Oh Mr. Frost, my heart just sank in relief.

This certainly was my first impression. He is resting quietly in his crate, I’ve got it covered with a sterile gauze bandage and loosely wrapped with the unravel type of gauze. He’s not paying any attention to it.

I can bring him with me to work if I have to. He does just fine in a crate all day if needed. I can limit his exercise for a few days and have a fresh tube of Neosporin.

This vet visit has me scared for him.

PromAce is a really common sedative that's relatively safe. When I work on a sedated dog in grooming it's almost always on Ace. Most of the dogs I work on sedated just get a little drowsy, a couple have to be pretty fully goofballed on a slightly bigger dose.

I haven't seen it called PromAce but just Ace and Acepromazine. I will mention it is not an anesthetic so it isn't gonna help for pain.
I share your dislike of anesthetic. And not seeing it in person I can't say whether I would take him in or not. Can't hurt. But I gotta say I have had BCs come in from working with worse cuts and as Mr Frost has said, they heal remarkably well and fast. Biggest thing with your particular one would be the bend in his joint reopening it.

Hubby is reading each post too and he said that he was worried because he knows that some cuts "must" be sutured and wasn't sure whether this was one of them.

Said he's really thankful for all the opinions and is now swaying to the mind that perhaps we should cancel the appointment (great post Mr. Frost, exactly what he needed to hear).

As well, I also want to thank everyone for being here when we really needed you guys.

 Quote: Sonya Gilmore

Biggest thing with your particular one would be the bend in his joint reopening it.

Great to hear that you've had worse without stitches. We've dealt with a couple of cuts, but much larger, one involving a drain tube. That's why this one didn't have me overly excited, concerned for sure but totally uneducated in what the right course of action is.

So the location and the bending. I wonder how bad of an issue this is going to be and possibly prolonged length of time to heal if we decide to go the non suture route.

Sutured or not you are gonna want to keep him "quiet". That whole idea of resting and not using something seemed foreign to the border collies. If you can keep your baby from running and tearing around that will certainly help.

Have a friend whose BC broke his leg as a pup. Working lines. Not surprisingly he did not have the cast on the entire time the vet originally hoped. Thankfully he healed well anyway!

 Quote: sonya gilmore

Sutured or not you are gonna want to keep him "quiet". That whole idea of resting and not using something seemed foreign to the border collies.

Very valid point. Sutured or not. Rest being the key. In it's location, sutures/staples, whatever they're wanting to do could quite easily be torn/separated. That almost sounds worse.

But you're completely right. No more using it unless absolutely necessary for the next few days. And oh yes, this is going to be fun. He's an incredibly high drive boy too. Maybe I should get some of that stuff just to keep him goofy when he knows he should be out exercising.

Just my 2 cents...
I'd save your money on the vet for now. 12+ hours after the initial cut is a pretty old wound to suture. If it's kept moist, it's a possibility.... but at that point if the edges are clean, and you're not concerned about infection I'd wait.

If he's not HORRIBLY lame, I'd skip it. I've also seen worse, on both horses and dogs, they've healed fine.

If you have clippers, I would be inclined to clip a 1/2'' margin around the cut (if he'll let you? Not sure how painful it is for him) to keep the hair out as it heals.

As it is healing, (same as with any other deep laceration) you want to make sure it heals from the inside out. Don't let the outside scab closed until the inside is showing proof of healing. Dogs are usually good at this, like David said they lick it well!

Good luck!

We recently dealt with a nasty ear tear and some other assorted wounds and I was amazed how quickly they all healed with no stitches and even less scaring. He did take antibiotics for it, but I honestly don't think he would have needed them.

Loki's hear had about a 2 inch tear in it that is barely even visible now!

The vet did tell me, which I was not ever aware of that Neosporin cream is better for dogs than the ointment, something to do with the fact that they don't sweat.

The stuff with the pain reliever in it is what we use for everyone in my house.

I also really like the bandaid hurt free wash. It is in a handy bottle that squirts a nice stream for irrigating the wound, and disenfects while not hurting and maybe even helping the pain a little.

We always soak bad wounds in boiled water with some sea salt in it. I started doing with cats since they get such nasty infections and it seems to help everyone.

Sorry I just got on here, we had a busy weekend.

As soon as I saw the cut I knew that stitches wouldn't be a good idea. Where the cut is, they would most likely just burst and your money would have gone down the drain.

My husky had surgery to remove a lump from his elbow last year. They told me that there really wasn't enough skin to close, so I told them not to stitch it, the vet disaggreed and did it anyway.
Two steps out of the car and his stitches burst - I was not happy. So I packed the wound with honey (sugar - table sugar works too). Both are natural healers with antibacterial qualities. It took about 10-14 days, but his larger than a twonie hole in his leg healed over and all of his hair even grew back over the spot. To do this you need a cone and some gauze and vet wrap. Then I alternated between packed and bandaged during the day and left alone (keep the cone on though) cleaned and left to get air at night. You can pack it, put the gauze on and wrap with vet wrap then stick a bootie over so you can bring him out without everything getting dirty.

Hope your pup is feeling better.