Greyhounds wounds that won’t heal

[Caro65]

Greyhound got a clean, deep glass cut back of leg from heel to just below knee, exposed tendon. Lucky bit to cut anything vital. Trip to vet, no skin for stitches so just advised to dress, keep clean, apply manuka honey, also given 5 days antibiotics. Luckily she’s had no infections and wound has stayed clean. Now open to air but is not scabbing and skin margins have healed leaving an open wound which has liquid film. No discomfort and I wash three times a day with hibiscrub. Like treating a small human bedsore. Will it ever ‘heal’? It’s been a six weeks. Any suggestions? Bet still says just keep it clean.

 

[blackcob]

Did the vet advise using hibiscrub at this point? IME it's used for cleaning a dirty wound in the initial phases but shouldn't be used on open wounds and doesn't promote healing.

 

[Lammy]

Not a dog but as human who has just gone through this ? I had an open wound on my arm for four months! After lots of tests and x-rays there’s definitely nothing still in there which my nurse said is always the worry when a wound won’t heal, that there’s something trying to work it’s way to the surface.

In the end after trying lots and lots of different things, orange iodine under a dressing. It’s now healed more in the last 3 weeks than it has in 4 months and it’s almost closed. Might be worth asking the vet about? In my experience if healing has stopped it won’t just restart again on its own it will need help. Mine was very stop start something would work for a week or two and then stop again and it would be time to try something different.

 

[Squeak]

I've had amazing results with manuka honey for healing wounds on the horses. I always like the fact that it's only honey as well so it makes me feel like there's minimal risk that it could make things worse.

 

[Caro65]

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Did the vet advise using hibiscrub at this point? IME it's used for cleaning a dirty wound in the initial phases but shouldn't be used on open wounds and doesn't promote healing.

Oh! that’s a good point! I’ll stop doing that. Not vets fault I’ve carried on using it. Should I switch to saline? I bathe it becuse bits of fluff get caught on the surface abd she also has the occasional lick. I also use manukau still when I can distract her for half an hour so it absorbed before she kicks it off.

 

[Caro65]

I've had amazing results with manuka honey for healing wounds on the horses. I always like the fact that it's only honey as well so it makes me feel like there's minimal risk that it could make things worse.

Yes I’m still using g manuka and am sure it helped prevent infection

 

[Caro65]

Not a dog but as human who has just gone through this ? I had an open wound on my arm for four months! After lots of tests and x-rays there’s definitely nothing still in there which my nurse said is always the worry when a wound won’t heal, that there’s something trying to work it’s way to the surface.

In the end after trying lots and lots of different things, orange iodine under a dressing. It’s now healed more in the last 3 weeks than it has in 4 months and it’s almost closed. Might be worth asking the vet about? In my experience if healing has stopped it won’t just restart again on its own it will need help. Mine was very stop start something would work for a week or two and then stop again and it would be time to try something different.

My vet is not experienced with greyhounds- new one. Retired one was very knowledgeable. I dayd at time of injury I thought the gash had sprung open too far for easy knitting of edges but she just have me standard keep it clean and use manuka. I’ve sent a photo and she thinks it’s ok but I don’t- it’s not infected but it’s doing what yours did, imprivemnt then weeps clear and new tissue seems to have stopped. It’s amazing it’s healed this much it was huge and gaping.

 

[Lipglosspukka]

Imo you are bathing it too much. It need to be left alone to dry.

 

[twiggy2]

Go to the vets with the dog, a wound is a wound and the breed of dog shouldnt really make any difference

 

[Caro65]

Been to vets three times. She’s not that interested. It’s not ideal being looked at in bit of car under Covid precautions, poor light, rain and sleet, hurried consultations.

 

[Kipper's Dick]

The licking of the wound won't be helping, Caro65. It'll make whatever you're putting on it irrelevant if she's licking it off. She shouldn't be getting at it at all, really, though I know how hard it can be when they're determined! And how much licking is she doing when you're not with her? Would a buster collar be helpful for a while, perhaps, to give the wound a chance? She'll be licking the fresh healing cells off, not just the honey. I appreciate that greyhounds need rather large buster collars (and I should imagine that you may already have used one?). With her licking it, it could well take months to heal, but should eventually.

Edited to add that if you do not have much faith in the new vet, seeking a second opinion might be worth considering.

 

[twiggy2]

Been to vets three times. She’s not that interested. It’s not ideal being looked at in bit of car under Covid precautions, poor light, rain and sleet, hurried consultations.

Change vets, where I used to work so.eine comes out and gets your pet then they take them in for the vet to do a consultation and you get feedback, advice etc. Its not ideal but at least your pet idms examined in good light in an environment a full examination can take place rather than the back of a car in the dark

 

[Tiddlypom]

Dog should be handed over to vet in the car park and then taken inside to be examined while owner waits outside. This is happening here even in lockdown #3.

 

[Montmorency]

If it’s still an open wound I would possibly keep it covered still. A wound needs a moist environment to heal.

I had a whippet who got a huge pressure sore from a vet putting a bandage on badly when he broke his toe. Within 24 hours of being at the vet he was so uncomfortable I took the bandage off to find this awful sore. My mother was a nurse so advised treating it like a human leg ulcer. I used a hydrocolloid dressing bandaged with soffban (a thin cotton wool like bandage) then a cohesive bandage like vetwrap on top.
As long as the wound was covered he didn’t bother it, so didn’t need a cone.

The dressing should be changed every few days but not too often if poss as the new cells shouldn’t be disturbed too much. If lots of exudate just wipe with sterile water and re-dress. I changed the bandage more often than ideal as I kept doing it too loose as was so paranoid of doing it too tight! There’s no margin for error on whippet (or greyhound) legs!

I would also take photos regularly as sometimes I’d get despondent that the wound wasn’t healing but then look back at a photo from a previous week and see that it was slowly improving.

I can never get on with manuka honey but loads of people swear by it.

Good luck whatever you try x

 

[SOS]

The wound isn’t being give a chance to heal with such regular cleaning with hibiscrub and even occasional licking.

As above hibiscrub shouldn’t be used that often in a healthy wound and I would only be cleaning very gently with warm water if the wound is heavily contaminated at this point. But that should happen if you are covering the wound for walks so try to avoid cleaning as much as possible.

Pop a long sock with some tape on when the dog in unoccupied if likely to lick. Alternatively put a buster collar on.

I've had amazing results with manuka honey for healing wounds on the horses. I always like the fact that it's only honey as well so it makes me feel like there's minimal risk that it could make things worse.

As for the manuka honey, in recent years there has been research the shows use in healthy wounds, i.e granulating wounds with healing edges that are clean, is contraindicated as it can limit fibro. So actually it could be making things worse and is no longer needed as we are past the debridement and decontamination phase. Quoted Squeak to pass this onto them.

See article below for an understanding on why: https://veterinary-practice.com/article/manuka-honey-is-it-still-the-bees-knees

Ps. Strange your vets aren’t taking the dog in. We have been for months unless particularly aggressive/nervous/owner must be present.

ETA. As above posters there is no difference in the healing cycle for breeds of dogs. Yes greyhounds are thin skinned (we have a lurched and whippet so get this) but they still heal well.

 

[Squeak]

The wound isn’t being give a chance to heal with such regular cleaning with hibiscrub and even occasional licking.

As above hibiscrub shouldn’t be used that often in a healthy wound and I would only be cleaning very gently with warm water if the wound is heavily contaminated at this point. But that should happen if you are covering the wound for walks so try to avoid cleaning as much as possible.

Pop a long sock with some tape on when the dog in unoccupied if likely to lick. Alternatively put a buster collar on.




As for the manuka honey, in recent years there has been research the shows use in healthy wounds, i.e granulating wounds with healing edges that are clean, is contraindicated as it can limit fibro. So actually it could be making things worse and is no longer needed as we are past the debridement and decontamination phase. Quoted Squeak to pass this onto them.

See article below for an understanding on why: https://veterinary-practice.com/article/manuka-honey-is-it-still-the-bees-knees

Ps. Strange your vets aren’t taking the dog in. We have been for months unless particularly aggressive/nervous/owner must be present.

ETA. As above posters there is no difference in the healing cycle for breeds of dogs. Yes greyhounds are thin skinned (we have a lurched and whippet so get this) but they still heal well.

Thanks SOS that’s really helpful to know. I’ll make sure I only use it in the debridement and decontamination phase in the future.

 

[Odyssey]

Sorry to hear this, what a horrible sounding injury. I've only read the first post, so feel free to ignore this if it's not relevant. A local greyhound rehoming centre swears by Vetgold cream for its miraculous healing properties, they've had some dogs with awful injuries. It's available online if you wanted to try it. I hope your poor hounds wound heals soon.

 

[paisley]

Whippet has Hibiscrub for 24hrs on wounds, then saline for once a day clean (the cheap stuff from Tesco for contacts). Wound powder to dry it afterwards, with very sharp stares if anyone is tempted to give it their own ' wash'
I'm guilty of over zealous attention so I sympathise with trying to do the right thing?. Once came back to house unexpectedly , having been gone 5 minutes to find someone shredding off the carefully applied bandage. They stopped as a crazy angry woman was banging on the window ?

 

[rabatsa]

Do you have a walking muzzle the dog can wear? I find these work far better on greyhounds than buster collars which can be problematic to keep on.

 

[Aru]

A licked wound won't heal quickly or in some cases at all. The tongues constantly removing the upper layer of cells.
A moist one will struggle to contract down.

Keep it dry,clean and safe from the tongue, then give it time.
If it's not infected it'll eventually granulate over and scar down. If it's in a high motion area it will take a very long time as the tissue bed is constantly being moved and struggles to knit..If it's licked by the dog expect the same issue.
Honey etc isn't often used after the granulation bed is set as it's not needed.

If all the above has happened and still no luck needs to examined again by a vet because somethings hindering the normal healing process.

 

[melamory]

Greyhound got a clean, deep glass cut back of leg from heel to just below knee, exposed tendon. Lucky bit to cut anything vital. Trip to vet, no skin for stitches so just advised to dress, keep clean, apply manuka honey, also given 5 days antibiotics. Luckily she’s had no infections and wound has stayed clean. Now open to air but is not scabbing and skin margins have healed leaving an open wound which has liquid film. No discomfort and I wash three times a day with hibiscrub. Like treating a small human bedsore. Will it ever ‘heal’? It’s been a six weeks. Any suggestions? Bet still says just keep it clean.

Sorry to hear this, we've been in a similar situation before - I haven't tried the Manuka honey, but one of my dogs had a wound on her leg where there was no skin. Took some time to heal, no infection, no red skin, just a very slow healing process. As Lipglosspukka, maybe it's cleaning the wound too much. Or maybe it's a slow regeneration. The best you can do is to keep the wound clean (I'm talking not about washing but prevention - bandages and/or socks for wound dressing).

Also don't want to sound gloomy - but what about glucose issues? Or have you tested your pet recently?

 

[laura_nash]

Many years ago my old greyhound had a huge open wound on her shoulder (burst abcess after serious blood poisoning from a blackthorn). I remember it seemed to take forever to fully heal, maybe 4 months in total. She couldn't wear a standard collar so we used a normal plastic cage-type muzzle when needed to stop licking. We were advised to keep cleaning to a minimum and used a cream daily to keep it moist, can't remember which one as it was a long time ago. It seemed at the time like it would never heal, but it did eventually and it stopped bothering her long before it fully healed.

 

[Baccara]

I feel your pain. Ive owned greyhounds and lurchers for many years and their wounds are notoriously diffficult to heal. They do seem to take longer than normal dogs. The last injury on my lurcher, (along gash on his side, after running through bushes) seem to take for ever. It would start to heal, and unless I watched him constantly, one lick and back to square one! I bought very expensive non stick healing plasters, fixed as best I could with vetwrap, and only changed every 4 or 5 days. And muzzled, and muzzled and muzzled. Much longer than we were both happy with. But over the years, a muzzle is the only option with a long dog. They have such long pointy noses, which seem to be able to wriggle in anywhere and a muzzle does seem tobe able to stop the licking. You may have to tape over areas where they can get there tongue through. I do understand how frustrating these wounds can be, but it will heal in time, you just have to be on your guard the whole time which can be exhausting. Best of luck x

 

[DiNozzo]

What colour is the wound?

If it looks more like raspberry jam than strawberry it's infected, and I'd probably ask for an iodine dressing.