"emergency" dog question

[Dusty]

The dog definitely needs to be on antibiotics no matter if the ear is stitched or not. If you wait, then it will be more difficult to stitch. What will need to be done is to anesthetize the dog, shave the ear, and possibly do a fresh cut on both sides to get a clean, crisp line to suture. Also, if the dog isn't up to date on the rabies vaccinations, you will have another problem. Any unknown injury such as this is considered an "animal fight injury", or at least where I live, it is. No current rabies certificate, means reporting to the health department and then having the dog quarantined, either at a facility, or your home.
Dusty

 

[randy41]

my wife the vet tech student and experienced vet clinician said that what dusty said is most likely true and waiting this long actually will end up making the repair more expensive.

 

[972500]

hey my uncle is a farm vet but treats all the animals somone might have. he said he wont stitch up an animal if the bleeding has been stoped for more tahn 4 hours. becasue of this he is willing to make house calls 24/7 at no extra charge that what a normal house call is. theres been plenty of family dinners interupted because of this but thats life. i talked to him and he actaully said if it was one of his personal animals he would just leave it and keep some sort of salve on it. it will skin over in a week or two and taht will be that, no ill effects cept for having to tell the story all the time
Mark

 

[JJT]

I may be in the minority, but our animals are an important part of the family. That dog should have seen a vet at the time of the accident. At the very least to get some antibiotics.

 

[Richard]

Update:

Before I get into the update, pehaps I sounded (or was) more worried than I needed to be.

All my comments were literally about 10 minutes after having seen Fanny. It really looked as though the top and one side of her head were DIPPED in a bucket of blood. In hindsight, it's appearance was MUCH MUCH worse than the actual injury.

Ok, update: I did speak to my vet last night. he said he thought the dog would be fine until a morning appointment.

sister in law came by at 8'ish and whisked Fanny off to the vet (her vet, same one that gave Fanny her shots which are up to date).

She had to drive almost an hour to get there, verses 20 minutes to "my" vet but that's her choice.

$130 later, Fanny is stitched up. Seems he indeed had to sedate her so they're taking Fanny over to Father in laws house so she can rest with some quiet around her (ie, away from my other 3 dogs )

When I was typing my first comments here last night, sis in law was cleaning all the blood off Fanny's head. After I posted & went down all the bleeding had stopped, there was merely a red 'tinge' on the top & side of her head where the blood was. Had I seen Fanny at THIS junction, I would not have thought anything was wrong.

Amazing how a head doused in blood can get you all worked up!

 

[Dargo]

Good news! I'm glad to hear.

 

[BillyP]

I hope the vet put one of those dish looking things around the dog's neck. It can sure make the healing process much faster.

 

[Dusty]

I hope the vet put one of those dish looking things around the dog's neck. It can sure make the healing process much faster.

They are known as Elizabethan collars. They usually use them when the dog is going to try to scratch the damaged area. Not all dogs will tolerate them and they can also do damage trying to get them off. Most head wounds will bleed a lot and once cleaned, they will be less traumatic than they first appear. Just make sure that she doesn't miss the appointment to remove the sutures. I once had to remove sutures that were in a dogs ear for more than 4 months. It was a very difficult job once the skin grew around them.
Dusty

 

[shvl73]

It's good that she got it done. Ears can be tough to heal if not stitched. Some dogs will shake their head enough to re-open the wound.
One of our Dalmations shook his head enough to get a hematoma in his right ear. Our vet drained it and stitched it back together, then bandaged both ears against his head to prevent a reoccourance. He was a funny looking guy for a few days.

 

[jwnge]

We had a small dog that got her ear torn about 1/2 " into the ear. We took her to the vet and he said it probably wouldn't stay stitched . if the dog shakes her head as they often do it would just tear the stitches loose. He applied a super glue and it stayed for a while but eventually the ear just healed with a small tear. The hair covered it pretty well after a while and the dog didn't seem to mind. I guess it depends on what look you want.