my labrador and a recipe came up for one you make yourself with bicarbonate of soda, worth a look perhaps? That way you could monitor what you are putting on her or else ring one of the large dog rescues who deal with this sort of thing all the time and ask for their advice.
 
Many, many years ago when I had lots of stitches in my head, I wasn't allowed to wash my hair for weeks and used a fabulous dry shampoo from Boots. They probably don't sell the same one now (it was that long ago) but you could get something similar - just don't say it's for a dog or they won't sell it to you. If you get a children's version, they're usually designed for more sensitive skin.

An alternative is just to use regular talcum powder and brush it out. My Clydesdale always had really greasy feathers and I regularly used a mixture of mud fever powder and johnsons sensitive talcum powder.
 
Where is the wound? if it can be isolated,by a pad,I'd consider a gentle shampoo of the areas you can reach...I'd use an antibacterial,and pre clip or scissor all excess hair that you can gently remove.
my last dog had 45 ulcers all over her body( caused by a super resistant form of proteus)..we used to shampoo gently,,,then apply betadine to the wounds..she made a good recovery.
 
Bellasophia said:
Where is the wound? if it can be isolated,by a pad,I'd consider a gentle shampoo of the areas you can reach...I'd use an antibacterial,and pre clip or scissor all excess hair that you can gently remove.
my last dog had 45 ulcers all over her body( caused by a super resistant form of proteus)..we used to shampoo gently,,,then apply betadine to the wounds..she made a good recovery.
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washing really is not an option as the wound tracks from the inside of her thigh right up to her mammarys, betadine dries a wound and the wound must remain moist for as much healing as possible to occur.
she is tolerating being groomed with a slicker brush and a comb very well indeed so am just doing that for now as lots of dead skin and hair has been coming out with just that, she is not a fan of the scissors so very little and often with that.
she was great last night and was quiet all night-at the moment though she is howling in the crate, little toad, she is used to the company of a fairly large pack of dogs and I currently only have her
 
I see why you can't wash her now..what a difficult position for the wound..
Also using a dry shampoo would be tricky as you don't want any dust to get into the wound.
I'd keep brushing and combing..
Poor little soul,what is her story? I'm so glad she's got you on her side.
 
What about using a cloth soaked in v hot water (as hot as you can stand it) with a bit of antibac wash or similar in it, then wrung out v v well before using to rub over the coat? Works a treat on horses, not tried on dogs myself (mine get the hose :D)
 
I did a Newmarket scrub type thing on my dog when we were in a similar situation. He had a dreadful wound down to his ribs on his side - almost 8 inches long, vertical and horrible. It was stitched but the tissue went necrotic and horrid so had to be cut out and healed as an open wound. This took months!

I would brush him thoroughly and then hot cloth him with hot hot water and a tiny bit of dettol. (On vets advice).

He wasn't able to wash himself and was miserable, so this cheered him up no end and actually kept his coat in surprisingly good condition. He's got a short coat but it's thick and coarse. Almost wire haired JRT type coat, but on a much bigger scale!

Good luck with her. She sounds as though she's landed on her feet with you.
 
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Poor little mite, how awful. I think it'd be worth trying a little gentle hot clothing, moving in the direction of hair growth .
 
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