Ouch!

[toydude13]

This happened during some play time. I think one of the dogs got its jaw stuck on the shoulder; mouth open as wide as it would go and no further to let go. And it tore.

My question is if you would take your dog to the vet for stiches. Or do you just stitch it yourself. Being its not the first time I've seen something similar to this I just kept it clean and let it heal itself.

 

[packetstormin]

If you have these sort of issues often then I would invest in a staple gun. We use them on our hounds when they tangle with lions.

I would use some panalog ointment on it and keep it clean and get it sutured.

 

[IanB]

For something that big I would get stitches, whether you're able to do it yourself or not I'll leave up to you.

 

[TLCandME]

That's a good sized wound. It should heal doing "nothing" in 4-6 weeks but it will heal much faster and look better (less scarring) with stitches. Staples are absolutely an option if you can find them and stitching it up yourself is too - if you feel up to the task. It's not rocket science but a vet has an advantage of having access to sedatives, etc. that hopefully make the dog tolerant of someone passing a needle repeatedly through it's skin or squeezing staples into it.

 

[wob]

If you can do it yourself, go for it. Hog hunters here do it all of the time.

I'd probably take one of mine to the vet for that, though. One of my other dogs would lick it incessantly and not let it heal quickly.

 

[splitshot]

Vetericyn spray twice a day has worked well for those.

Talk to your vet, leaving it open with a proper antibiotic treatment has been the advice from ours.

 

[toydude13]

Thanks for the replies.

I kept it clean and rubbed ointment on it mostly to keep stuff out. For a eight year old dog it healed amazingly quick.

This type of thing rarely happens but a stapler sounds like a good idea.

 

[ojaij40]

If you can do it yourself, go for it. Hog hunters here do it all of the time.

I'd probably take one of mine to the vet for that, though. One of my other dogs would lick it incessantly and not let it heal quickly.

Why would a hunter shoot a hog, then take it to a vet?
kind of a "shoot & release" thing?

 

[MoodyBlue]

Why would a hunter shoot a hog, then take it to a vet?
kind of a "shoot & release" thing?

They hunt hogs with dogs. Dogs will track and corner the hog, several of them and the real gritty dogs will go after the hog...sometimes they get torn up from the tusks.

The thing to worry about with closing up the wound is it getting infected from "stuff" getting trapped inside. Unless its horribly deep, like you found, its ok to leave it open.