An introduction to veterinary wound management

Animal wounds are a common occurrence in veterinary practice and are most likely traumatic or resulting from surgical procedure. Clinical management aims to provide a rapid return to health while eliminating risks of delay.

A moist wound healing environment

A moist environment encourages essential cellular activity, collagen formation and vital contraction processes. Wound dressings have subsequently developed to manage the wound environment more actively, by managing the factors associated with delayed healing.

The need for specific properties varies according to the wound and different wounds will require different dressings at different stages to get the best results. Advanced dressings are principally designed to actively re-hydrate or to absorb and retain excess wound fluid as well as protecting against further trauma. They may also be required to manage infection, contamination and inflammation.

There are several key principles to adopt when using advanced dressings which will maximise the outcome and make for easy application and removal.

Preparing the wound to heal

In all cases a full animal history should be attained to establish related or unrelated conditions that may affect healing, management or recovery. Prior to examination the area around the wound should be clipped with a generous margin so that the extent of injury is visible and to allow the dressing to overlap the wound by at least 2cm.

Dressing selection guide