Why couldn't you just leave them alone!

June 24, 2007 5:17 AM

Dog got cut on leg. Dog got 4 stitches. Dog rips out stitches. Vet is closed. Now what?

My dog got a cut on his back knee yesterday and the vet stitched it up. He's absolutely terrified of the cones (never stops pacing and panting, never sleeps), so we had a pair of shorts on him. Somewhere in the 6 hours we were asleep, he managed to get the shorts off and pull out all of his stitches. He's not bleeding, it was just an ugly cut. We've cleaned it out and got the cream they gave us on it and he's on antibiotics. He also had another bad cut about 6 months ago that couldn't get stitches, so we know the general drill, but I've had a dog with stitches before. Do they have to go back in since he had them initially? Can I just treat it like I did the other one? I know these are questions for my vet, but they are closed on Sunday, and I just wanted to make sure he's fine to wait until Monday and get an idea of if we are going to be ok without the stitches longterm, since we really can't spend another $400 for stitches.

posted by JonahBlack to pets & animals (23 comments total)

Steri strips?
posted by A189Nut at 6:16 AM on June 24, 2007

My dog is famous for lacerating the pads on her feet.

Solution: HARDCORE irrigation, preferably with something w/ some pressure, like a needle-less syringe. They won't like this. I was advised to use Hydrogen Peroxide, yes I'm aware it kills cells, but it also gets out the germies.

DRY IT COMPLETELY.

Wrap in gauze at least a couple inches below and above the wound.

Then wrap in this neato rubbery-gauzey stuff, it sort of sticks to itself but is way tougher than gauze. I went ahead and taped it on just for good measure. Make sure you go above and below the gauze.

Spray the bejeesus out of the outside layer w/ Bitter Apple or cinnamon water or hot-pepper water.

Keep a close eye on the huendchen and admonish it whenever it touches the bandage. Give him something yummy to chew on like a fancy new bone or something.

That worked for me repeatedly. YMMV.

Oh, and if the wound is opening, you should consider taping it shut w/ butterfly bandages or even gauze+tape---that's the scary part, because buggers get down inside, and you DON'T want a blood or bone infection. You can take the tape all around the leg, but be advised you're going to have to take it OFF too, so the easy-tear tape or pre-wrapping w/ gauze is recommended.
posted by TomMelee at 6:19 AM on June 24, 2007

The wound is right at his knee and we know from experience that no bandage will stay on the knee, no matter how sticky it is. Our vet said she can't get things to stay there either. Using butterfly bandages is an idea though.
posted by JonahBlack at 6:24 AM on June 24, 2007

Superglue is used as a stitch replacement.
posted by acro at 6:48 AM on June 24, 2007

3M™ Vetbond™ Tissue Adhesive
3M Vetbond tissue adhesive is a valuable asset in the clinic. The adhesive is easy to apply and polymerizes in seconds to bind wound edges together.

• Strong bond
• Minimizes tissue trauma
• Reduces need for local analgesia
• Binds wound edges quickly
posted by acro at 6:50 AM on June 24, 2007

FDA recently approved it as well---pdf
posted by acro at 6:58 AM on June 24, 2007

Superglue is the way to go.
posted by bshort at 7:00 AM on June 24, 2007

They probably wouldn't stitch it again at this point, though they might Vetbond it. For today you could probably just put a cream-smeared gauze pad over it and wrap it up with vetwrap (or self-adhesive wrap at the drugstore, it's the crinkly-looking roll of stretchy stuff that sticks to itself) to keep it clean and keep him from licking it open.

I'd say change it every 4-6 hours just so you can keep an eye on it, and try to keep him quiet for the day. It's better to get air to it, but if you can just keep him from opening it back up for another 24 hours or so, chances are good it will stay closed.

There are soft cones that are a little less stressful, but I don't know how likely you are to find one at a pet store.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:15 AM on June 24, 2007

Can you splint the whole leg so that a bandage will stay on until the clinic reopens?
posted by BrotherCaine at 8:22 AM on June 24, 2007

Super glue, then back to the vet on Monday. It sounds like your care for your dog, so much so that he is a part of the family (as well he should be)!

My dog hates HAtes HATES the e-collar too, but some tough love is required if you want to do what's best for him. For future problems, please reconsider using it. We found that the clear plastic ones are much easier for him to tolerate.

I am not your vet in disguise.
posted by matty at 8:22 AM on June 24, 2007

I've had success with covering the wound with a sock. Cut the foot off a tube sock. Slide it over the cleaned wound like a sleeve. Tape heavily at top and bottom with self-adhesive roll followed athletic-style adhesive tape. Since my dog will work at the tape no matter what (bitter apple be damned!), I also tape as much of the sock-sleeve as I can, leaving some slack for the joint to bend, so he's got more to try to take off. It won't keep the wound sterile, but it will keep out dirt and keep him from licking off the topical cream.
posted by weebil at 8:48 AM on June 24, 2007

(Just so you know, Superglue into a fresh wound hurts more than you'd expect...I tried it once on a deeper-than-normal papercut. Once was enough).
posted by jamaro at 8:50 AM on June 24, 2007

"Then wrap in this neato rubbery-gauzey stuff, it sort of sticks to itself but is way tougher than gauze."

Ditto what everyone else said, but be careful when using this rubbery-gauzey stuff. It is really easy to wrap it too tight and it will cause swelling and worse.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 8:57 AM on June 24, 2007

For god's sake don't superglue or "hardcore irrigate" it yourself! You could make this into a much worse, MUCH more expensive to fix problem (I have seen a dog need a leg amputated because of an owner trying to do home repairs of this nature). Do you not have an emergency vet clinic you can go to? Failing that, I would bandage it well with polysporin or something similar, make yourself a bite-not collar (which your vet should have suggested if you mentioned your dog can't handle an elizabethan collar), and get to the vet tomorrow, if this was bad enough to need stitches, then it's bad enough to need the stitches replaced. To make a bite-not collar: take a large towel, fold it into thirds lengthwise until you have a long strip that has a width about the length of your dog's neck, then wrap it around the dog's neck numerous times (being careful not to inhibit breathing or swallowing, obviously) and tape it well with duct tape, you should end up with a stiff, cervical collar-looking thing around the dog's neck that only inhibits its ability to bend its neck around far enough to lick. If the dog can still reach, you need a wider strip, or a thicker towel.
posted by biscotti at 9:19 AM on June 24, 2007 [4 favorites]

Also, if the wound was able to be VetBonded (medical superglue), it likely would have been, not every wound is suitable for this, especially not large ones in areas of skin which have a lot of stress (like skin over joints), most vets only VetBond things like cat declaws, they don't tend to use it for things like this.
posted by biscotti at 9:22 AM on June 24, 2007

The Straight Dope suggests you be cautious when selecting a superglue for sealing a wound. I'd avoid it though since that will probably hamper the vet's options for further treatment.

Look for an urgent care vet.
posted by chairface at 10:06 AM on June 24, 2007

Keep it clean until the vet is open again. If you have a good vet they will probably put the stitches back in for free if you have already paid 400 for 4 stitches.

I would put a cone on my dog even though he hates it before supergluing the cuts closed BTW. You can also get alternatives to cones like inflatable donuts that go around the neck. These are good because they keep him from biting himself but dont restrict his field of vision as much which is what freaks them out.
posted by outsider at 10:14 AM on June 24, 2007

I bet if you call your normal vet right now the recording will give you a number to call in case of an emergency outside normal hours.

Even if you just call them and they say "tape a sock on until monday" (which worries me, since open weave fabric against open wounds would be exceptionally painful to pick off after. Not to mention lint getting in the wound) that's a better option than performing medical procedures on your dog on the advice of us internet people.
posted by Kellydamnit at 11:25 AM on June 24, 2007

As a man, I ashamed to say this, but I read in (my wife's) Woman's Day or equally 'house-wifey' magazine, that a great way to keep a dog from licking/biting a wound is to rub bar soap on the bandage.

So, assuming you go the route of bandaging it up somehow, rub some bar soap on the outside and your dog will take one or two licks and that will be that.

And for what it's worth, as a young teenager, I recall my mom grooming our Scottish Terrier. She thought she had a big mat of hair in her hand so she snipped it off. It wasn't hair, it was skin. The dog had about a 1 inch diamater hole in her leg. Pretty gross. My mom just threw some iodine on a gauze pad and wrapped medical tape around it and we cleaned it out every day until it healed. Of course, as an adult, I would be absolutely mortified and the dog would have gone straight to the vet for stitches.

I guess my point is that I imagine it wouldn't be the end of the world if the dog didn't get the stitches put back in as long as you take good care of it (if that was what you were asking). Safest bet - just call the vet and see if (s)he thinks it's absolutely necessary to get the stitches put back in. (I feel you on the vet bills, we currently have a sick dog who's probably going back to the vet for a second time tomorrow, when the vet opens. :-)
posted by MarkLark at 11:47 AM on June 24, 2007

You could try this google search...
posted by dersins at 11:58 AM on June 24, 2007

Spray the bejeesus out of the outside layer w/ Bitter Apple or cinnamon water or hot-pepper water.

We have used Anbesol as a lick-and-chew-repellent.
posted by Kwantsar at 12:20 PM on June 24, 2007

Inflatable collars might be easier for him to take than an e-collar. You can find it at Petco and the like. They're double walled so that your dog can't puncture them easily. Also, I have made a variant on biscotti's bite-not collar with cardboard instead of towels. It's less bulky and in my experience a little easier to work with. Just cut to size, roll it around his neck, don't pull it too taut, and tape down. There's an optimal width to make it so that he can lie down comfortably but can't get to the leg.
posted by hindmost at 1:30 PM on June 24, 2007

My wife is a vet assistant. She's reading this, and she's got this to say: The dog had better learn to live with the cone collar for a while. Yeah, it sucks, and the dog will be out of sorts for a while, but if you don't use the collar, it will only be a matter of time before the pooch tears out the next set of stitches. Unfortunately, this is one of those cases that calls for some tough love. You can put shorts or anything else on it, but if the dog can reach the wound, and wants to get to it, it will find a way past any covering you've got on it. This includes chewing off and devouring any gauze or bandages you might put on it, which happens more often than you might think. If that happens, those stitches may end up being the least of your worries. If an inflatable collar works, great, but whatever you do, it's important to find a way to keep the dog from being able to reach the wound. Once you do that, the rest is easy enough to take care of.
posted by azpenguin at 3:31 PM on June 24, 2007