Dog has a cut on his leg

[AmazonQueen]

so I came home to my dog have this wicked gash on his leg...its just over an inch long and a centimeter deep my dad tried to stitch it himself (i told him it wasnt a good idea) but we cant afford a vet theres only one stitch because we could get him to sit still long enough so he has ONE stitch that hardly holds it together and not a dressing.


I'm not sure what to do...advice?

[Let's kill tonight.]

Depending on the type of dog, it would vary how you treat this injury.. if the skin in thin on the leg it could be prone to tearing even more. If it's deep, it wont heal on its own, and stitching it without professional help is a really bad idea because it can become prone to infection. Usually the dog would go on antibiotics such as Metronidazole to prevent infection, especially if it was cut on metal wire etc. So instead of this you should find antibacterial cream, I guess even stuff you use on humans would do. In the UK, humans can use steri-strips to help close deep wounds, and you can buy them from pharmacies and stuff for like 90p for a strip of 5. I'm not sure what they're called in Canada but I'm sure if you do a quick google search or go into a pharmacy and ask they could tell you what you're looking for. Essentially they are used instead of stiching the wound, and help bring it together. You can read more here. You'll need to prevent your dog from licking/chewing the stitches so I advise putting a bandage around the wound, maybe only at night when you can't tell the dog to stop, so it can air during the day. I hope this helps and you're dog is OK soon!

[TheBabyEater]

If you can't get your dog to sit still for real stitches, maybe you could try butterfly stitches, or steri strips. They're basically like super bandaids. You might have to shave the hair around the cut if you haven't already, I'm not sure how well they would stick on hair! To put these on, you'll need one person to hold together the cut while the other person places the bandage across it horizontally. Make sure to put some sort of antibaterial stuff on it as well, neosporin works without pain, but peroxide works better. Just be prepared for a big yelp! You should also get some bandages and wrap it up real good, and if he starts to chew at it, you can get some of those cones at Petsmart. It should start healing up soon, but if it starts to look infected, you might want to rethink consulting a vet...

Good luck to both of you!

[AmazonQueen]

Well all that stuff sounds great but it's hard enough to get my dog to sit still to get his claws trimmed or ears cleaned shaving him will be worse...and my dad is very stubborn he thinks one stitch and covering it will be good but if it hasn't improved by day 3 I'm going to push to go to the vet and use my christmas money if I have to. I hope 83 dollars will be enough to cover at least half.

[TheBabyEater]

How many people do you have in your family? My dog is diabetic, and while she's fine and dandy during shots, we have to hold her down if we ever need to check her blood sugars. We have one person doing the actual check, one person alone holding the leg/paw we need to check, and another person holding the rest of the body, usually the strongest person available! I imagine some steri strips would be better, because they don't hurt at all. Other than not wanting the would to be touched, hopefully he won't jerk around too much.

[JKmadu619]

Try dressing the wound with alchohol, or even better, iodine. It will stop infection and speed healing, but your dog may find it stings. Trust me though, it will help.

- Justin

[AmazonQueen]

It's only me and my dad, we can't hold a black lab down and stitch him AND hold his leg all at once and he don't have iodine, my dad doesn't want to listen to me he thinks he knows best.

[AmazonQueen]

Thought I'd let you guys know, we took the bandages off today and his leg is healing up nicely. Thanks for all your advice.

[TheBabyEater]

Yayy!!

*dances*