Dog Bandage

Of the many kinds of bandages used by physicians and nurses, only afew are very useful in veterinary work. Rolls of muslin and gauze, many-tailed bandages, and adhesive are those needed. Anyone can rip an oldsheet into three-inch-wide strips to make a bandage in a pinch. Butthose strips should be rolled tightly before applying. Two three- or four-inch bandages, six feet long, will usually be sufficient to bandage anydog.

Many-tails are simply strips of cloth as wide as the area to be ban-daged on the patient and torn in the same number of parallel stripsfrom each end toward the central area.

Adhesive tape one inch wide should serve almost any purpose. Tocover a wide area it may be lapped, and if a narrower strip is desired, itmay easily be ripped.

Most bandages applied at home will be for minor cuts and blemishesor used as stopgap measures before taking the pet to the veterinarian.After this, if bandaging is necessary, the veterinarian will instruct theowner how he or she wants the bandage applied in the future.The most common use of bandages in pets is to prevent self-injury.Suppose a dog has been caught in a steel trap. It is found before thepart of the leg below the trap bit has lost its blood supply. The skin hasbeen cleaned and the veterinarian has sutured it. If not prevented fromlicking it, the dog will remove the stitches and open the wound. More-over, after the bandage is applied, there will be considerable weepingfrom the wound and, despite antiseptics, an odd odor will develop. Thisis not a bad sign but rather a good one. The dog smells it and becomesfrantic to lick it, since there is something about the odor that dogeither enjoy or that excites them to lick. At any rate, they may ripbandages off, necessitating application of new ones fairly often.In covering this kind of wound, several things must be kept in mind.The bandage cannot be wound too tightly or circulation will be re-stricted and the area below it will swell wills blood and lymph. It mustbe wound tightly enough not to slip. If swelling occurs, the bandagemay be cut but not necessarily removed. New adhesive must then bewound around it.

First some surgical dressing, powder, solution, or salve is applied, andusually several thicknesses of gauze put over it. The bandage is unrolledaround the wound firmly until several thicknesses have been applied.

When the bandage fails to go on smoothly, or when it is necessary togo from a thin place on the leg to a thicker section, if the roll is twistedoccasionally, it will go on with professionalsmoothness. If one layer of adhesive tape is then applied, making surethat at least one half inch sticks to the hair above the bandage, it willhold the bandage material in place and be sufficient protection againstmost of the dog's efforts to remove it.

A smooth bandaging job can be done if you reserve the rolloccasionally. Right, pressure bandage to stop blood flow. Usually these bandagesare applied too loosely.

One of the most frequent uses made of bandages is to stop hemor-rhage. In this case it is called pressure bandages. Dogs often cut theirfeet on glass, tin cans, or other sharp objects. Since the feet are ex-tremely vascular, even a small cut may bleed enough to leave largeblood spots everywhere the dog steps. Cuts higher on the foot cancause sufficient hemorrhage to make a dog anemic.

To stop the flow of blood, apply a small cloth sponge directly to thecut and quickly wind a bandage tightly about the foot many times. Itmay become red from blood soaking through it, but it will slowly stopbleeding.

Tourniquets are so often recommended to stop bleeding in humanbeings that pet owners sometimes resort to them injudiciously. With apet, a strong elastic band can suffice or even thumb pressure over thecut artery. If a tourniquet of any sort is applied to a whole limb, it isimportant that it be released every ten minutes to let blood in and outof the part below the tourniquet.

Many-tailed bandages are usually used wrapped around the body.When dogs scratch and chew holes in themselves because of skin infec-tions, there is often no better accessory treatment. Skin remedies areapplied and the bandage put on. Depending upon how much of thebody it is to cover, the bandage generally has two or four holes cut toallow the legs to go through. Then a row of knots is tied along the backand left in bows so that it can be untied to remove the bandage, whichmay be used again. Head operations and ear troubles, such as splits orsutured ear flaps, can best be protected with many-tails. Also longsurgical incisions on the sides, hack, or abdomen can sometimes bekept covered by many-tails.

A man's vest makes a handy body covering. Place the dog's forelegsthrough the armholes with the vest buttons along the back. Take a tuckin the fabric on the underside if it is too loose to make it form-fitting.Bandaging the bleeding tip of a tail in a long-tailed dog is often aproblem. A happy dog may strike its ever-wagging tail on door jams,walls, or furniture, causing repeated bleeding spells. A bandage on thetail presents several problems. The dog seems to resent this dressingmore than most bandages and unfortunately it is readily removed whenthe dog pulls it with its front teeth, or worse, bites through thebandage, further injuring the tail. To prevent the bandage removal andself-mutilation, an Elizabethan collar, is a great help. However, you may prefer to use tranquilizers or sedativesprescribed by your veterinarian. In any event, the bandage must becovered with adhesive tape extended up the tail perhaps four to sixinches on the hair. Furthermore, healing is slow, necessitating re-bandaging perhaps twice weekly for several months.

Don't hesitate to consult your veterinarian or one of his or her assis-tants about which is the best bandage for your dog's particular situa-tion.