Treating cut pads

[galaxy]

Any tips?

Harley sliced the pad in the back of his leg yesterday. I cleaned it with hibiscrub then left it. But found that if he knocked it he opened it up and it bled again. So put a square of animalintex on it as padding and vetwrap to protect it.

He doesn't seem bothered by it at all. But if anyone could give me any tips I'd be grateful? How long do these things take to heal up? How long should I protect it for? My instincts is to keep it clean and dry....?

 

[Havannah]

Hi Galaxy

My retriever did exactly the same thing but to a front pad. Like you I simply cleaned it, disinfected it and dressed it. She wasn't bothered by other than making it her life's mission to remove the hot pink vet wrap that I'd chosen for her!

I cleaned the wound and reapplied the dressing every couple of days as she was out and about on it as usual whilst it healed. Once the flap of skin started knitting together with the main pad again I stopped the cleaning and simply changed the dressing for another dry dressing and new vet wrap.

From memory (it was about 5 years ago), I think that the dressing stayed on about 2 weeks - but obvioulsly it depend on the severity of the cut and how active the dog is.

Vet did advise walking on pavements/roads rather than across fields as the impact of a hard surface apparently speeds up the healing process.

Glad to say Kizzy made a complete recovery and has thankfully avoided any similar injuries since.

Hope your do makes a full recovery.

 

[CorvusCorax]

I'm probably regarded as a hard cow but my dog has sliced his pads a few times (tossers having bonfires at the beach and leaving glass around everywhere) and I just spray disinfectant then spray plaster (both for humans, available at boots) and exercise on grass until it's healed, I can't be faffing about with dressings as he will just eat them/me when I try to apply them
Having said that they were just superficial slices/punctures rather than deep cuts.

Think he usually improves after a week. He is a bit of a drama queen and the more I fussed, the more pronounced the limp!!