If your dog only has minor bleeding or a small injury, then you can treat it with a wrap. If the bottom of the paw is skinned, your dog may have a ripped or torn pad. You can wrap this at home in most cases. Take a picture of the wound before you wrap it. If the injury worsens or becomes infected, you can show the picture to the vet. This will help them understand the severity of the problem.
Be sure to thoroughly clean a torn pad. An injury on the bottom of your dog’s paw is likely to be pretty dirty, so it will need some extra care to get really clean. Avoid putting harsh chemicals on your dog’s paw. Baby soap will clean the wound without harming your dog.
Making sure the area is dry before wrapping it up will minimize the chance of bacteria growing inside the wrap.
Ask someone to help you hold your dog if it is large and hard to handle or very resistant to you touching its paw.
The gauze pad should be sterile because it is coming in direct contact with an open wound. If your dog does not have a surface wound, then the sterile pad is not necessary.
You only need to wrap the cotton once or twice around the wound. If you wrap it any more, you might restrict your dog’s movement. When wrapping a dog’s paw, you need to cover the area above the paw to allow the wrapping to stay in place. You should wrap the leg to above the ankle joint.
A gauze layer that is wrapped too tight can cut off the circulation in a dog’s paw. Make sure that the gauze is snug but not so tight the cotton underneath it is totally compressed.
As with the gauze layer, you don’t want to pull the elastic covering too tight or you could cut off circulation in the dog’s paw. Only wrap the elastic covering tight enough to pull the wrinkles out of the wrap. This will ensure that the wrap is securely on the dog’s paw. Because it can wrap so smoothly, this elastic wrap also minimizes the dog’s ability to open up the wrap.
By putting a cone on the dog you minimize the animal’s ability to physically get its mouth near its bandages. To keep the dog from chewing the bandages, try mixing cayenne powder, paprika, and petroleum jelly. Rub this mixture along the outside of the bandage. Your dog won’t like the taste, and it will keep it from chewing the bandage.
Talk to your veterinarian about how often they want the wrap changed, in addition to how long they want the wrap to be applied. Changing the wrap daily allows you to adjust the tightness of the wrap. This can be helpful if the injured area has any increase or decrease in swelling.
Also assess whether your dog can move its paw and it there are any signs of continued pain when you are handling the injured area.
