Foot Injury

[CJR]

This is going to sound crazy but...If she can't get to her feet Dabbing a bit of honey on the wound under the bandage will help healing.

Honey?

 

[Essentia]

Yup, honey. I've used it several times in wound care. Mainly for myself, but also for my cat. Here is a really good article on it. http://www.motherearthnews.com/Natural-Health/1999-02-01/Honey-Benefits.aspx

Here is the main point about wound care though if you don't want to read the whole article.

Modern creams and antibiotics may help heal, but they often have the disadvantage of killing tissue and causing scabs and scars. But not all of us think to put honey under that Band-Aid or bandage. Results of a three year clinical trial at the University Teaching Hospital in Calabar, Nigeria, showed that unprocessed honey can heal wounds when more modern dressings and antibiotic treatments fail. In 59 patients treated for wounds and external ulcers, honey was effective in all but one case. Topical applications kept sterile wounds sterile until they had time to heal, while infected wounds became sterile within a week. Honey was also shown to remove dead tissue from persistent wounds, helping some patients avoid skin grafts or amputations.

“Honey provides a moist healing environment yet prevents bacterial growth even when wounds are heavily infected,” notes Dr. Peter Molan of the Honey Research Unit at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. “It is a very effective means of quickly rendering heavily infected wounds sterile, without the side effects of antibiotics, and it is even effective against antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria.”

What gives honey its healing capacity? A combination, it seems, of several factors: Honey’s acidity, or pH, is low enough to hinder or prevent the growth of many species of bacteria, although this acidity may be neutralized as honey is diluted, with, for example, body fluids from a cut or wound. Then there’s honey’s osmolarity, or tendency to absorb water from a wound, which deprives bacteria of the moisture they need to thrive. Hydrogen peroxide plays another big part. When honey is diluted (again, say, with fluids from a wound) an enzyme is activated to produce hydrogen peroxide, which, as we know, is a potent antibacterial (who doesn’t have a brown bottle of this stuff in their medicine cabinet?). Honey has also been shown to reduce the inflammation and soothe the pain of deep wounds and burns. And honey dressings won't stick to wounds, since what ends up in contact with the affected area is a solution of honey and fluid that can be easily lifted off or rinsed away. That means no pain when changing dressings, notes Molan, and no tearing away of newly formed tissue.

“Honey is an ideal first-aid dressing material,” he adds, “especially for patients in remote locations, where there could be time for infection to set in before medical treatment is obtained. It is readily available and simple to use.”

 

[saphire]

wow, this is very interesting. Thank you

 

[lauralynne]

Nice job, Proudmom! Sounds like she's on the right path!

 

[Pokei]

Wow Proudmom! I'm sorry you had to go through this and I hope Jade recovers soon!

 

[proudmom25]

Very interesting. I will have to try it the next time she comes out.

Yup, honey. I've used it several times in wound care. Mainly for myself, but also for my cat. Here is a really good article on it. http://www.motherearthnews.com/Natural-Health/1999-02-01/Honey-Benefits.aspx

Here is the main point about wound care though if you don't want to read the whole article.

 

[Claire D]

Do you think this might be too far out? She doesn't trip over it...she just can't access anything. Which is why I have been doing the handfeeding.

Sounds like a good size to me - as long as she is eating (even hand fed for now) & is peeing & pooping ok then I would not worry too much for now - just keep a close watch on the amount & consistency of droppings.
You're doing great with her. :thumbsup:

Honey dressings have made a bit of a come-back in the last 2-3 years. Manuka honey is the most popular "type" of honey for use in wound care.
Don't try using honey out of your food cupboard though (as a number of patients have :wacko as it's not quite the same thing. :hilarious:

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

so where does one it this 'Manuka honey' or similar honey

 

[Claire D]

I would suspect you can buy it online (New Zealand Manuka Honey Dressings) or from your pharmacies OTC.

 

[harbingerofdoom]

so where does one it this 'Manuka honey' or similar honey

it can be found from a number of place
http://www.google.com/products?q=ma...=&startPage=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wf

obviously you'd want to make sure whats being sold is actually what you are after... but there ya are.

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

when will I ever check what I type before sending - thanks for the info

 

[ruoc]

How are the feet coming along? Has she stopped trying to chew them?

 

[proudmom25]

The feet seem to be coming along. The 2nd leg that she chewed is scabbed over and healing. The original injured leg is still pretty rough. She had chewed the bottom padding so that still looks pretty sore. There is no smell or drainage so that's great news.

Her handfeeds are going great too. She eats like a champ. She did pass on one feeding yesterday but has been eating well since then. I think she is a little depressed being stuck in a cone and alone. But almost as soon as I take the cone off she tries to start chewing at her leg again. So it will have to be as is for now. I do have lots of cuddles and kisses with her when she is awake and eating. She will sit on me and let me love her up.

How are the feet coming along? Has she stopped trying to chew them?

 

[Jenn]

Proudmom, it sounds like things are going pretty well with your chin so far. Hopefully she continues to do well and heals quickly. What a rough start with your chin, but this will be behind you soon and then the two of you can finally just have fun together!

Will a chin who constantly gnaws and chews on an injury, stop this behavior when the injury is gone? I was just curious to know. I would certainly hate to go through such an ordeal, just to have the chin start chewing all over again.

 

[Claire D]

I'm still concerned that there is more to this than meets the eye - the fact that she is going straight for the foot when you take the cone off would probably suggest the wound is painful.
Since we've never actually been told how this injury occurred (Kathiva, can you supply this information please?) I would want an x-ray taken to check the bone is not fractured, that there is not infection in the bone, or that there is not some foreign body in the wound. Nerve damage can also make a chin chew obsessively.


Anaesthetic & x-rays are almost a "last resort" for chins which may be or are pregnant but I do think her leg needs further investigation. Something is not right.

If she's going to continue to self mutilate then one option would be to remove the source of the irritation & amputate the leg - this may well solve the problem but she has a history of chewing the other leg as well so there is a risk she will chew the other leg again ............ not an easy scenario at all.

 

[BooBoo*TheKiddo*]

I just read all of this and wanted to say...

Jade makes an adorable conehead and I hope she's heals quickly for you. Glad she in your care now.

 

[kathiva]

I'm still concerned that there is more to this than meets the eye - the fact that she is going straight for the foot when you take the cone off would probably suggest the wound is painful.
Since we've never actually been told how this injury occurred (Kathiva, can you supply this information please?) I would want an x-ray taken to check the bone is not fractured, that there is not infection in the bone, or that there is not some foreign body in the wound. Nerve damage can also make a chin chew obsessively.


Anaesthetic & x-rays are almost a "last resort" for chins which may be or are pregnant but I do think her leg needs further investigation. Something is not right.

If she's going to continue to self mutilate then one option would be to remove the source of the irritation & amputate the leg - this may well solve the problem but she has a history of chewing the other leg as well so there is a risk she will chew the other leg again ............ not an easy scenario at all.

Hi

She got injured once she had escaped and we were trying to catch her to put her back in her cage, she started running on top of a cage, which had one inch wire spacing by 1/2 an inch, and by trying to run away, her foot got stuck in the wire spacing, including up to her anckle, so we tried to take it out smoothly and we couldn't, it was stuck, so we had to cut a bit of the wire spacing in order to take her foot out, which it took a while, and her attitude was of desperation, like really wanting to get out as soon as possible, that she seemed to be willing to cut her whole foot off, but we were able to take it out, and she had a couple scratches on her anckle and around her foot, like the top, but don't remember how the finger looked like though, her foot didn't look like it broke to me though, it was just fine at the moment, and didn't see her chewing on it or anything, but when I brought her on thursday to sudbury, and jennifer went there on tuesday, I didn't have a chance to see how her foot progressed during those days, I knew she got hurt on her foot, but not something that she was going to start chewing on,

 

[ruoc]

Glad to hear the wounds are starting to heal, what a scary situation to have to deal with. Maybe it's just the wounds drying up and itching, that is causing her to try to bite them when the cone is off, hopefully it wont be more serious then that. You are doing a great job for your little one, hope this all ends for the better soon.

 

[Essentia]

Considering this was an instance with her foot being stuck like that I would definitely get an xray. It could easily be a break. I got lucky with my boy and he only had a really bad sprain, but I know others haven't been so lucky.

 

[Jenn]

I'm wondering if an x-ray is in order...the way she got her foot caught makes me think maybe her leg/foot is broken?