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Puncture wounds can be very iffy even when the dogs are your own.

I stupidly stuck my foot in between a couple of litter mates who were asserting dominance and the “sweeter” of the two snapped due to the adreneline. I ended up with a wound that took about two months to heal. I and my better half immediately soaked it with peroxide, applied antibiotic ointment and repeated that procedure with fresh dressings until the wound healed.

My takeaway was to have plenty of peroxide, sterile dressing and antibiotic cream on hand. I know it won’t solve every problem, but it kept me from having some government busybody asking how about my “vicious” dog.

He loves picking nectarines off the trees, btw.

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I got bit badly just 6 weeks ago by my own dog, who was deaf, senile, in pain and may have just had a stroke. 15 puncture wounds and some bad bruising. My fault for moving his legs when he couldn’t do it himself.

After a bad experience in the ER, where I got no cleaning, a gentle wrap saturated w/Bacitracin (not recommended for puncture wounds right on the label), a tetanus shot (needed), a morphine shot, a script for doxycycline 100mg 2xday for 3 days and instructions to soak in warm soapy water, I went home and irrigated the wounds w/saline and then soaked the entire arm in Epsom salt solution (1 tsp to 1 gallon). I was not convinced about the doxy and called my physician, who gave me a 2 week script for something much stronger (I forget the name)and recommended using silver sulfadiazine ointment after the soaks. I used non-adhesive gauze pads w/the silver sulfadiazine and wrapped the arm w/ gauze for 3 days. After that, I used the cream on adhesive gauze pads.

The important points: irrigate often; soak often w/epsom salts, use a non-irritating, non-occluding antibiotic/antiseptic cream and take an antibiotic that is strong enough for a long enough period. Peroxide can further irritate the tissue and not do that much good. A physician/RN/EMT/corpsman can determine if there are tears that need stitching, but leaving the wound open to drain appears to be the consensual advice and puncture wounds should not be stitched. Ointments that are petroleum based occlude the wound and can increase the chance for infection. Read labels. Keep puncture wounds irrigated and covered w/an appropriate cream until they scab on their own w/no more seepage. Keep a tight eye on swelling and seepage to determine whether the seepage is fluid and blood (this should be allowed to drain out) or pus (thickness/color/odor) and that the swelling is localized w/no spreading red streaks. There will be swelling and deep tissue damage even after the surface wounds have closed. Keep soaking until this disappears.

I have one area that is still a slightly tender lump, where the jaws crushed periosteum (the membrane on the outside of a bone) and another small area that is still slightly lumpy as the displaced tissue regenerates. I have two scars that will need some silicone gel sheets, but right now I am just waiting to make sure there is a mature scar that won’t reopen. Better a scar than an infection, IMO.

We kept our old dog too long and he was past ready to go. He could have severed my arm, but he just bit down multiple times, no tearing, no shaking. It could have been a lot worse.

I was asked if it was my dog and if he had had his shots. He had. Since he was so old, he had been seen by the vet often in the previous ten days and no one followed up demanding a head for a rabies test, thank God. We did end up having him put down and we really should have done it sooner. It is such a hard call.