Why isn't my dog's deep wound healing after 4 days on vet meds?

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! That wound looks deep. I don't know if oral antibiotics and topical medications will be enough to treat them. This wound may take weeks to heal but oral antibiotics will not be necessary the entire time. I recommend taking Cutie to a vet to explore the wound and see if surgical repair is a better treatment option. Also, not all oral antibiotics are treated the same so the ones you are using may not be beneficial for this wound. A vet can help determine the best treatment. Good luck and kisses to Cutie!

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sorry to see that T is having this problem. A few things are possible here. I am assuming that the original wound never healed, only got better. If that's the case then I would suspect either a foreign body has entered the leg or an insect/spider/other has bitten him that started the entire problem. Puncture wounds can look very different over time so it may have been only one small puncture wound from the inciting event. I would advise taking T back to your veterinarian so they can recheck the wound and possibly rethink what is going on. (Assuming they saw it initially) after it first happened. They may want to culture the wound and run a sensitivity of the bugs that grow out of the culture to determine what antibiotics would be best. They may also advise some x-rays to determine if a foreign body has entered the leg although this can be of questionable value depending what the foreign body could be. Exploring the wound might be another option. All of these can be discussed with your veterinarian and I have made some assumptions here and could be wrong. I wish you the best of luck with T and I hope you get to the bottom of this very soon.

This appears to be an infected wound. It looks like it has been caused by some sort of penetrating object. The antibiotics should start to kick in and sort the infection. You can clean the outside with warm water that has been boiled. If it is not improving go back to the vet in case there is a foreign body inside it.

It seems your vet did and prescribed all what was necessary as a first approach. How long has been on treatment for? It might be too early to see any improvement though. Difficult to guess any possible cause other than a traumatic injury without seeing at least a picture of it. Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation (where you can post pictures ) if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

This is a large and deep wound that should have been surgically closed. It is going to take a very long time to close on its own without surgery. You will have to keep it clean and prevent him from licking or rubbing it. Amoxicillin is not a very good antibiotic for preventing infection in a wound such as this. If it begins to have drainage, odor, etc. I would highly recommend getting a different and more appropriate antibiotic. I’m not sure how old the wound is, but it does look like you have kept it relatively clean. It would be a good idea to get the hair away from the wound edges if possible. This will probably require weeks of wound management in order for it to heal. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

This looks quite painful and possibly a ruptured pustule or blister? I would expect 4-6weeks for healing given the extent but if the redness has not reduced over the first 3weeks or the pain and discomfort is increasing it may be worth considering biopsy of the area or referral to a specialist dermatologist to rule out more sinister causes such as an ulcerative tumour

Good evening! Wounds can heal via “secondary intention,” which is slowly closing from the inner to outer layers. If there is an active infection or underlying damage to the tissues, this may be the ideal way to allow a wound to heal. Sutures typically heal in approximately two weeks, and thus tends to be the easier and faster option if possible. I would recommend reaching back out to your veterinarian to see if another full multi-layer closure would work, and if not, why to determine the plan moving forward. If you are unsure, it would be something where you could pursue a second opinion if you’d like as well. Good luck!