About two weeks ago, Casper was injured on his front right paw. I don't know what happened to it, since the injury occurred when he was outside. It looked like a very minor wound, with a little bleeding around one nail, so I rinsed it in warm water and didn't worry about it until two days later. Then I noticed that he was limping and his foot was swollen, so I took him to the vet for an emergency appointment. He had an abscess near one toe, which was drained and cleaned. He was prescribed 7 days -- 14 pills -- Clavamox, which he took with no problems. His paw healed nicely.
Then two days ago, Casper came in from outdoors with a similar wound on his back right paw, only this time there was bleeding around one nail and on the side and top of his paw. I washed off the wound in warm water again. I probably should have used some sort of disinfectant, but it was very hard to restrain him even just using warm water.
Today, his back right paw is swollen and he is limping. Clearly he needs veterinary treatment. My question is whether he needs a full examination, or if antibiotics would be sufficient. His wounds are tiny, probably tooth punctures. This isn't a case where he needs stitches, but I could imagine some sort of drainage procedure that might help, though I don't see an obvious bump indicating an abscess and he actually doesn't mind my manipulating his paw and toes (in contrast to his previous paw injury).
His last vet appointment was not fun, for him or me. It was on an emergency basis, meaning there was lots of waiting around, and it was with a vet (not his regular vet) and vet assistant who were neither friendly to me, nor gentle to him. My inclination is to see if his regular vet will prescribe another course of Clavamox and monitor Casper in hope that antibiotic therapy will be sufficient. It's not so much the cost of another emergency appointment that I'm trying to avoid, as the time and stress on Casper.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
There also may be a long term problem here -- some new, aggressive animal in the neighborhood. There is a new dog, a few houses over, and he has twice been outside unleashed, though not to my knowledge on the days when Casper was injured. I have security cameras that record anything in or near my yard. I have a pretty good idea where Casper is being injured -- it's an adjacent yard (not the one with the dog), unfortunately owned by terrible people. They would at best ignore me if I asked them if they knew what happened. Also, drawing attention to Casper's daily visits to their yard is nothing that I want to do, lest I give them ideas about "punishing" me by hurting him. I walked the perimeter of their property yesterday in search of anything -- animal or human-made -- that might have hurt him, but didn't see anything suspicious.
I can't keep Casper inside, as he would go crazy. He's been an outdoor adventurer for all his 16 years. I'm open to any ideas for keeping him safe, however.
Then two days ago, Casper came in from outdoors with a similar wound on his back right paw, only this time there was bleeding around one nail and on the side and top of his paw. I washed off the wound in warm water again. I probably should have used some sort of disinfectant, but it was very hard to restrain him even just using warm water.
Today, his back right paw is swollen and he is limping. Clearly he needs veterinary treatment. My question is whether he needs a full examination, or if antibiotics would be sufficient. His wounds are tiny, probably tooth punctures. This isn't a case where he needs stitches, but I could imagine some sort of drainage procedure that might help, though I don't see an obvious bump indicating an abscess and he actually doesn't mind my manipulating his paw and toes (in contrast to his previous paw injury).
His last vet appointment was not fun, for him or me. It was on an emergency basis, meaning there was lots of waiting around, and it was with a vet (not his regular vet) and vet assistant who were neither friendly to me, nor gentle to him. My inclination is to see if his regular vet will prescribe another course of Clavamox and monitor Casper in hope that antibiotic therapy will be sufficient. It's not so much the cost of another emergency appointment that I'm trying to avoid, as the time and stress on Casper.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
There also may be a long term problem here -- some new, aggressive animal in the neighborhood. There is a new dog, a few houses over, and he has twice been outside unleashed, though not to my knowledge on the days when Casper was injured. I have security cameras that record anything in or near my yard. I have a pretty good idea where Casper is being injured -- it's an adjacent yard (not the one with the dog), unfortunately owned by terrible people. They would at best ignore me if I asked them if they knew what happened. Also, drawing attention to Casper's daily visits to their yard is nothing that I want to do, lest I give them ideas about "punishing" me by hurting him. I walked the perimeter of their property yesterday in search of anything -- animal or human-made -- that might have hurt him, but didn't see anything suspicious.
I can't keep Casper inside, as he would go crazy. He's been an outdoor adventurer for all his 16 years. I'm open to any ideas for keeping him safe, however.
