Mending Hurt Paws

At the beginning of the week Genevieve was jumping around in the creek when she cut her paw.  Although she was limping she wasn't bleeding and it wasn't until we got home that she laid on her side and gave me her paw to look at.  She had a look on her face that said, 'Mom look at my broken foot.'  Upon examining her paw I could see a very deep slice in the main pad of her foot as well as a chunk missing out of it!  Nothing was bleeding but it looked very painful.

Genevieve's bandaged up footie.

Since then we have been soaking her foot 2-3 times a day in warm water and epsom salts.  We leave the wound open during the day to let it breathe, then when I get home from work and after the soak I spray some of the spray bandage for animals on it to help keep it sealed.  Once I've let that dry, I apply some of Dr. Maggie's healing ointment on it (it's basically polysporin but for animals) and finally apply a gauze pad to the area and use some gauze to bandage it all up.  To stop her from ripping it apart I cover her foot with a stylish sock.  Of course if you let her out of your sight for more than 2 minutes, the sock is in pieces and she's got the bandage in her mouth which is also why we don't bother when we're not home.

Genevieve sporting her most stylish sock.

It's been about 5 days and although she still walks slow, she's finally stopped limping and can go further distances (which is great since we don't let the dogs in the backyard).  Also the gash is definitely healing as it doesn't split open anymore although I think the chunk missing out of her paw pad will take a while to heal.