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My dog has a skin wound on her chest. What to do if vet is closed?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Dachshund | Female | 15 lbs

My dog has a piece of her skin missing on her chest. Its late and cant get to a vet. What do i do?

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3 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Jessica Keay, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on April 28th, 2017

So sorry to hear about Jellybean! It can be very difficult to tell in a photograph, but the wound in the photo looks fairly superficial. If this is the case, then waiting to be seen until tomorrow by your vet is probably safe. If, however, the wound is deeper or more of a puncture, a trip to an emergency clinic may be warranted if you have one in your area. Otherwise, you can perform basic first aid by cleaning the wound with a mild soap if she will let you. If you have a tub with a detachable shower head, you could stand her up in the tub and use the shower head to gently rinse the wound to remove any debris/dirt that may be present and wash it with a gentle soap (don't put alcohol on the wound as this will sting and traumatize the skin). After it is cleaned, you can slather a very thick layer of antibiotic ointment such as neosporin or generic triple antibiotic ointment over the wound and If you happen to have very large bandaids or nonstick telfa pads you can tape over the wound to keep it covered you can apply these. You can pick up nonstick telfa pads at most drug stores and you can cover the wound with the pads and then use medical tape to tape the edges, creating your own large bandaid. We want the wound to stay moist and covered with the ointment to keep it from drying out and prevent further damage to the tissue. You can also place a small t-shirt/baby onesie over her to try to keep the area covered if you don't have any bandage material, as we do not want her to lick at the wound and further aggravate it. Then I would call your vet in the morning so they can take a look at the wound and decide if she needs any additional treatment!

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    Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    Ouch, oor Jellybean! A cut that wide and long will likely need stitches to close it, and the best option is to find a vet on call to see her now. There will be a vet on call for emergencies in your area if you don't have an ER vet clinic, and the information to reach that vet is found on a clinic's answering machine or website. If you absolutely cannot get Jellybean to a vet tonight, it's important to keep the area clean and dry. You may want to bandage it, and definitely put an Ecollar on her to keep her from licking at it. I will post a link below on how to make an Ecollar at home: http://dogsaholic.com/care/homemade-dog-cone.html

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    Answered By Jeffrey Milner

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    Ouch, that definitely looks like it hurts! It is hard for me to see just how deep that is, but it certainly appears to have a bit of depth to it. If you can't get to the vet until tomorrow morning, I would find some gauze and medical tape and attempt to cover that area up. Keep it clean until it can be addressed by your veterinarian. If you have any available or can go out to get some, I would also try and clean off the area with some chlorhexidine wash. Application of triple antibiotic ointment to the area also will not do harm, but if you intend on going to the vet tomorrow that really is not completely necessary. Most importantly, you need to try and prevent Jellybean from injuring herself more with licking and scratching. I'm sure the area is very irritated, but do whatever you need to prevent this. Sometimes the best thing to do is outfit them with an old t-shirt cut with holes for their legs. Might be hard with a dachshund, but I am sure you can make something work!

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