OT: Drooler Ear Gash Won't Heal

[DD & Tinkerbell]

I know this is FELINE health and a feline board but I need help with a dear friend's drooler, Chester.

Chester has a gash on the tip of his ear that he has been battling a long time. It will start to heal, then break open again. It is open in a V shape right on the tip and refuses to close together at the tip or from upper side to lower side of ear (top to bottom). Every time it reopens, like today, he bleeds and bleeds and drips blood and shakes his head and spatters blood everywhere. He bled all afternoon and it just won't stop.

He went to the vet a week ago but all the vet did was give his owner a jar of yellow cream the consistency of vaseline and said to put it on twice a day. this has had no effect whatsoever and actually imho made it worse, because now the wound will not scab over at all.

So my friend was wondering if:

(1) couldn't a vet just (i know it sounds cruel but it has to be fixed before flies lay eggs in the wound) nip off the big V gash at the ear tip & then stitch that closed? There is a big chunk of flesh gone between the two edges of the gash now and (i am not a vet) but there does not appear to be any way to pull the V together to stitch it up. Or, if

(2) He could super glue the edges of both sides of the V together from top to bottom? That would leave a V=shaped chunk out of Chester's ear but at least it would (theoretically) close all the edges of the wound and let it heal.

& also my friend was wondering how to stop the bleeding for now until a permanent solution is found? Styptic powder? Flour? Corn starch?

Anybody got any ideas / experience with this?

Thanks.


Desi

P.S. Tawny is doing great and Tinkerbell is...are you ready?...STILL OTJ (over 3 months now!!!!!) YAY!

 

[Steph & Cuddles (GA)]

My first thought, was why the vet didn't stitch it, if it's that bad!?

As for getting it to stop now, not sure.. I'd just try & put pressure on it now to get it to stop. Do they have any of that styptic powder or whatever it's called? I know a little vial of it came with my nail cutters for Misha.. maybe they can put some of that on it, then wrap it? (so when he shakes his head again, it doesn't start bleeding again) I know it stings though, so want to make sure the dog doesn't run off, or try to shake his head before you get it wrapped or whatnot. I've only cut Misha's quick ONCE since I've had her, and it just would NOT stop bleeding! So I tried the powder, but for some reason, it did absolutely NOTHING! I think it may have been old or something.. but never had to use it before. I thought it was stopped, but then found some blood in my car, since we went somewhere after that. Hopefully your friend finds something that works!

 

[SherylandClouseau]

Been there, dealt with that

My Dobie got his ear slashed last year in a fight with my mom's dog. For the first 2 days I immobilized the ear with vet wrap tight to his head to try to get a scab formed. The yellow goop the vet gave is most likely nitrofurazone- that is the same stuff I used. We tried to use an E-collar, but found it actually cause MORE bleeding as he shook his head vigorously in attempts to dislodge. I also packed the wound with styptic powder (available in a large container from farm supply stores).

It took about 10 days to completely get the bleeding under control- I had to crate him to keep the bloodbath to a minimum during that time. Now, almost one year later it is fully healed and even finally growing hair. Ear wounds are one of the hardest things to manage on dogs, so I feel your friend's pain...

Here is a blog with more info;
http://juliecork.wordpress.com/2007/06/ ... -dog-ears/

 

[BJM]

If there is any infection, it may not heal, so check for evidence of that.

Make sure you've got it cleaned as much as possible as debris will hinder healing.

Then I'd go for the taped immobility approach similar to what was descriped above.

I'm wondering if butterfly tapes to hold the edges together might help too (underneath the wrap), and a healing salve of some sort.