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How to keep a wound disinfected?

christelle

Young Bun
Hi! My bunny tore one of his nails on his front left paw after jumping from his cage on to the floor. I rushed him to the vet as he was bleeding a bit, and luckily the nail fell off before the vet had to take it out himself! I asked the vet to give him a painkiller injection before he even touched him, and afterwards he gave him anti-biotics shot and cauterised the wound. Twitch seems fine and is running around as usual now (this happened sunday morning, of course!:roll:), but the vet mentioned that the worse case scenario is that the infection attacks the bone, in which case we need an amputation!:shock:
He said that I shouldn;t need to do anythg, but I want to make sure it doesn;t get infected, so does anyone have any tips? I heard about salt and water but my o/h said it would be too agressive, so I tried diluting a bit of the disinfectant used in hospitals with water and put that on the wound....
any tips would help! Thanks!
 
mine have lost a nail before with no problems. If the bleeding has stopped and the vet has already given an antibiotic injection then there should be no need to bathe it, infact you might make it worse by softening the scab and allowing infection in.
 
you can boil some water and add a pinch of salt. When its cooled down you can bathe the wound with that.
 
Oh god!!! Well I only did it once the next morning when I thought I saw him limp a little bit... but haven't done it since as he's now hopping around like mad!
Thanks though, I'll know for next time!!
 
I would just advise keeping him in a clean hutch for a couple of days, or just a run indoors, to minimise germs - grass, soil, dirt outside from birds etc. should be avoided - my bunny Tia had a nail break off when I first got her, and she dripped blood all over the carpet. I didn't treat it in any way, and she kept it clean being indoors, so there was no problem.
 
that's great advice thanks. He's on a balcony so has no contact with grass or soil or other animals, so fingers crossed he should be fine...
 
i had to bathe willows for several days..she tore hers out from the nail bed....she had painkiler jab..good ole antibiotics..yep baytril..mm with a mad frenchie..not easy..
normallly he recommends boiled water cooled to warm and salt bathed two to three times daily.....but in the end he gave me some hibiscrub to be sure as shes a house bun but free range with bertie..and two cats...better safe than sorry.
once it seems to not look raw..then leave the bathing off..it needs to dry up and scab over.
 
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