Puppy Ouchies

[Leigha]

So we got Anubis neutered about 10 days ago. It was part of our adoption contract, so we had to. He's been doing okay with it. He's been licking at it the last couple of days and it seems to be irritated, and like it might be starting to open. I can't tell though. I tend to blow things out of proportion and a scratch becomes a gaping flesh wound to me. We used to have this amazing wound balm stuff our vet gave us, but I have no idea where it is. We've looked and can't find it. Is there anything we can put on it that would help until we can get him to the vet if he ends up needing it? I was thinking neosporin or bacitracin or similar, but wasn't sure if it worked on dogs the same way it worked on people.

[rnor1120]

Did you get an e-collar (cone of shame) when you had him neutered? If so, put it on! Licking and biting at the wound will introduce bacteria, resulting in an infection. You can try some triple antibiotic ointment on the wound, but don't let him lick it up. E-collar, e-collar, e-collar!

[Suzette]

I agree that prevention can be a great course of action, but some dogs (and I had one) will absolutely shut down when you put a traditional, plastic e-collar on them. Even dogs who don't do this generally hate those collars because they cannot see through them, they are hard, large, unwieldy and completely eliminate a dogs peripheral vision. Here is a link to some alternatives (should you decide to go this route), that I think are much more humane and overall easier for the dog to accept. I especially love the video at the bottom showing how to make a collar from a towel, though I would be very careful how tightly it was placed for the dogs safety. And be very mindful of stairs when a dog has a collar of this type on - depending on the design, some make it difficult if not impossible for them to see stairs coming up and they can take a nasty tumble.
http://www.squidoo.com/aalternatives-to ... e-for-dogs

Oh, and yes, I have used neosporin and polysporin on my dogs over the years from time to time, never had an issue and it worked well. The problem is that it's greasy, so it actually encourages many dogs to want to lick it off once you put it on. Kind of defeats the purpose, though you might find one of the collars in the above link paired with an antibiotic cream would work well together.

[jodieohdoh]

When Ruaraidh was neutered, his wound healed well but he irritated his boy bits by licking them raw (think they were itching because he'd been shaved, maybe). The vet gave us Fuciderm to rub on twice a day, it healed up and apparently soothed the itching because he left it alone from that point on. Not sure if it's suitable for your situation or not!

[Leigha]

We did have an e-collar. He froze. As in wouldn't move. We put it on him and he absolutely wouldn't move. Walked away and left him for a little while and he was still right there in that spot when he came back. Thanks for the link Suzette. I'll check it out. We did end up doing some neosporin for him right before bedtime, and he left it alone for the most part. I think my husband is going to take him to the vet tomorrow. At least I'm going to try to get him to. It's not a financial issue, our vet will address the situation with no charge, I just can never tell if I'm overreacting or not.