Dog on the DL Already

Dakotazeb

Dakotazeb

Well-known member
First weekend and my Brittany is on the DL for a week to 10 days. She was hunting a grassy field with no fences in the area. She made a pass by me and was literally covered in blood. She had ripped a pretty big gash on the inside of her left rear leg. Blood was pouring out and with her running hard through the grass it was getting all over her body. I thought she maybe had multiple wounds. Got her back to the vehicle and washed off the blood to just find the one wound. Got the bleeding pretty much stopped so I used my surgical stapler to close the wound, treated it with an antibiotic spray then wrapped it in gauze, vet wrap and athletic tape. I cleaned her up more when I got home last night and re-bandaged the wound. I am taking her into the vet this afternoon to have them look at it just to make sure it doesn't become a problem. She was hobbling around on 3 legs last night but today is running on it and seems fine.

Careful out there guys and make sure you have a fully stocked first aid kit with you. We have to take care of our 4 legged friends.
 
Ive never used a stapler. Can you tell me which one you have or things to look for when buying one? I wish my wife would hunt with me, shes Got 27 years of nursing behind her.
 
Zeb ,
Sorry to hear about Bree wishing her a speedy and full recovery , like said above I would like to know more about the stapler and the process you used ?

I have had few bad cuts on dogs over 35 years of hunting , Vet wrap and clotting pads are in my hunting Vest at all times ,
 
There are a lot of different skin staplers out there. I don't know if one is better than the other. Some of the dog first aid kits contain a skin stapler. If you get a skin stapler be sure to also get the Staple Remover. If you do a search on YouTube there are several videos showing how to use them. It would probably be a good idea to visit with your vet about a stapler and it's use.

If the wound is in an area where your dog has a lot of hair it may be necessary to trim the hair away first. Bree's wound was on the inside of her rear leg in an area where she had very little hair so trimming wasn't necessary. Be sure to fully cleanse the wound first. If in doubt get the dog to a vet.

I did take Bree to the vet yesterday to make sure everything was okay. He said I did a good job and the wound look fine and didn't appear to have any infection started. He said I probably could have put in a couple more staples but what I did was ok. Staples need to stay in for about 10 days and I need to keep the area wrapped and apply an antibiotic ointment.
 
That's some bad luck.
 
Zeb has it all correct. I would emphasize a couple of areas.

THIS is very important. Do not staple hair into the wound.

Dakotazeb said:
If the wound is in an area where your dog has a lot of hair it may be necessary to trim the hair away first.
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Be sure to fully cleanse the wound first. If in doubt get the dog to a vet.
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Yep, get the debris out of there. You can flush with warm water extensively. I also carry Nolvasan solution for the final flush. (https://www.amazon.com/Fort-Dodge-1...=1540341040&sr=8-2&keywords=nolvasan+solution)

It doesn't hurt to have a tube of EMT Gel on hand either.
 
How do dogs respond to being stapled? (I assume this is done w/o any sort of anesthesia.)
 
BritChaser said:
How do dogs respond to being stapled? (I assume this is done w/o any sort of anesthesia.)
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I don't think they even know it's being done or been done. I suppose the wound itself hurts a lot more than a staple.

Please bear in mind that surgical staples are not like your common paper staples. That's why you need a special staple remover made for surgical staples to remove them.
 
throw a muzzle in your kit too; Obie will bite reactively, a hand bite makes it harder to get those staples in. A barb wire injury on the left front shoulder required staples in the field last year, then he went and ripped them out 2 days later tossing a ground hog in the air with the cone of shame on. Got the excited bite after the ground hog incident, but lidocaine hurts a lot more than a couple of staples in the hard headed world of my dog.
 
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