Sore leg

[Nanny71]

Join our free community today.

Connect with other like-minded dog lovers!

Login or Register

Just a bit of advice please. Dudley has a small spot on his front leg. He has been continually licking it and is making it sore. I have been cleaning it, there is no oozing but I am having trouble stopping him licking. Should I trim the fur around it or just leave it? When I say little, on a person it is about pimple size. It is completely flat and if he hadn't been licking it I probably wouldn't have seen it.
I do have some mild antiseptic cream for dogs, should I use it or just leave it?

 

[JoanneF]

It might just be a sting or bite, I would just use something that is safe if licked (your ointment or maybe TCP?) and see if it goes down after a day or two.

 

[merlina]

Could be either of the above or something else like a foreign object got under the skin. (Seeds at this time of year). Don't leave it too long before getting advice. If it becomes a hot spot they're easy to get and harder to calm down.

 

[leashedForLife]

.

Yes! - definitely stop the licking. // i’d put a cone collar AKA Elizabethan collar on him, if U have one; a mosquito bite can blow-up into a nasty wet, oozing sore that won’t close for weeks, & it can literally happen overnight or in the span of a single day.
Look up “hot spots” for samples of the damage done; a hot-spot also isn’t an end result, even worse is the compulsive damage done when licking becomes habitual, called lick granuloma or acral lick dermatitis (ALD).

If U don’t own or can’t buy a cone-collar, use a multi-layer bandage, wet to dry, with aloe gel (food grade) or antibacterial ointment on the gauze directly over the spot, then a dry gauze wrap, then a SOCK over both legs (both fore or both hind) linked by ELASTIC over his back, & finally a layer of Vet-Wrap wound in a slightly overlapping spiral, up the injured leg.
The sock on the uninjured leg is purely for distraction.

If he hasn’t stopped attempting to lick that leg by tomm AM, i’d head for the vets’ ASAP.
Hope he quits messing with it soon!

- terry

.

 

[Nanny71]

Thank you everyone for advice. I put a light bandage on last night so he didn't lick it. Has gone sort of brown instead of red this morning. Vet not open today Bank Holiday but will take him tomorrow.
He doesn't make any attempt to take the bandage off just sulks big time

 

[Josie]

I noticed a hot spot on one of the dogs I walked so I cleaned the wound and made him wear a cone of shame so he couldn’t lick it. Just 24 hours of not licking and it had dried up.