My dog has a painful, infected leg hole. Is it an emergency?

Please have Ann examined by your veterinarian or at the nearest veterinary ER today. That wound will likely need to be explored and debrided surgically. This will require anesthesia. A culture/sensitivity and biopsy of the area should be submitted as well. The C&S will identify any bacteria as well as the best antibiotic to use in treatment. Even though she was on antibiotics, if the bacteria was not susceptible to them, they would be ineffective. A biopsy will rule out neoplasia (cancer). Either can cause delayed healing or non-healing. If infection gets into the bone, it could turn into a life threatening condition. Place an e-collar (cone) on her to prevent licking until she sees a doctor.

From the pictures, the skin appears red and inflamed. It does look like it is infected. While this may not be a true emergency, I would recommend getting in to see your veterinarian very soon. Pookie will need the area shaved and cleaned up. Your vet may prescribe an antibiotic for this as well depending. Until you can get to your vet, you can keep the area clean and dry and use a mild soap and water to clean the wound. If Pookie is licking it, you can put on ECollar on her to prevent licking.

Poor Baxter! This looks like quite a deep wound, and it appears to be infected. I can't say from looking what might have caused it - it's possible that this could be a skin growth of some kind that has become infected and burst open, or he may have injured himself somehow. Regardless, this is definitely something that needs to be seen by a veterinarian - using topical antibiotic ointment will not be enough to treat it effectively. Your veterinarian can prescribe oral antibiotics and anti-inflammatory meds, and may also recommend taking a biopsy of the affected area or other testing if needed to help determine what's going on.

Ouch - poor pup! This wound looks quite deep, so yes - I would definitely recommend a vet visit. This may need stitches, depending on how long ago it happened, and your pup will certainly need antibiotics to prevent it from becoming infected while it heals.

I am sorry to hear about Shelby. It is difficult from the photo to tell what we are looking at but it appears to be her hind leg? She most definitely needs to get to the vet right away- to the emergency vet if your vet is not open. This is a severe wound that has retracted and exposed the muscle beneath the skin. It will need to be thoroughly cleaned and debrided and sutured closed. I would taker her straight away. Best of luck to you and Shelby.

This wound requires an immediate check up and possibly a stitch up as it seems infected and it is unlikely that will heal without immediate intervention. Proper disinfection and antibiotic treatment is required. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. Please find the time to give us a feedback about the consultation as that will be used to improve our service.

Oh no, poor Amanti! He needs to see a vet immediately. If one of the puncture wounds is oozing and the other is hot, it sounds like they are infected which requires antibiotics from the vet to treat. He needs to have these wounds cleaned and treated. Please take him into an ER vet clinic; if there isn't one in your area, there will be a vet on call for emergencies. The information to reach that vet is found on a clinic's answering machine or website.