On exam her right front paw was extremely swollen and the swelling extended to above her carpus (wrist joint).  The outermost digit had fluid coming from an area of thin and damaged skin which looked infected and as a result the surrounding soft tissue was severely inflamed. We call this cellulitis. On palpation of the foot it was painful but, as we could not feel her digits underneath the swelling, we could not rule out an underlying fracture or foreign body in her foot.

Bess required intensive antibiotic therapy and pain relief so we admitted her into the hospital for these to be given directly into her vein. We also started Bess on fluids as she had a very high temperature; the fluids would act to cool Bess down but also dilute any toxins associated with the infected paw. Within the first few days the skin overlying Bess’s infected paw began to slough which is a term used to describe the falling away of dead and non viable skin from a wound. This skin would never have recovered and needed to be removed however this left a large tissue deficit in Bess’s foot.

Bess’s natural healing mechanisms allowed the deficit to be slowly filled with new cells and tissue but this took time and our role was to provide the optimum healing environment for this to take place.

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The hair around Bess’s wound was clipped short and the area was cleaned thoroughly.  Bess then had daily dressings in order to provide the optimum wound environment. Bess also needed to wear her buster collar at all times. Unfortunately she was very good at removing her collar and kept the nurses on their toes! Bess was in with us for a total of two weeks and her wound healed really well. Due to her good progress, Bess continued her healing at home with strict rest, a collar, oral antibiotics and pain relief.