Ulcers In My Paralyzed Dog...WTH!

[drwecki]

Hey All,

My dog Cisco has been getting Nasty ulcers on his hocks. He goes to the vet twice a week for a bandage change. The right hock is finally healed (and has been healed for at least one month), but the left hock keeps "blowing up" as I like to put it. The right leg healed and is always in a wrap (the wrap consists of a blanket, a piece of foam, and tender tape), the left leg will just not make it into healed. Is there anything I can do? At this point it's been 9 months dealing with this awful stuff. Anyone else have similar issues and what do you do?

Thanks for any advice, Brian.

[Bobbie]

Is something rubbing where the ulcers are occuring?

[drwecki]

He drags and so is legs rub on the floor.

[Bobbie]

A couple of options- one, can he use a cart in the house? Does he fit into any kind of drag bag?

Some dogs wear knitted or crocheted leggings.

Or something like a kilt- a skirt, open at the bottom, that will drag along with him?

One thing when my Oliver had sores on the tops of his feet from dragging, eventually the bandaging was causing new sores and we just stopped doing it and used some liquid bandage spray for a few weeks until his feet toughened up.

[slshepherds]

Hi Brian

I've been dealing with a similar thing with my Carl for almost 5 years now. For him it is his right foot and no matter what I do it never quite heals and continual bandaging or boots on tight enough to stay on tend to exacerbate the problem or cause other health problems (e.g. skin infections). For Carl I think much of it is that he is a big dog (Labrador) and the weight on his legs is enough to cause problems (I have 2 smaller paraplegics (~30lbs) and neither have any issues). Having said this, at one point Carl got a deep, antibiotic resistant infection. Have you thought about a culture?

Wishing you the best
Joanne

[mmcamar]

Hi there. Can you tell me whether the ulcers from your dogs are venous ulcers? DO they respond positively to compressive therapy?