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Dog's neck wound bleeding & swollen after home meds. Vet needed?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Our dog has a wound around his neck. I already gave him OXYTETRACYCLINE HCI + GENTIAN VIOLET, CEFALEXIN and mefenamic acid. However the wound keeps on bleeding and his neck (throat) swollen. I dont know how to deal with this. What should i do?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Kevin Sanada, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on August 4th, 2017

I am surprised by the amount of medications you are giving. This is way too much and cannot think of a reason to give all of those at once. The cause of the wound would need to be known for me to know how to fix it, but I will give you some advice that should be helpful for any wound. The most important thing is to keep the wound clean. Start by shaving away all the hair around the wound. Wash the wound with just cool water. This is very important. Do not use any soap or gentian violet. These can actually cause more damage than good. Wash the wound with cool clean water 3 times a day. Do not scrub the wound - only gently wipe away crusts or dirt. I recommend only giving the oxytetracycline and cefalexin if prescribed by a veterinarian. If a vet did not advise, then you should stop these medications until given a dose by a vet. Stop the mefenamic acid. This is not a dog medication and can be deadly. If you can bandage the wound or keep covered, this will help it to heal quicker. It is best to keep the wound moist and not let if dry. I know this seems odd that all I am recommending is cool water and bandage, but I promise you, this is the best way to manage a wound. Giving too much medication can be worse for the wound than having no medication. See this video if you are not sure about what I am recommending: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjG3WUinDGc I do think that a veterinarian should see the wound in order to identify the cause. If you want, you can do a consult with me to ask more questions and show photos.

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Other Answers

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    Answered By David Elbeze, DVM, MRCVS

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    It sounds as you dug suffers a severe infection on his neck and i do not think any topical treatment can help him, he needs a course of oral antibiotics and he needs his wound checked by a vet urgently, i strongly advise that you take him to the vet today to get treated.

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