found little puncture wound on dog

[cosyjosie]

My dog was attacked 7 days ago, the other dog lunged towards mine. All dogs were on leads but unfortunately as the other dog pulled towards mine its lead broke and he got to my dog 😢
my husband managed to act swiftly and we were lucky as could have been sooo much worse other than it not being nice to see our dog seemed fine. We washed him when home and checked over and couldn't see any problems/cuts/marks. Rang emergency vet to be on safe side and he advised to keep an eye on him and told us signs of infection to look for but felt sure there were no puncture wounds. My dog has been completely fine / normal. Eating/ drinking fine and going on walks as normal, loads of energy as normal but tonight he's been licking his leg and on closer inspection found a little mark - probably from the bite. I'm an inexperienced first time dog owner so wondering if anyone could handhold me lol and make me feel better as freaking out this is going to end up being really nasty 😭😭😭 love my little pup so much

Hi, I'm a vet 😊 That looks nicely scabbed over and not swollen or particularly red. It's been 7 days and your dog is well in himself so I don't suspect infection.

Prevent him licking it if you can - buster collar or inflatable collar probably best. You can pick one up in a large pet store tomorrow. If he becomes lethargic or isn't eating well, take him to see the vet, or if the wound starts discharging pus, but otherwise monitor it, prevent licking and all will hopefully heal nicely.

Thank you so much for replying! He hasn't been overly licking it, there was a bit of clumped hair around which I've carefully cut away. I thought the hair was irritating him which is what made me look closer. Read you can put sudocream on it? 🫣🤔

It looks like it is healing nicely and it isn’t red or inflamed. It was 7 days ago so is well on its way to healing. I would just leave it alone now. Check from time to time and if it starts to look infected, then contact the vet.

I'm a vet too and I agree with what Grrrrrrr said. Looks like his own immune system is doing a lovely job by itself. If bite wounds are going to cause trouble they would have probably been looking pretty horrible 2 or 3 days later and gone spectacularly to shite by day 7. This wound looks quite nice. That lovely pale pink normal skin around it is especially pleasing.

Thank you for replying, feeling silly for not getting him checked over by a vet but he seemed fine & has literally been exactly the same as normal so just thought I'd look a bit daft taking him in 🙈 will keep an eye on him. Do you think it's worth washing/ cleaning the area with anything?

I wouldn't put anything on it - doesn't need it and may encourage him to lick.

"Read you can put sudocream on it? 🫣🤔"

Anything you can put on a baby's bum, you can put on a dog.

Oh thank you so much, really glad I posted as was freaking out a little bit - got the dog for my children and it seems to have ended up being me the one who is obsessed with him 😬🙈🐶

Also wouldn't wash it at this stage. It's no longer an open wound and just needs to continue the healing process.

Although as Grrr said it sometimes draws attention to it and sudocreme gunking into surrounding hair is...not awful, but just a bit of a mess.

Glad we could set your mind at rest 😊