As most of you probably already know, Mya got hurt while biking on the camping trip and has a pretty nasty cut on her paw. We cleaned it, put Neosporin, bandaged it, and put a bootie on her so that she won't rip off the bandage. This was last night. All day today she's been down and limping a bit. We just removed the bandaging to clean it up and it was wet (not sure from what) and a little bloody. We put more Neosporin and wrapped it up, but didn't put the bootie to at least let it breathe a little. She immediately started obsessively licking at it and removed the bandage after 5min. I just put the muzzle back on her (not an easy task with her) to let it breathe for a while.

Here are the pics. Do you think I should take her to the vet? Or just keep doing what we're doing? I don't want it to get infected and I know it needs to breathe, but that's impossible with her It looks like it might need stitches I think, but isn't there like a 24 hour window to get them?

This sucks!

Keep and eye out for infection if it doesn't then it'll scab other and heal on its own. Put the collar of shame on to prevent licking.

I need to go buy one after Kody destroyed his

While letting it breathe it will get dirty as well though. The spot that it's in gets covered in the dirt the minute she goes outside. Ahhh what to do!

Aww poor Mya! That looks painful! I hope it heals quickly!

Yea it needs to breathe, you should put the bootie on when going outside and take it off when inside to prevent the dirt. No stitches for this one, not enough skin on that part of the foot to close it up. Cone of shame is a must unfortunately Hope your pretty girl feels better soon!

Yeah, it's pretty crazy how dirty this house gets. It's come to a point that I don't stress it and let it be! By washing it out, you mean with water, right? The hydrogen peroxide stops it from healing is what I've heard. She's going to need a walk at least around the block or she won't let me live. LOL! She's been pretty down though. My poor diva

Yes warm water, or a warm wash cloth, to gentle cleanse it. Never peroxide, it kills everything, even the good bacteria that promotes healing. It should start looking better in a few days. If it starts ozzing you may need to take her to vet to get some antibiotics, but I doubt that will happen. From the picture, it looks like there is already granulation tissue starting, and that's a good thing

ETA- you may want to trim some of the fur around the wound if you can, that way when it starts to scab the fur wont get stuck. with those nose hair scissors or similar like ones lol

You can do an epson salt bath for the foot as well to keep it clean, we did that for sierra when her paw was infected. Soaked it a few times a day. Keep the bootie on for out side and only walk her for what she feels like doing, don't push her incase it opens up. Poor girl hope it heals fast.

Ebson salts are awesome for wounds!

Poor baby! Hope she heals up quickly.

Poor Mya

Brooke - what do you think of Vetericyn - either before or after the neosporin?

Since my pooches spent their first month together trying to kill each other - I got to use this stuff often (on some pretty deep bites) and it was awesome! Recommended by our doggie day care.

http://www.petco.com/product/114010/Vetericyn-Animal-Wound-and-Infection-Care.aspx?cm_mmc=CSEMGoogleAdExtProd-_-Dog-_-Vetericyn-_-1409409&mr:trackingCode=2E59A16F-4823-E011-AD27-0019B9C043EB&mr:referralID=NA&mr:adType=pla&gclid=CLL6ks2oi64CFWQ0Qgodth3j4A

You know, I've heard of it but never used it. After reading about it just now and looking through all the reviews I think it's definitely something that I'll have to get to have on hand! I don't even know if you would need the neosporin with it, but if you were to use both I'd use the Vetericyn first, let it soak in for a few minutes then apply the neosporin.

This is the best stuff for wounds like that http://www.pethealthandnutritioncenter.com/buck-mountain-botanicals-wound-balm-for-pets.html It provides a "seal" to keep out contaminates and is all natural.

Thanks guys! I don't think I would be able to hold her paw in an ebson bath for more than 30 seconds though I have to go buy a cone of shame so I'm going to look into the Vetericyn at Pet Supermarket. Hopefully they have it. Petco is further away from my house.

its a struggle to get the paw to soak but try it. i got a system down for sierra when we were doing it. make sure its luke warm, 30sec is better then none.

Ugh, Mya is being such a crabby pants This whole putting on the bootie every time I let them out isn't going to work. I let them out at least 3-4 times from the time that I get home until 10:30pm. She does NOT like you touching her paw AT ALL. Even with the muzzle on it's still a little process to hold her down and put it on tight enough so that it won't come off.

I think I'm going to leave her with the bootie on in the evenings. I got the cone of shame so she can sleep with it on and keep it on during the day. A few hours of it being covered shouldn't do too damage, I don't think.