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My dog keeps chewing his inflamed leg wound. Why isn't it healing?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Bichon Frise | Male | neutered

Almost 2 months ago, and after having been walked in the hours prior, my dog began chewing the top of his leg very intently. It was inflamed and became weepy as he had chewed it. He has now finally had his cone taken off and the leg looked like it was clearing. However it has clearly still been bothering him, and after he had another nibble at it and the fur was moved, I noticed that he has what look like 2 bites very close together where the original wound was. What could this be?!

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2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By David Darvishian

Veterinarian

Published on August 21st, 2017

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sorry to see that T is having this problem. A few things are possible here. I am assuming that the original wound never healed, only got better. If that's the case then I would suspect either a foreign body has entered the leg or an insect/spider/other has bitten him that started the entire problem. Puncture wounds can look very different over time so it may have been only one small puncture wound from the inciting event. I would advise taking T back to your veterinarian so they can recheck the wound and possibly rethink what is going on. (Assuming they saw it initially) after it first happened. They may want to culture the wound and run a sensitivity of the bugs that grow out of the culture to determine what antibiotics would be best. They may also advise some x-rays to determine if a foreign body has entered the leg although this can be of questionable value depending what the foreign body could be. Exploring the wound might be another option. All of these can be discussed with your veterinarian and I have made some assumptions here and could be wrong. I wish you the best of luck with T and I hope you get to the bottom of this very soon.

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    Answered By Lauren Kennedy, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    It looks like this could be some sort of insect bite or trauma. This was probably the cause of the excessive chewing and now there is severe inflammation because of it. T will most likely need antibiotics to help clear up the area and possibly something to help with the itch like a course of steroids. This will help the itch as well as the inflammation. I would recommend taking T in to see your vet so you can begin treatment. The area may need to clipped and cleaned as well. Try and keep the cone on T for now so he doesnt cause any more trauma to his leg. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

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