Dog Bandage
Of the many kinds of bandages used by physicians and nurses, only a few are very useful in veterinary work. Rolls of muslin and gauze, many-tailed bandages, and adhesive are those needed. Anyone can rip an old sheet into three-inch-wide strips to make a bandage in a pinch. But those strips should be rolled tightly before applying. Two three- or four-inch bandages, six feet long, will usually be sufficient to bandage any dog.
Many-tails are simply strips of cloth as wide as the area to be bandaged on the patient and torn in the same number of parallel strips from each end toward the central area.
Adhesive tape one inch wide should serve almost any purpose. To cover a wide area it may be lapped, and if a narrower strip is desired, it may easily be ripped.
Most bandages applied at home will be for minor cuts and blemishes and used as stopgap measures before taking the pet to the veterinarian. After this, if bandaging is necessary, the veterinarian will instruct the owner how he or she wants the bandage applied in the future. The most common use of bandages in pets is to prevent self-injury. Suppose a dog has been caught in a steel trap. It is found before the part of the leg below the trap bit has lost its blood supply. The skin has been cleaned and the veterinarian has sutured it. If not prevented from clicking it, the dog will remove the stitches and open the wound. Moreover, after the bandage is applied, there will be considerable weeping from the wound, and, despite antiseptics, an odd odor will develop.
This is not a bad sign but rather a good one. The dog smells it and becomes frantic to lick it since there is something about the odor that neither enjoys nor excites them to lick. At any rate, they may rip bandages off, necessitating the application of new ones fairly often. In covering this kind of wound, several things must be kept in mind. The bandage cannot be wound too tightly or circulation will be restricted and the area below it will swell wills blood and lymph. It must be wound tightly enough not to slip. If swelling occurs, the bandage may be cut but not necessarily removed. The new adhesive must then be bewound around it.
First, some surgical dressing, powder, solution, or salve is applied, and usually, several thicknesses of gauze are put over it. The bandage is unrolled around the wound firmly until several thicknesses have been applied.
When the bandage fails to go on smoothly, or when it is necessary to go from a thin place on the leg to a thicker section, if the roll is twisted occasionally, it will go on with professional smoothness. If one layer of adhesive tape is then applied, making sure that at least one-half inch sticks to the hair above the bandage, it will hold the bandage material in place and be sufficient protection against most of the dog’s efforts to remove it.
A smooth bandaging job can be done if you reserve the roll occasionally. Right, pressure bandage to stop blood flow. Usually, these bandages are applied too loosely.
One of the most frequent uses made of bandages is to stop hemorrhage. In this case, it is called pressure bandages. Dogs often cut their feet on glass, tin cans, or other sharp objects. Since the feet are extremely vascular, even a small cut may bleed enough to leave large blood spots everywhere the dog steps. Cuts higher on the foot can cause sufficient hemorrhage to make a dog anemic.
To stop the flow of blood, apply a small cloth sponge directly to the cut and quickly wind a bandage tightly about the foot many times. It may become red from blood soaking through it, but it will slowly stop bleeding.
Tourniquets are so often recommended to stop bleeding in human beings that pet owners sometimes resort to them injudiciously. With a pet, a strong elastic band can suffice, or even thumb pressure over the cut artery. If a tourniquet of any sort is applied to a whole limb, it is important that it be released every ten minutes to let blood in and out of the part below the tourniquet.
Many-tailed bandages are usually used wrapped around the body. When dogs scratch and chew holes in themselves because of skin infections, there is often no better accessory treatment. Skin remedies are applied and the bandage was put on. Depending upon how much of the body it is to cover, the bandage generally has two or four holes cut to allow the legs to go through. Then a row of knots is tied along the back and left in bows so that it can be untied to remove the bandage, which may be used again. Head operations and ear troubles, such as splits or sutured ear flaps, can best be protected with many tails. Also, long surgical incisions on the sides, hack, or abdomen can sometimes be kept covered by many tails.
A man’s vest makes a handy body covering. Place the dog’s forelegs through the armholes with the vest buttons along the back. Take a tuck in the fabric on the underside if it is too loose to make it form-fitting. Bandaging the bleeding tip of a tail in a long-tailed dog is often a problem. A happy dog may strike its ever-wagging tail on door jams, walls, or furniture, causing repeated bleeding spells. A bandage on the tail presents several problems. The dog seems to resent this dressing more than most bandages and unfortunately, it is readily removed when the dog pulls it with its front teeth, or worse, bites through the bandage, further injuring the tail.
To prevent bandage removal and self-mutilation, an Elizabethan collar, is a great help. However, you may prefer to use tranquilizers or sedatives prescribed by your veterinarian. In any event, the bandage must be covered with adhesive tape extended up the tail perhaps four to six inches on the hair. Furthermore, healing is slow, necessitating re-bandaging perhaps twice weekly for several months.
Don’t hesitate to consult your veterinarian or one of his or her assistants about which is the best bandage for your dog’s particular situation.
See more: Dog Bladder Infection
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