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  Discussion on Stifle Injury
Author Message
New Member:
wing

Posted on Monday, Apr 21, 2008 - 9:53 pm:

Our 2 year Old Philly came up with a 3 Inch Cut Just at the stifle....Called the vet....Vet told us he could come stitch it but with those types of wounds if we werent worried about the scaring,We would be better off leaving it open to drain ,As in the wild things get healed..We had cleaned it out with water using a turkey baster..appling a Triple antibiotic ointment Containing Bacitracin,Neomycin Sulfate,Polymyxin B Sulfate...Is there any other Advice that someone could give as to how to treat this condition...In the pics the injury looks worse than it is.. Bellastifle
Member:
paul303

Posted on Monday, Apr 21, 2008 - 11:57 pm:

Try Dr.O's article "Wound First Aid in Horses" and other articles on wound care. You'll do fine.
There are many articles on wound care depending on your wound.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Apr 22, 2008 - 6:27 am:

Bob it is not clear from the photo and your description it your wound actually penetrates completely through the skin and thereby expose subcutaneous tissue. This will markedly effect how you treat the wound. The article on first aid gives you information on this and then makes recommendations on proper first aid treatment depending on severity.

We might be able to tell more with a well lit close up of the wound after a good cleaning so the blood is not in the way.
DrO
New Member:
wing

Posted on Tuesday, Apr 22, 2008 - 8:18 am:

Heres a pic from this morning ..Before cleaning..The cut seems to be into the outer layer of skin with a small puncture towards the top..My concern is...Should i be cleaning it ever day(flushing with water)or just let it alone...Also Is the Triple antibiotic that we are using ok(Bacitracin,Neomycin Sulfate,Polymyxin B Sulfate)...Should we be using something else...
bel2
bel1
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 23, 2008 - 6:30 am:

I agree Bob that it looks like a deep partial skin thickness wound. It looks like the deepest (basal) layer of the dermis is intact but to be sure: can you abduct the edges of the wound from each other as described in the article? The article gives recommendations for treatment of partial thickness lacerations that I follow.

If there is a full skin thickness puncture it will need to be monitored for infection developing under the skin but other that the aforementioned treatment not much else I would recommend until that happens.
DrO
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