Pet Wounds: Preventing Abscesses

Wounds heal much faster if they are immediately opened and flushed thoroughly to remove bacteria. This is true for any pet wound. Use an antiseptic flush or soap that kills bacteria, such as 3% Hydrogen Peroxide. If no antiseptics are handy, use warm water mixed with table salt or Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate). One-half teaspoon salt in 8 ounces of water is a fairly dilute solution and will not sting when used to flush wounds. Doubling the salt strengthens the solution so that it kills bacteria more rapidly as it flushes them away. This stronger solution may sting some pets. If you’ve mixed more solution than necessary, store the remainder in the refrigerator. The weak solution may grow bacteria if left unrefrigerated or if kept for more than a few days. The strong salt solution is less likely to grow bacteria.

Allow the wound to dry.

If the wound involves an area of the skin that gets dirty, such as the feet, bandage carefully after the skin and fur are dry. If the area will stay clean, leave it open and unbandaged.

To speed healing, encourage the wound to heal from the bottom up by keeping the skin edges open. Flushing wounds twice a day helps keep skin edges open so that wounds heal properly. Flushing also removes bacteria, dead white blood cells, and pus so that your pet’s body has less clean up to do before it heals.

Wounds heal faster when exposed to sunlight, so encourage your pet to rest in the sun.

If the skin closes over and the wound is not healed, an abscess is likely to develop as bacteria within the wound grow. The bacteria most likely to grow are facultative anaerobes—those that function well whether there is oxygen or not. Pseudomonas, E. coli, and many bacteria found in pet feces are facultative anaerobes and thrive in low-oxygen environments deep in wounds. If these bacteria create an abscess, your veterinarian will recommend some of the following treatments: