My dog was attacked. How to treat wounds if I can't afford a vet?

I'm sorry to hear about your dog. She looks like she is experiencing some swelling in the face and is almost certainly in some pain. I understand that you don't have much money, but she almost certainly requires pain medication, anti-inflammatory medication, and antibiotics. The wounds on the face should be clipped around then cleaned with antiseptic in order to disinfect. Depending on the size of any wounds, they may need to be closed with stitches. Some veterinarians reserve medications and / or funding for situations like these that require need. You may also be eligible to apply for care credit. Here is the website. It allows you to obtain monies for veterinary care and pay it off over long periods of time interest free. https://www.carecredit.com/ Any time there is an attack in the face, I would also have to be concerned about possible trauma to the eye. If he is experiencing any difficulty getting around or looks off balanced in any way, there could be head trauma as well. A vet will be needed to make these determinations. I hope you are able to figure things out.

Thanks for using PetCoach. Unfortunately, without an exam (or at least pictures), I'm a bit limited on what advice I can give. Where the wound is would be important to know. I am less concerned about a bite to the leg than I am to the belly or neck. How deep is it? How is Della Reese feeling? Is she eating and running around or lethargic and not eating? My concerns and recommendations -Infection - very common in dog bite wounds - if there is a hole or deep wound anywhere, it needs to be flushed very thoroughly with dilute iodine or hydrogen peroxide. This is possibly the MOST important step. The wounds need to be left OPEN to drain. If you cover them up tightly you will be trapping the bacteria inside and cause an abscess. They will drain some blood-tinged fluid for a few days but it shouldn't be pure blood. If the mess is a problem, put a t-shirt on her (if wounds are on the torso) or keep her on tile/laminate surfaces. Warm compress the wounds twice daily to encourage that fluid to come out the wound holes. Honestly, depending on the severity and location, she really needs antibiotics. Even if you can only get into the vet for the exam and antibiotics, its worth doing. - Blood loss- as noted above, you're more-likely seeing blood-tinged discharge stuff than actual pure blood. Even if there was pure blood at first, she is big enough that she could safely loose a cup of blood or more. - Pain medication - motrin (ibuprofen) is an unsafe drug choice for dogs and is not recommended. If she has only had one dose, stop and switch her to aspirin 24 hours after the first dose. If she has had more than one dose, stop and start aspirin 72 hours from the last dose of motrin. https://www.petcoach.co/canigive/dog/aspirin/ Also don't forget ice!! Ice has incredible anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving effects. Ice up the wounded area(s) for 5-10 minutes as often as you can (up to every 3-4 hours). If it's time to warm compress, do that first and then ice. I hope this has at least given you a place to start. Best of luck to you and Della Reese.

Unfortunately, we cannot (legally and ethically) advise giving prescription medication for a condition that we can't fully evaluate through this service. It's difficult to know how bad the wound is without seeing it, but I'll give you some general wound care advice: 1) Clip the hair around the area and expose all of the sore skin. 2) Wash/spray the area with just cool, clean water (no soap or other antiseptics) for at least 5 minutes at a time. Do this at least twice a day. 3) Bandage the wound (if possible) with gauze and apply an over-the-counter antibacterial cream (i.e Neosporin) to the wound. Keeping it covered and keeping Zoe from licking it will be the most difficult part of the treatment. You can help keep the bandage on by placing a good (really sticky) tape above and below the bandage. You can find sprays in the pet store, like bitter apple, that are meant to deter licking. This can be sprayed on the bandage (not the wound) to help keep Zoe from chewing it off. NOTE: Be careful not to bandage too tight around legs, or it can cut-off the circulation. If you notice that the toes/foot starts to swell, then remove the bandage and leave it off until the swelling goes down. It's difficult for me to know how severe this is without evaluating her, but in severe cases it's recommended that she gets professional treatment, or she can have life-threatening complications. I understand that money is an issue, but there are often various options in these cases and I recommend contacting a local animal rescue for advice about affordable veterinary care. If you have further questions or need further clarification, then you may consider having an online consult with one of our vets on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. This way, you can send unlimited pictures and have a text conversation with a vet. I hope that helps and Zoe gets better soon.

I did receive the photos you sent in this morning that were forwarded to me via our website moderator. The abrasions themselves can likely be managed at home with a sterile cleaning using Betadine diluted 50:50 with warm water and then flushing the area daily thereafter with sterile saline from your local pharmacy. However, if you are also seeing swelling, this could pose a problem. Swelling underneath the skin following trauma is typically either of 2 things: an Abscess (infection underneath the skin) or a Seroma (blood filled sac) . An abscess will need to be treated by your vet, by having the area drained and then he will need to be placed on a short course of antibiotics. If this is a Seroma however, it will likely heal on its own as the body slowly reabsorbs the blood. As long as the Seroma does not get any bigger, which would indicate that there is continued bleeding underneath the skin that needs to be ligated via surgery. There really isn't a good way of knowing if this is Seroma or abscess by looking on the outside; however, with abscesses they are typically painful and will eventually lead to fever and illness (lack of appetite, vomiting) in most cases. Seroma's can be mildly painful, but won't cause a fever. So since you are limited on funds you can roll the dice and see if this thing causes systemic illness or not, or you can try to apply for financial assistance to get Wilber looked at immediately to make sure there isn't an abscess present. Here are some links for financial assistance. I https://carecredit.com/vetmed Here a couple of still up and running grant options: carecredit.com redrover.org/relief/urgent-care-grants/ (typical grant amount is $200) all-creatures.org/gcm/help-cf.html - $50 maximum aid WHEN they have funds. a couple of 'special situation' ones: fveap.org - Vaccine Associated Sarcoma only thepetfund.com/ - Non-basic, non-urgent care (cancer treatment, heart disease, etc.) ONLY. ! hope that this was helpful and hope that your pet Wilber is able to make a full and speedy recovery from his traumatic injury. Take care!

I recommend cleaning all of the wounds with hydrogen peroxide. Then apply a thin film of antibacterial ointment on them. Keep him quiet so he can rest and heal. Dog fight wounds get infected easily so please make sure to bring him right in tomorrow morning for treatment. If needed they can close the small laceration and get him on oral antibiotics to prevent infection. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Dexter.

Hi there, and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. That appears to be full thickness through the skin, and would likely benefit from sutures. Additionally, bite wounds have a very high likelihood of becoming infected without systemic (oral) antibiotics, so Hazel should be seen by the vet to get started on antibiotics. Hope this helps.

Hello, and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Poor Gracie! It’s tough to be certain of the severity of her wounds without examining myself, but fortunately those wounds don’t appear to be too serious from the photos. I think it’s unlikely that she’ll need stitches. However, bite wounds tend to get infected, so I would bring Gracie in to your vet when they open tomorrow, as they’ll likely want to start her on antibiotics. In the meantime, keep those wounds clean by gently washing them with warm soapy water (Dawn dish soap works well). I hope this helps and she feels better!