Bandage Your Injured Dog – To Prevent Further Damage

Having a dog is a big responsibility. Some even compare taking care of a dog to that of a baby. The only advantage having dogs compared to having babies is that they won’t grow older and turn into stressful teenagers. Because dogs are like babies they sometimes also end up in harmful situations. They would sometimes get themselves trapped in a tight place or get hit by something that will injure one of their limbs. When that happens, we should learn how to bandage our dogs to prevent further damage. Here are some basic ways of how to bandage your injured dog.

1. When your pet has a bandage, it should always be clean and dry. when your dog has a bandage, it’s pretty important to make sure your pet stays inside the house for most of the time. To prevent the bandage from getting wet when the dog goes to pee or poop, a trash bag or plastic covering should cover the bandaged leg. You may use empty bread bags. When your dog has wet or dirtied up the bandage, it would require changing. To make sure that the bandage is always clean and dry you have to check it at least twice a day. Check also for foul odors or discharge and if there is any, call your veterinarian immediately.
2. After bringing home your dog from the veterinarian, make sure that the bandage is still in place. Your dog might have been irritated by it and has chewed or tried to scratch it off. Look closely at the position and the location of the bandage when you do check. Look at the toes of the pet, the bandage might have slipped up making the toes stick out. Also look at the size, if the bandage has become loose. This should be taken into account when a dog has been bandaged in the abdomen or leg area. This is because one end will be bigger than the other and eventually become narrower. When the bandage telescopes down the limb of the dog it may bunch up and abrade the limb. When that happens, the bandage should be changed as well.
3. If the dog is bandaged up in the leg make sure it isn’t too tight. Observe how the toes will appear at the bottom of the bandage at least twice a day. This is done to check for sweating, swelling, or pain. Check for skin chaffing, redness, discharge or swelling before and after the bandage has been applied.
4. To prevent the dog from chewing the bandage because of the bothersome experience it gives, put an Elizabethan collar. If you have observed that the pet is chewing or scratching it excessively, ask the vet if there might be problems.

These are the times that you should already be taking the pet back to the veterinarian:
•    Swelling above or below the bandage
•    Chewing the bandage
•    Bandage becomes wet
•    Bleeding or discharge above, below or through
•    Scheduled bandage changes