cut in dogs pad

[crushers]

so little Billie loves chasing the chipmunks, never catches them and i swear they tease her into chasing them.
the chipmunks like to bury themselves under the snow under the cedar rail fence that surrounds the property. it seems that she was trying to dig to get to one of them and cut a clean 1/4" deep groove the full length of one of the pads ... blood everywhere. i went back and inspected the area, no metal (i clean the yard real well before first snow) but there was ice everywhere so i suspect she caught a sharp edge and the rest is marked in the snow.
that was last thurs.
we put polysporin on the cut and wrapped it well. at night we let the air at it.
after inspecting it again this morning there is no infection, no dirt that we can see, no blood but the cut isn't sealing up.
i have read and seen the idea of using Super Glue to stick the outer edges back together to allow proper healing.
i also read that stitches don't work cause the pad flexes so much and the dog chews at them.
suggestions?

i have a vet appointment this aft but i like to be informed before going in.

 

['74 UA FJ]

Let it ride. It probably won't heal back together but will heal on the inside and be fine.

 

[TLCandME]

Pics always help - you only have two choices - bandage/let it heal on its own or suture it - if this happened Thursday and today is Tuesday.... then you can't just go throwing sutures in it without freshening up the wound first - might be more trouble than it's worth - letting it heal naturally takes some time.... - leave the super glue for putting your broken mugs back together - if the laceration were deep enough, then I might suture it AND bandage it to help keep the sutures from pulling through - BUT I would have done that on Thursday or Friday.... not the following Tuesday. But follow your vet's advice as they are ones actually looking at it. Effective treatment options are a function of the degree of laceration and at what point in the healing phase you are asked to step in. Good luck.

 

[crushers]

advice appreciated

 

[IanB]

Our dog ripped the pads right off her front paws a few years back chasing an RC car in the dirt, that's now off the list of approved activities. No blood, just loose flaps of pad, and she was in obvious discomfort. Packed her feet full of polysporin, and bandaged well, kept an eye on her to leave them alone as much as we could. Took about a week and she was good to go again.

Not the same injury as you're dealing with, at this point you'll be seeing your vet today and they'll know best as they can see the injury and go from there. Make sure to post back what the results were.

 

[crushers]

well, i am back from the vet. glad i did go.
he is a treasure and a comfort and i am glad i found him. quite a bit further drive than the other quacks in the area but worth it.
anywho, he took a look and stated "stitches (he used the proper term) would not work on that spot. they would just tear out. glue works about 50% of the time if caught right away but now nothing will work."
he described the healing process and what he wanted me to do. epson salts twice a day, squirt this special spray in twice a day and give her a antibiotic pills twice a day. if the snow melts then we need to put a plastic sock over the cut to keep the moisture out but snow itself is fine for the cut. if she licks now and then all is fine. if she licks continuiously then i should bring her back.
the cut is deep and will take between 3 weeks and 5 weeks to heal completely.

so, he put my fears to rest. no fear mongering added. common sense approach. no up selling.
cool
and thanks guys for the reply.

 

[The Dude]

good advice from your vet.

In our house when this happens, it get's packed with corn starch to stop the bleeding and then flushed out and superglued right away. I would say he's right, about 50% of the time it holds.

 

[ForealBoreal]

super glue.
Vet told me to keep it in my truck for my dog.

 

[JohnVee]

I've used the superglue on myself to great success but haven't tried it on a dog yet. We had a GSD that sliced up a pad pretty deep in a terrible pattern while digging. Blood everywhere. Straight to the vet. They used both stitches and glue. Took about 2 weeks to lose the bandages and 3 weeks before we could stop coning him. He hated it. Had to give him pills to keep him calm the entire time as he was a 2 year old energy ball. Best of luck.

--john