Pets: Wound Remedies

Our lab mix cut her paw pad straight across and rather deeply the night before the 4th of July while playing on the beach. Of course, we called the vet and caught him as he was closing up the office but he pretty much told us to just keep her on "crate rest" as much as possible as stitches don't usually hold up well on that area. We were told to bring her in the day after and keep it covered with gauze and the sock & tape trick.

Well, it wasn't doing too well so we went to the store near our house and grabbed some Amish-made raw honey. We applied liberally, even gave her some to snack on, wrapped in gauze & medical tape, and the "sock trick" and by the next morning, you could see new growth and some of the old tissue dying off, and the bleeding was MUCH less so the poor puppy didn't have to be on a serious "crate rest" which was hard enough on her!

Within a week it was closed up but not fully healed. 10 days after the cut (again, clear across her pad and pretty deep) it was 100% healed, not black yet as the rest of her pad, but it was enough for her to run and play without bandages and socks on! Miracle! The vet had never heard of it but he's now done research on it and recommends people keep some in the cupboard just in case! Wish I had known this with my other dogs, greyhound that was always getting cut and banged up (they're graceful most of the time, goofy the rest! Ha! ) and my Brittany constantly had hot spots that drove us both insane, nothing worked on them!

Try to make sure you get local and RAW honey. Regular honey from the store will work, even plain sugar, but the raw honey works SO much faster, I've found. It works by drawing the water out of the tissue so the old bits can die off faster and are way less likely to get infected, there's more to it than that but roughly that.

**Also the sock trick for pets, amazing and so often necessary! Grab an old sock, preferably as tall as possible, unless you have a small pet, and put it on the foot/paw/leg having trouble, and use medical tape to tape it to the dog's leg above the injured area and fold the top over the tape so the dog can't get at the tape. Make sure it's not too TIGHT, just enough that it won't fall off or be easy to mess with.

Another tip that was invaluable to me was skipping the "cone of shame" and instead, using a travel pillow from the regular big box store that I got for $10. It has a clip that keeps the two ends together and if you put that up by their ears they usually can't get it off. Rescue remedy on their paws and ears (or drops on food/water/treats) can also help keep them calmer so they can rest and heal!

Vets are amazing! But the less we have to stress ourselves and our pets out by going there and using home remedies instead, with good judgment, of course, the better off we'll all be. Blessings!

I had a cat that had a massive open wound under its chin which had gotten infected. I was taught by an holistic animal vet to pack the wound with raw honey. It worked like a dream. It was a sticky mess and she would lick her fur ... which aids in the healing also. I was also told that if I did not have Honey, that plain Sugar (yes I did say plain Sugar! ) can be used to pack the open wounds and it will work the same way. I have used the remedy on my kids and dogs also and am a believer! Also taking Turmeric internally....

I read about how great honey was in healing wounds/cuts in animals and it's true! Our dog seems to get hurt weekly, and anytime he has an open wound, we clean it with HP, put honey on a gauge bandage and then wrap it. After a few changes, it heals great! Thanks for the tip!

My dog was bitten by another dog and had a large open gash on her leg. The wonderful vet we see advised me to clean it, then drizzle UNPASTEURIZED honey all over it, cover it loosely with gauze and wrap it (not too loose, not too tight). She informed me that the honey has antibiotic and wound healing properties in it. I did this, and changed the dressing (cleaning and reapplying honey) every couple of days - the wound healed quickly and beautifully. You do have to wrap it though, because the dog will lick all of the yummy honey off otherwise. Make sure the honey is unpasteurized otherwise all the good stuff has been cooked out, and get the squeezable kind for way easier application.

I'm a nurse, and for cleaning it I would just use saline water instead of anything too complicated and irritating - if the wound has dirt and gunk in it, in which case you have to get as much out as you can, gently.

When wrapping with a bandage, try to find the stuff that doesn't have sticky gluey adhesive as it will be very painful to take off as it sticks to the fur and pulls. I found that tensor-type wrap at the vet's that is self adhesive and stretchy - no glue, it just sticks to itself.

Jennifer from Springtown, TX' might want to try honey on the horses open wound. Helps keep infections at bay.

I have little faith in vets and I try to find things that work and have some luck - manuka honey is really good as antibiotic internally and externally for animals and they like it. Chamomile teabag soak for any eye problems. These are 2 tried and trusted ones for me.

My ex, myself, and our magnificient and curious miniature australian shepherd were renting in what was "Dog Heaven". Acres and acres fenced to run in and a water reclamation system that included a series of sedimentary ponds, the largest and last full of Koi, pond vegation, and unbeknownst to us, bufos. We lived in the desert and water was scarce so even with fencing we dealt on a regular basis with mule deer (great sport for Roxy), along with vicious and deadly javelina. Needless to say she chased the deer off of the property gleefully, was not so gleefully ripped to pieces by a large javalina male and two females (treated that after throwing myself onto her and into the middle of the javelina's blood lust who would just as well kill a human as a dog (not smart). I got lucky making awful noises and they retreated. I treated this after carrying her into the house by filling and filling deep the gore holes that simply swallowed two bottles of the only thing on hand which was hydrogen peroxide and stuffed the wounds with dressing to put pressure inside hoping to stop the bleeding....yes, I know this is about bufos. The bleeding was totally stopped by morning and slowly she began to heal.

And now, the Bufo toads, One morning I went to drink my morning coffee with her while she took her morning swim, herding the koi from one end of the pond and back, something she did daily and for hours and I noticed a white film covering the enire pond. Then I looked at Roxy and could see her struggling to get on shore. By the time I had her in my arms she was convulsing with eyes rolled back. I checked her gum color for oxygen and they were very gray...all the meanwhile rubbing her everwhere trying to keep her blood flowing. Again, grabbed the only thing on hand which seemed close to appropriate, this time it was a full adult size benedryl pried her mouth open and opened the whole capsule in her mouth rubbing it into her tongue both top and bottom, on her gums thinking that from under the tongue on a human goes straight to the brain. Within just a few minutes her eyes began focusing and I began walking her just like a puppet thinking it might help keep her blood flow going, soon she began to try to walk on her own but needed help. She did show a rapid significant improvement with the benedryl, she weighs 29 to 34 lbs depending on how spoiled she is at the time. I am just sure the benedryl turned the tide. Roxy and I are moving back into this rental which was really paradise and peace for both of us so now I want to know....Exactly just how much benedryl I can give her at the max possible dosage, also does it come in a gel cap (haven't seen any) because in liquid form it would absorb much more quickly into her system.

I will definetely keep large amounts of vinegar for killing the toads and for her to drink and I very much appreaciate both this site and the information from all participants. I will also use the tub and light solution and lower the population. One more problem. It is my understanding that other frogs do not co-habitate with bufos so all of the guppies in differing stages are bufos. Roxy sticks her whole head into to the water trying to bite and catch them. Are they poisonous at this stage? During her second incident she crawled halfway from the pond headed towards the house when I found her. We went through the whole poisoning thing one more time and the benedryl once again brought her up quickly. Now I will use both prevention and cure. Bathub and lights and motor oil. I will make it my mission to lower the bufo toad population which it seems given the choices here will be a steady but doable new defense.

Thank you,
Linda A.
Bisbee, Arizona

Hydrogen peroxide cured a hole as big as my fist in the belly of my daughter's beloved cat. The cat showed up one day at the back door unable to stand up or hold it's head up, we found a hole in her belly that was opened and was gangreen, you could see her stomach and intestines, i wanted to put the cat down, but daughter refused and said she would nurse her back toThealth, husband said that daughter needed to get infection under control and said to clean it with HP, we used HP up to 5 or more times aday, in the meantime for days I seeked something of a miracle at the vets, drug stores as well as the farmyard stores to help this poor cat, by the way the vet said to put her down also after seeing her, anyways, as days went by the cat got stronger to the point of being able to walk and we noticed that the gangreen had all but disapeared and a few days after that something of a nasty looking mass fell out of her belly , which i believe was the rotten meat, and the hole started to heal all the mean time daughter cleaned the wound several times aday, and now about 4 months later, the wound is healed and she is healthy and living back outside, during the time of healing about 30 days, the cat was confided to the kitchen, we used HP bought right off the shelf in any store the 3% kind w/o diluting it

Hello. I have 10 cats and 3 dogs and at least one of them, are always getting hurt some how. Anyways everytime I use to take my dogs or cats to the doctor for wounds or stitching, he would always tell me to clean it with Hydrogen peroxide. I would just soak a qtip in hydrogen peroxide and then clean the wound. A couple of times the wound, would be so bad that he (the vet) would have to put a dranage tube in, he would then tell me to use a syringe (not the needle ones) filled with peroxide to flush it all out, 3x a day. The dogs really DID NOT like this, but it worked nontheless. I have also used it on stitches and then applied neosporin. My pets would try and lick of the wound even though the peroxide was on it, so I did use an Elizabethan (E-collar) on them but even when they were able to lick it off, they never got sick. Just dont let them lick it continually as this may upset there stomache amongst other things. I just believe that hydrogen peroxide works for animals as it does for people. Good luck! I am not sure if you already have this method on your cures list for pets, but I tried it and it worked. Thanks!

Topical iodine in the form of Betadine works wonders on wounds that require tissue deep repair, my goat got his foot tangled and was stuck outside for two days n the snow like that ( I was in bed with the flu for a week and could barely breathe when I got out of bed) anyways, his foot had swelled from the circulation being cut off and then froze solid. We brought him in and kept in and kept him in the bathroom while his foot thawed, I was unsure what to do with him at the time and gave him lots of colloidal silver to drink and soaked a bandage in it and wrapped it on his foot, I waited two weeks and saw no real improvement (the flesh on his foot was solid as a rock and he could not flex it or move it in any way) so I tried iodine, wrapped his foot in iodine soaked gauze and then wrapped it in duct tape (thanks to the advice of a friend) to form a boot to keep it protected and allow the iodine to absorb and not dissipate.

After ONE week the swelling was completely gone and his foot was no longer solid, I could move it and flex his hooves, something I could not in any way do before. It didn't look pretty though the layers of skin and fur were coming off in patches and I was worried about it being gangrene at first, but I wrapped it again and left it for another week. This time when I took it off nearly all the old skin and fur were off and new skin was in its place with new fur sprouting out! Again I wrapped it and left it for another week, at this point the fur was fully grown in and you couldn't tell it had been so severely damaged just 3 weeks earlier.

Hi all! I just came across this site and have been searching for pet remedies for mange and different types of fungus. I wanted to share with you a remedy that will work for any type of cut, gash, wound, etc. I have used it many times on many different types of animals and iw works wonderfully!. It is half kerosene and half raw linseed oil. Has to be raw. I know it sounds like it would burn, but I have used it on myself, and there is no pain. It will heal any type of major wound, and fast. There is no proud flesh grown, and it is a natural insect repellent, so the flies won't be bothering your animal. If anyone has any questions, feel free to contact me, and I can answer your questions. Like I said, I have used this many, many times. My vet told me to put Amy down, after being nearly ripped apart by a male. She healed completely after using this on her. You can apply it as often as you like, no side effects, and if you miss a day or two, its no big deal. Hope this helps someone out there.

Recently I was not at home when one of our cats was outside and cut his paw (we don't know how.) My 12 year old daughter was home and very concerned when she saw his paw bleeding and that he was leaving a track of blood where he walked!

Well, she is a budding herbalist I suppose. She went straight for the herbal wound powder that we make and keep on hand. She sprinkled it onto the wound to help it to stop bleeding. I think she repeated this several times over a short while. She knew the powder would stop the bleeding. And it did. It helps to form a scab as well.

Here is what was in my wound powder:

1 part plantain leaf powder
1 part omfrey root powder
1/8 part Myrrh gum powder
1 part slippery elm bark powder
1 part Oregon grape root powder

I keep a little jar of this in my kitchen and also one in each car. A friend loves to use this on her pet dogs and cats and has gone through a couple of jars!

Some of those ingredients are pricey. Lalitha Thomas, who wrote "Ten Essential Herbs" just uses equal parts of goldenseal and slippery elm bark powder.

These herb powders have anti-infective properties and also styptic properties (they will stop the bleeding.) The powders mix with blood and form a scab. The scab should not be removed once formed, but if bleeding reoccurs, more powder can be added.

Herb powders like this should NOT be used on puncture wounds. Epsom salt soaks would be better for that. I would also not use this on wounds that were deep and not clean.

I was reminded of the recent story of my daughter and her cat when I cut my finger last night while trimming my son's hair. I have done this several times and a cut on the knuckle is painful and wants to keep opening back up. Last night I put wound powder and a bandaid on it. It helped the pain and stayed the bleeding. Today the cut looks good without a bandaid. And it doesn't hurt at all.

If I were faced with a bleeding wound and I didn't have the above powders on hand, I would mix together 1 part cayenne pepper powder and 2 parts turmeric. The sting from the cayenne would not last long. (I have used it straight on paper cuts and it didn't hurt at all! )

~Mama to Many~

My poor puppy looked like she was growing gills on one side of her face. It was a skin infection and was large. It looked as if it was about to eat her face. The area was very sore as she got very defensive of it. To bring it to the surface of the skin I put some Diamotaceous Earth on it, which was very successful. Once I could see where exactly it was, I was able to use my trusted Manuka Honey on it. Within 12 hrs (overnight) the infection was gone and she was healing! She looked so much happier and had no problem with mama putting more honey on the area. Manuka, ya came thru again!! Manuka & D.E. cured her infection and for a total cost of a couple of bucks! I love Earth Clinic! Other people would've had to pay alot for a vet, then the medication, and then wait for days to see the medication doing anything. I think my way was both less expensive and more effective, as well as very quick ta boot!!

I have a 2yr old Egyptian mau cat that has developed bedsore like areas on the back hind leg. This area is red and the fur is rubbed off. Various attempts have been tried to "fix" this issue. They have healed some and not as red and swollen with laser surgery at a vets and antibiotic cream. Manuka honey is now being tried which is having some results but not long lasting - a cone is worn always so the cat won't like it and re-open this would/scrape.

Litter has been changed from breeze pellets to natural paper to attempt no abrasion. Any ideas appreciated.

I have an 8 1/2 year old alapah bull dog/terrier mix. Every year for the past 5 years he's devloped itchy open sores that become infected quickly. Durring this past week he went from not unusually itchy to having the worst open sore yet. This happened upon our return from Southern Oregon where it is terribly flea and tick infested, I checked him over for ticks several times finding none, and bathed him before coming home.

I discovered the sore the day after I got home when I had seen a small amout of blood and poured some 3% peroxide over it. I realized It was larger and he protested like crazy. I shaved the wound and around it, 7 days ago, he has not withstood even washing it with plain water (either cool or luke warm). He will not let me cut the hair back anymore at all. He has only barely tolerated (due to intoxication from marijuana oil in his food today) a pack made of a piece of clean linen with dried goldenseal sprinkled sprinked (maybe 1/8 teaspoon) topped off with 1/4 to 1/2 cups of raw russet grated potatoe. It looks a little better, but even intoxicated he won't stand for it to be placed more than 1/4 of wound at any time or in one setting.

I have tried plain water rinsing, a cool calendula tea rinse,thick cool oatmeal tea rinse, neosporin, and silversulfadiazine. But he just goes nuts and finds a way to rub off what ever I applied, or he has bulldozed his way out of the bath tub (he has never done this before) He has always had a high pain tolerance. And has never not let me do what ever I want to him, (except once after a fight where he got tore up quiet severely). But everything I have tried he acts like I am applying a flesh eating acid or something to the like to his sore.

It is now about 3 1/2 inches in diamiter, and seems to be growing maybe a quarter to a half in a day, with or with out him scratching at. It smells. It drains puss and blood almost continually,It's location is on the back of his neck over the left shoulder.The location prevents me from putting any kind of collar to allow me to cover his back toe nail to prevent him from scrating it any more.

I mostly feed him a homemade food comprising of approxametly 30% muscle meat,30% grain (usually oats, sometimes rice), 20% dark green or orange vegables,10% organ meat, 5% bran, 5% onoins, galic, cayenne pepper, or things like that. That in combitation with some of what ever I eat. He also suppliments his diet with what ever dry food my brother's dog is being feed at the time, when, for instance, I get ill (was outsleeping with flu for 4 days this week)

Please What can I do to give him some kind of relief now, and help him heal long term? What other information can I offer to help you help me help him. Thank You

Sincerely, Elizabeth