You’re out walking your dog and, before you know it, you spot its blood on the ground! You don’t need to be a vet to know how to treat a cut on a dog. But you do need to know the difference between a mild wound and a severe one and how to apply some basic first-aid skills to the situation. You also need to know that, later, when it comes to medication, you may be out of your league and should contact a vet for that.
Nevertheless, the principal factor in knowing how to treat a cut on a dog is to understand how to evaluate a wound first. This is important because some wounds may heal better if left in the open to drain and prevent infection, while others need to be bandaged or even stitched and then protected from further trauma. In all cases, the cut must be cleansed and disinfected first. How much of this labor you want to take on yourself depends on understanding the type of wound that you’re facing.
Steps For How To Treat A Cut On A Dog
Follow these basic steps to know how to treat a cut on a dog:
-
Restrain the dog to keep it from nipping at you.
The dog is injured and scared. It’s imperative that you keep it calm and restrained. Speak softly and reassuringly to it, making sure you can work on the wound without the dog attempting successfully to keep you from it.
-
Inspect the wound and assess its nature.
Is it one of the following: An abrasion caused by friction that scraped the skin against a coarse surface, or a laceration that cut into the flesh, or a puncture that pierced a hole into the dog, or an avulsion that has peeled off and left flesh detached from its proper place?
-
Remove hair from the wound.
If the wound is not a deep laceration or an avulsion, apply a water-based lubricant like KY-jelly (not petroleum jelly) on the hair that is on it or surrounding it and, using a pair of electric clippers or scissors with extreme caution, remove the hair from the wound area. This will facilitate the next step in how to treat a cut on a dog.
-
Clean the wound of debris.
Make use of running water to remove dirt or dust. Then use tweezers carefully and gently to extract readily visible and accessible materials that did not penetrate too deeply to require surgical intervention. If you notice foreign matter too deeply lodged for extraction except by an expert, the dog will need debridement. Take the animal immediately to the veterinarian. Else, continue with the next step.
-
Bathe the cleansed wound with disinfectant to prevent bacterial contamination.
If the wound is a puncture injury from a bite, for example, after using clean water to rinse the area from filth, loose hairs and surface saliva, take a saline solution (dissolve 1 tsp. of salt in 2 cups of water) or diluted povidone-iodine into a syringe and wash the wound directly with a stream of solution to kill bacteria in it. Disinfection prevents abscesses, that is, the build-up of pus pockets that would later need to be lanced and drained, causing more trauma.
-
Pat dry the wound.
Using a clean cotton towel, gently apply pressure to stop any bleeding and dry the surface of the wound. If bleeding stops, you’re ready for the next step.
-
Apply antimicrobial ointment for dogs.
To reduce the risk of infection as the wound heals, use a topical antibiotic ointment such as Panalog, which is formulated specifically for dogs. Neosporin or Mycitracin, which humans use, are not harmful to dogs. But always check with your vet in case your dog has allergies. Do not apply the ointment in extremely sensitive parts of the body, such as the eyes, as this can do more damage than good. And follow the next two steps to avoid the dog licking the wound and ingesting the ointment, causing intestinal issues.
-
Decide whether the wounds need to remain bandaged.
Different wounds receive diverse types of bandaging. But the central idea to all bandages is to stop the bleeding while protecting the damaged area to allow the body to begin the healing process. If the wound stops bleeding and seems like it could heal without bandaging, then leave it exposed or with a small band-aide on it.
-
Bandage the wound in layers of protection.
However, if you deem it necessary to bandage, then follow the next 3 steps: 1) apply a sensible amount of porous material to a dry wound. This allows the wound to breathe while the padding absorbs excess sweat or seeping fluid. 2) Apply a secondary layer of soft gauze to wrap the wound in preparation for a third and final layer. 3) Apply a last layer using the more traditional elastic even synthetic bandage that protects against dirt penetrating the deeper layers. Be careful not to stretch the elastic too much as, upon distending, it will constrict the wound too much and may even cut circulation. See the video below for a demonstration from a trained veterinarian on how to treat a cut on a dog’s paw by bandaging it.
-
Keep the dog from grooming the bandage off.
The dog will naturally feel uncomfortable with its injury or wearing a bandage and will want to groom it. Any open wound that the dog might lick risks becoming infected by the dog’s saliva, as would also any bandages risk becoming undone by the dog’s effort to get to the wound to groom it. Have the dog wear an Elizabethan collar to keep from touching its wound either with its mouth or its paws, if the wound is on its face.
How to Apply a Bandage to a Dog’s Cut
Applying a bandage to a dog’s wound in fundamental to knowing how to treat a cut on a dog, yet it may be the trickiest step to complete without first seeing someone do it. Below you find two videos showing you how to bandage a dog’s cut on the paw, which is a more common place where a dog might get a cut. Further below is a video showing you how to address a more severe wound – one displaying significant bleeding from a more traumatic wound.
When dealing with a hemorrhaging wound, the number one objective is to stop the bleeding and rush the dog to the animal hospital. The video below introduces you to an excellent tool to carry with you in your pet first-aid pack whenever you step out to walk your dog. It also shows you how to apply it. It is known as an “Israeli Bandage”.
For an explanation on what makes the “Israeli Bandage” such a special tool for animal and human alike in stopping a hemorrhaging wound, watch the next video which demonstrates more than what the instructions on the package will show you.
The Israeli Bandage is designed for war trauma wounds that used to require soldiers to have to find a heavy object in the field, such as a rock or heavy piece of metal, to apply on top of a bandage to keep from bleeding to death. As the video above explains, it is designed to generate over 30 lbs. of pressure on a wound to stop the blood outflow and keep the victim alive until you can get it to the hospital. It is an indispensable tool for anyone taking a dog out into open country to hunt or where it can run into a bad fight with a wild animal, or even in the city where it can run into trouble from aggressive dogs never taught to be calmed.
Although first used by NATO soldiers in the Balkans in the ‘90s, it is an American product that has been in use by the military since turn of the millennium in its Middle East campaigns, to which it may owe its name. With over 9 feet (2.75 mts) of vacuum-sealed elastic bandage 3 inches (7.62 cm) wide, the “Israeli Bandage” can be wrapped around any part of the body after placing its thick, sterile pad on the wound to absorb the bleeding. This makes the bandage very unique in what it can accomplish while remaining so compact.
This bandage is also valuable when combined with a first-aid technique that involves having to dress a potentially deadly wound such as a chest puncture to a lung, an evisceration that can disembowel your dog or a cut to the jugular. For these wounds there is more than pressure to include in your bandaging technique. You should create an air-tight or water-tight barrier over a wound as best you can to keep the body sealed while you rush the animal to the doctor.
This type of bandaging is called an occlusive dressing and you can learn a bit about it in the two videos below. It’s good to become aware of this technique to know how to treat a cut on a dog when the cut is extremely severe, and time is of the essence to keep the dog alive.
First-Aid Kit Recommendation for Treating a Life-Threatening Cut On a Dog
Whether it’s a dog or a human whose cut you may need to treat on an emergency, you may need the appropriate equipment in hand to carry out basic first aid services. An excellent kit to consider, containing the aforementioned “Israeli Bandage” is the Delta Provision Co. Tactical Medical Trauma Tool Kit (check pricing here at Amazon.com).
This first-aid kit contains a combat tourniquet, an Israeli compression bandage and a roll-up splint. As explained before, the Israeli bandage is excellent for immediate treatment of open wounds, while the addition of a combat-style tourniquet to your first-aid kit ensures you have the means to deal with the immediate shutting off of blood flow while you apply the bandage, as you will rapidly need to deal with dressing a wound while applying pressure to end the hemorrhaging.
You never know if the injury that caused the serious cut on the dog may also involve broken bones, disabling the animal from movement. And it’s always best to prevent an injury than to treat one, especially for easy to overlook body parts such as a dog paw. Learn how dog’s paws need special protection. And having a rigid splint in hand that easily rolls up for use because of its pliable foam that you can cut to the perfect size will ensure that you provide the right support for any bone needing it the most. The Delta Provision Co. Tactical Medical Trauma Tool Kit is also a type of modular gear that can be attached to other MOLLE (pronounced Molly) equipment, such as vests, backpacks, pouches, etc. for those outdoor enthusiasts who may appreciate receiving one from you as a gift.
Since the kit is especially designed to arrest hemorrhaging of the extremities, it is recommended that you also buy hemostatic gauze and medical tape because they are not included with the kit for use with less severe wounds. You will also need them to carry out sustained care once you achieve an immediate stabilization of the injured dog. Keep in mind, however, that the bag is quite compact. If you wish to fit these extra items plus some medical gloves and a pair of scissors and tweezers, you will need to buy an additional and separate pouch for them.
The whole point of learning how to treat a cut on a dog is to be prepared for any type of injury, no matter how severe, in the course of caring for your furry friend and dealing with severe dog anxiety symptoms resulting from injuries. Whether the injury is superficial or extreme, always be conscious of how much you can depend on your own skill before requiring assistance from professionals. And always have a first-aid kit nearby in case of emergencies. It too late to buy one once your dog has begun to bleed.