Will This Wound Need Stitching?

[jezza]

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Molly has cut herself on something in a hedge yesterday and got a bit of a tear. I've bathed it in salt water and tried to cover it but she ripped it off! Looking at it now I think that it might need a stitch or two so I've got her booked into the vets at 11.50 but I have no experience of skin tears so I wondered if anyone thought that this might heal on its own?

 

[Angel44]

I would say that it would probably heal on its own, but would obviously leave a scar and probably a little bald patch. To stitch it now may mean having to make the wound a bit larger in order to have healthy edges to stitch together. Stitching would leave less of a scar and heal quicker I would think. Good luck at the vets :luck:

 

[nicky12]

AWW poor molly hope they sort it out at the vets ,sending lots of :huggles: :huggles:

 

[Trish]

poor molly :huggles:

looks almost identical to finleys wound and he had to have his stitched

 

[controversial]

that looks exactly the same as finleys.and the same place. so ended up been stitched.9stitches in the end healed in a week .could have left it but would have taken to long to heal,because of its position :luck: molly

 

[Rae]

I would say that it would probably heal on its own, but would obviously leave a scar and probably a little bald patch.  To stitch it now may mean having to make the wound a bit larger in order to have healthy edges to stitch together.  Stitching would leave less of a scar and heal quicker I would think.  Good luck at the vets  :luck:

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Totally agree. I'd have it stitched :luck:

 

[dessie]

Definitely suture!

 

[jezza]

Aaaaargh I've cancelled the appointment for now! My OH came home and said he didn't think it needed it so I rung the vet and they said to leave it for a while to see if it heals by itself but obviously keep an eye on it and look out for infection. I think I'll make an appointment for tommorrow just in case now :sweating:

 

[Jessr123]

My vet always says if you think it might need stitching then get them in straight away as the longer you leave it, the edges of the wound loose their blood supply and become harder to heal together. He would rather be bothered than not, and if it doesn't need stitching he wont charge the earth as he wants what is best for the dog.

 

[jezza]

Quick update - well I made another appointment for 5pm tonight but overnight the wound has started to dry out and scab over, and has started to knit together at the top. I was very suprised when I saw it this morning as I was expecting it to be worse. I am at work today so I will have to check the wound again when I get home and assess whether she still needs to see a vet. I am just hoping that it hasn't reopened when I am at work :unsure:

 

[gabbitas31]

Don't be too quick to go running to the vets. My dogs has got a similar wound at the moment, caused by barbed wire. It to scabbed over and was mending lovely until yesterday when he knocked the scab off. Back to stage one, mending fine again but must stop him licking it. A lot of vets want to stitch, just to make money, but most of the time they heal fine. only my opinion and i would never let any of my dogs suffer unnecessarily. :angry: When Pip died my vet bill was £1,400 so money is no object when it comes to my babies.

Good luck with the wound. :thumbsup: Diane.

 

[jezza]

Don't be too quick to go running to the vets. My dogs has got a similar wound at the moment, caused by barbed wire. It to scabbed over and was mending lovely until yesterday when he knocked the scab off. Back to stage one, mending fine again but must stop him licking it. A lot of vets want to stitch, just to make money, but most of the time they heal fine. only my opinion and i would never let any of my dogs suffer unnecessarily. :angry:   When Pip died my vet bill was £1,400 so money is no object when it comes to my babies. Good luck with the wound. :thumbsup: Diane.

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Yes thats why I've been a bit hesitant because I don't really want to have to have her sedated and stitched if possible, I just panic about infection getting in. I work in a microbiology lab at the moment and see all manner of nasties so I tend to panic a bit :b

My only worry is that it will keep reopening as the dogs tend to enjoy a good scrap :lol: I can obviously stop any fighting when I am there but not when I'm at work. They do however mostly sleep when I'm not there so I think it will be fine. To be honest, I think they only fight for our attention anyway! I have on occasion caught them cuddling when they thought we couldn't see

 

[dessie]

Don't be too quick to go running to the vets. My dogs has got a similar wound at the moment, caused by barbed wire. It to scabbed over and was mending lovely until yesterday when he knocked the scab off. Back to stage one, mending fine again but must stop him licking it. A lot of vets want to stitch, just to make money, but most of the time they heal fine. only my opinion and i would never let any of my dogs suffer unnecessarily. :angry:   When Pip died my vet bill was £1,400 so money is no object when it comes to my babies. Good luck with the wound. :thumbsup: Diane.

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I'm sorry but I disagree totally. The wound will get bigger before it starts to heal, it cannot 'scab over' because the two edges are too far apart and the dog will obviously want to lick an open wound thereby also causing it to stay open for longer. Once sutured the dog will ignore it and there will be less chance of infection. I wouldn't have gone on a Sunday to a Vet for a wound that size, the next day would be fine but a couple of sutures will be much more beneficial.

What you don't want is your Vet giving the dog a GA and clippering half its hair off, a wound like that can be done in a matter of minutes without even a local anaesthetic and minimum hair clipping but that, of course, depends of how good you are at holding the dog and how used the dog is to being handled to stand quietly.

 

[gabbitas31]

Just apply some wound power and let nature take it's course, but licking will only keep it most and may tare it open, so try to avoid licking. good luck. :thumbsup: Diane.

 

[jezza]

I haven't actually got any wound powder but I have ordered a few bits from vetuk for if anything like this happens again.

Dessie - she got the cut on saturday which is why I was waiting to see how it went. The wound did look a bit bigger yesterday afternoon which is why I panicked and phoned the vets back up and made another appointment! She hasn't been licking the wound, Lenny had a go but she soon told him what she thought of that. Anyway, I will see how it is when I get home and make a decision from there. If she does need to go I think that they might be able to do it without sedation, she is quite a calm dog so it should be ok )

 

[gabbitas31]

Don't be too quick to go running to the vets. My dogs has got a similar wound at the moment, caused by barbed wire. It to scabbed over and was mending lovely until yesterday when he knocked the scab off. Back to stage one, mending fine again but must stop him licking it. A lot of vets want to stitch, just to make money, but most of the time they heal fine. only my opinion and i would never let any of my dogs suffer unnecessarily. :angry:   When Pip died my vet bill was £1,400 so money is no object when it comes to my babies. Good luck with the wound. :thumbsup: Diane.

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I'm sorry but I disagree totally. The wound will get bigger before it starts to heal, it cannot 'scab over' because the two edges are too far apart and the dog will obviously want to lick an open wound thereby also causing it to stay open for longer. Once sutured the dog will ignore it and there will be less chance of infection. I wouldn't have gone on a Sunday to a Vet for a wound that size, the next day would be fine but a couple of sutures will be much more beneficial.

What you don't want is your Vet giving the dog a GA and clippering half its hair off, a wound like that can be done in a matter of minutes without even a local anaesthetic and minimum hair clipping but that, of course, depends of how good you are at holding the dog and how used the dog is to being handled to stand quietly.

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My other dog had a cut on the back of his front leg which went across the blood flow, so by right the wound wouldn't heal because the blood as you know flows down the leg, the vet to my surprise wouldn't stitch or glue it, and told me to continue to keep it clean and bandaged it every day, after four days i was told to take the bandage off and let the air get to it, which I did and it healed great. This is only may opinion and if you rather take it to the vet carry on.

No offence meant in this post at all, just my advise. :thumbsup: Diane

 

[gilliwigs]

Hope Molly's wound heals quickly Lucy, with or without stiches. :thumbsup:

 

[whippetmad]

Max my Dachsie had a nasty bite on head recently(General dog discussion forum) and it was simular to that although a bit bigger,the vet gave me the choice to leave it as it was or have it stitched,i had it stitched as there was no way i was going to leave it opened.

 

[whippynit]

Molly has cut herself on something in a hedge yesterday and got a bit of a tear. I've bathed it in salt water and tried to cover it but she ripped it off! Looking at it now I think that it might need a stitch or two so I've got her booked into the vets at 11.50 but I have no experience of skin tears so I wondered if anyone thought that this might heal on its own?

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Mine would be straight off to the vets if had a wound like that, better safe than sorry IMO :thumbsup: Hope shes feeling better soon whatever you decide :luck: :thumbsup:

 

[jezza]

Well I got home and checked the wound and it had indeed opened up again unfortunately so we took her to the vets and she is booked in tomorrow for stitching. Poor little Moll