by Sally Chandler

1) First, take a razor blade and gently shave off all hair above and below the injury. One to two inches should work.

2) Put dog in tub or shower to lessen the areas where you have to clean up blood. (I swear, mine smiles when they are spraying blood from a wounded tail.)

3) Clean the injury with any of a variety of things to flush out any dirt. Here’s a few things I’ve used: Children’s Neosporin foaming wound cleanser, sterile saline wound wash, generic Bactine, Vetericyn, or something your vet gave you.  Pat dry with gauze.

4) If wound is still bleeding heavily (but isn’t deep) use Blood Barrier Hemostat Gauze (I found as a generic at a Walgreens) and place it over the wound. Then take a non-stick bandage and place that over that, pressing firmly. This will stop the bleeding even though you may be starting to wonder if it’s possible for your dog to run out of blood.

5) Do NOT remove the bandage, as this will start the bleeding all over again.

6) Tape bandage on with some stretchy stick to itself tape. Vetwrap might work well.

7) Place curler (generic of course) through the tail and tape over wound. This will let the wound breath while protecting it from further injury.

8) Tape curler on with Elastikon, a medical tape you can order online. It’s heavier than most. Use Elastikon to cover entire shaved area of tail. Do NOT tape any hair as this will make the whole thing slip right off.

9) Change daily, dabbing injured area with surgical scrub and gauze, then wrapping it up again as above. If the wound is not bleeding heavily, don’t bother with the Blood Barrier Hemostat Gauze; just put a non-stick gauze over the wound. Within a few days, you should be seeing healthy tissue growing in.

March 11, 2013 All rights reserved.