Small cut - advice

[Gorgeous George]

Ok I'm new to all this, George came in this morning with a small cut on his lower hind (1.5cm long, not on joint) and there was a bit of blood down his leg.I've cleaned it with warm clean water and an antispetic wipe and put some wound powder on. Just wanted to know if I've done the right thing, at 5.30am there was noone around at the yard to ask! I'm like a new mum with a baby at the moment - somewhat clueless!!

 

[AmyMay]

Perfect!

 

[alicep]

yup sounds fine. with the samll niks you just need to clean them and put an antiseptic on it just like you have done.

 

[Theresa_F]

Exactly right.

Other thing you could have done was to put a bit of purple spray on instead of wound powder - I prefer this on scrapes.

Other good thing to use if there are a lot of flies about is a product called seal to heal - does what it says.

 

[Gorgeous George]

What on earth is purple spray???

 

[serena2005]

spray thats purple!! lol

i use wound power, some people just prefere to use the spray.

 

[Thistle]

My vet says to never use wound powder. It clogs the wound up and interferes with the healing process.

The dermagel / vetlintex gels are very good. NAF do a good Teatree and Aloe vera cream.

In fact the vet calls wound powder the invention of the devil as often an owner will put it on, the wound is more serious than they thought (although it doesn't sound as though your is) and the vet can not then stitch of repair as it is all so clogged up.

Doubt you have done any damage on the type of wound you have but worth remembering for the future.

 

[Gorgeous George]

Ok. Yes I kind of guessed that purple spray was a spray that was purple!! I'm assuming it is something antiseptic that you can pick up from the saddlers, or is it best to just use the gel mentioned above?

 

[cyearsley]

Hi George, what you did is absolutely fine, sprays, powder, gel, it's a matter of choice. Gels are great as a barrier, ie if you have small cut and you want to work in a sand school etc, powders can dry it out which is what you may also want so is up to you. Purple spray is indeed a kind of germ killing spray which is good but can get messy (especially when you're clumsy like me!) The post about gels is correct as long as single use, vets like them because they encourage healing and are sterile but once open aren;t sterile anymore so single use tubes are ideal but can work out costly. I use Green Oils gel which is fantastic or Dermagel I believe is also very good. I also have a single use Vetalintex (think that's what its called) in my first aid kit if it's for more than a minor scrape. Just a anothe word of advice as you said you are new to this, if you think in any instance any cut needs stitching, only clean it and protect if necessary, don't put anything on it at all cream or spray as will make vets life easier and call them straight away as stitching needs to be done very quickly after injury - hope that helps and welcome to the world of happiness and no money !! CLY

 

[bex1984]

You did the right thing. I use a little diluted hibiscrub to clean wounds - it's about £4 a bottle, can get it in most tack shops and a bottle lasts ages. It's quite a useful thing to have around.

 

[MagicMelon]

Purple spray is no better than any other antiseptic type spray IMO. Its quite traditional stuff so some people still swear by it! Ive never used it! Any spray or gel made for horsey wounds is fine

 

[Maeshowe]

Being from farming stock I tend to clean it up and then spray it with Terramycin or Alamycin which is probably the technical name for purple spray (although mine's blue/green)

Only needs sprayed once and then let it scab over - its amazing how many bumps, cuts and scratches you'll see over the years and it'll just come with experience which ones need to incur a £100+ vet bill for!!!!