Dealing with Hunting Dog Injuries

Cuts are common in hunting dogs. Brambles, barbed-wire, broken glass, or even sharp broken saplings can slice a dog’s skin as it hunts. Appropriate field care of wounds can reduce healing time and make the vet’s job much easier. Remember the watchwords: flush, fill and wrap.

Flushing

Fresh cuts may look quite clean to the observer but most often, tiny fragments of debris and certainly microscopic bacteria are present in even the freshest lacerations. A forceful stream of an appropriate liquid can dislodge the tiny foreign objects in the wound and physically remove many of the early germs that are present.

A plastic squeeze bottle or, preferably, a new spray bottle should be in every hunter's lorry for cleaning wounds. Your vet can recommend the appropriate fluid to use, but distilled water or sterile saline solution will suffice. Be quite vigorous with the cleaning. The jet won't cause any harm so set the spray bottle to the 'stream' setting and liberally spray the wound bed. Pat the area dry with a clean surgical sponge after cleaning.

Filling

After the initial cleaning with the flush, wounds can be protected by filling them with a harmless gel. K-Y Jelly®, EMT Gel®, or Collasate™ are ideal choices. These gels provide a physical barrier to hair and other contaminants en route to the veterinary clinic and the EMT® and Collasate™ products may do more towards healing.

Your vet may recommend other topical medications. Topical antibiotics, such as those found in Neosporin® ointment, are popular but I have always questioned the value of antibiotics in a topical product. Regardless, they do no harm.

The key is the physical presence of the gel or ointment helping prevent further contamination. In a pinch, petroleum jelly would work but is difficult to remove as the vet prepares to suture or treat the wound later.

Wrapping

Many wounds cannot be dressed or do not need dressing. Cuts on the chest wall, back, snout, etc. are not easily covered. Lacerations on the legs, tail and ears are amenable to dressing. The key is to avoid placing dry cotton dressing material directly on the wound. Dry material adheres to the tiny cells that begin healing within minutes of the injury occurring and pull them away from the wound edges when the dressing is removed. In addition, the tiny micro-clots that form quickly after an injury will also be disrupted upon removal of the dressing and could lead to further bleeding.

Normal clotting time for healthy dogs is between two and three minutes. Those are laboratory values; dogs that have been running hard may take up to five minutes for bleeding to stop. That is a long time to sit and watch your dog drip blood in a field. Direct pressure from your hand or a snug bandage is the best way to stop bleeding. A small kit containing some bandages impregnated with petroleum jelly (Adaptic® non-adherent dressings) and a larger piece of absorbent cotton can work well to stop bleeding.

Place the Adaptic® sponge over the cotton and press it to the wound for five to eight minutes. Then, gently remove the material to check for bleeding. Serious arterial bleeding is a dangerous situation with an obvious spurting blood stream. These wounds should be immediately covered with the blood-stopping pressure bandage or held in place by hand while the dog is transported to professional care.

For non-bleeding wounds, a simple bandage should cover the laceration after it has been filled with the protective gel. The objective is simply to reduce further contamination. Snug is fine, but very tight bandages can cause serious problems.

Several tapes are available and good. Vetwrap® is popular and useful. It sticks only to itself, which makes for easy removal at the veterinary clinic. Good old standard adhesive tape in a 5-centimetre width is also useful. In a pinch, hardware duct tape will suffice for first aid use but it leaves a substantial residue of glue after a usually difficult removal process.

Again, the risk of applying any bandage too tightly should be considered. As you position the tape over the wound, all pulling should be done against your other hand. Do not pull the tape directly around the injured area. Place two fingers against the tape near the roll and apply the pressure on the fingers, not the dog. Then, gently place the tape over the wound.

Cuts on the tip of the ear flap (known as the 'pinna') are particularly problematic. As the normal clotting process proceeds, the dog tends to shake its head, which breaks loose the tiny clots that have formed, and the process begins anew.

Bandaging the ear is ideal but can be difficult as the dog tends to flick off bandages quickly. Taping the cut ear tip to the top of the head will work and help the clotting process.

But, be extremely careful if you choose to wrap the tape all the way around the dog's head and neck. The risk of closing off the dog's windpipe is substantial. You should be able to get two fingers easily under the bandage on the bottom of the neck if this type of wrapping is required.

Do not waste valuable time in the field redoing bandages again and again for ear tip cuts or other injuries. Rapid transport to the veterinary surgery is the ideal.

As always, a conversation with your vet is the optimal source for information concerning field care of cuts.

Always check your local and national regulations related to dog training and the use of game birds on private and public property.