Wound Management

Wound care starts as soon as an animal is stabilized if it had trauma or is in shock. The first steps are to apply pressure to stop bleeding and to provide basic bandaging.

Rinsing the wound with water or a cleaning solution—called irrigation or lavage—flushes away dirt and bacteria, lowering the chance of infection. Vets often use a syringe to flush and clean the wound with disinfectant solution.

The vet might need to remove some damaged tissue. If a wound is infected, the vet might take a sample for culture and give your pet antibiotics and pain medicines.

After cleaning the wound, the vet will decide whether to close it with sutures, surgical staples, or surgical glue, or leave it open. If there isn’t enough skin to close the wound or the risk of infection is high, the wound might be left open to heal.

Open wounds are managed with repeated bandage changes and wound care. Some wounds are closed after they have been treated and infection risk has decreased—up to 24–72 hours, sometimes even longer, after the injury happened.

Sutures, staples, or surgical glue can be used to close wounds. Deep wounds might need multiple layers of closure: deep sutures to hold muscles, plus an outer layer of sutures to close the skin.

Drains remove fluid from a wound or inside the body so that the body does not wall off the fluid and cause infection. Drains are passive (rely on gravity to pull fluid away) or active (use suction to pull out fluid).

Bandages stop bleeding, keep wounds clean, protect them, and keep them from drying out too much. Bandages have three layers:

• The first layer (the dressing) is directly on the wound. It consists of gauze or mesh that lets fluid pass to the next layer and keeps the tissue from drying.

• The second layer absorbs fluid, pads the wound, and supports the limb. Usually it consists of cast padding or roll cotton.

• The third layer holds the inner layers in place and protects them from getting dirty. Usually it consists of tape or elastic wrap.

Before bringing your pet home, make sure you understand how to change bandages and clean the wound if your vet has indicated that you should be changing your pet's bandages.

Some wounds need surgery. Skin or muscle flaps and grafts can be used to cover damaged areas.

Wounds heal in stages. Many things affect healing: environment, the animal's overall health, and medications. Anemia, malnutrition, and some drugs can slow the healing process.

Simple lacerations (tears) without deep tissue damage are usually closed completely, unless they are contaminated or infected. Deep tissue damage must be evaluated and treated before the wound is closed.

Animal bites are common. Cat bites are often small punctures that easily become infected. Dog bites range from punctures to deep gashes.

Vets often take a sample from puncture wounds and culture it to identify the right antibiotic for treatment.

Bite wounds can hide serious injuries—ribs might be broken or organs damaged—even when surface marks look minor. Any bite should be examined by a vet, then cleaned and treated with antibiotics and pain medicines as needed.

Degloving means that the skin has been sheared off. It’s a severe injury, often from being run over or crushed, that exposes deep tissues.

Some skin might be loose and later die. Dead tissue must be removed; living tissue is preserved.

Infection is a major concern with all degloving injuries.

Gunshot wounds are usually deeper and more contaminated than they look, and high-speed projectiles cause shock waves that often hurt nearby tissues and organs. Fractures and organ injuries can be life-threatening, and surgery is often needed to evaluate and fix damage.

Pressure wounds (also called pressure ulcers, decubital ulcers, or bed sores) happen when there's pressure on the same spot for a long time. They are common in paralyzed animals or animals that can't move.

Preventing pressure wounds by frequently changing the animal's position, keeping the animal and its surroundings clean, giving the animal good nutrition, providing a soft bed, is best.

Mild pressure wounds can be treated with cleaning and bandaging; severe wounds might require surgery or skin grafts.