Dog stitching

If it's not a long skin rip or torn muscle tissue I leave it alone other than water out of my water hose and vetericyn hydrogel because it sticks to the wound better and topical anti biotics like we have already mentioned, I don't give anti biotics unless I see infection starting to set in or I'll give them a round of it initially, I try to go as holistic as possible, like JP mentioned some good anti bacterial soap and clean water go along way, products such as cut and heal work in certain situations but more times than not prolong the healing process by killing of the bacteria but hinders the new skin and muscle tissue from developing as it would naturally, do some research of the benefits of hydro therapy versus conventional and synthetic medicines and methods, keeping your dogs healthy helps out a great deal in the healing, whenever they are sick or injured I give a k9 multivitamin and probiotics every day, to help keep their immune system functioning as it should, I used to be very adamant about giving them anti inflammatory just because of the comfort factor but learned the hard way that it actually prolongs healing as well, swelling is a bodies natural response to try to ward off infections from setting in by not allowing and slowing down the formation of white blood cells around the wound area, if the dog can lick the wound that helps out a great deal, in a lot of cases more so than any type of products or topicals will, and that's basically the same method as the hydrotherapy, cleaning out as much of the dead and necrotic tissue will speed the healing process as well, with the hydro therapy you need to run the water over the wound 5-10 minutes a day preferably several times a day but in most cases that isn't feasible for those of us who work everyday, some is better than none, I've seen some chewed up nasty looking wounds healed up great by nothing more than soap and water, and a little penicillin and now with vetericyn, I'm a firm believer in it and swear by it, some situations and scenarios call for heavy rounds and doses of antibiotics, medicines and topicals, and trips to the vet, it's just inevitable but ALOT can be treated right ther at home, the old timers and settlers of our land didn't have access to all the sprays and medicines we can easily get our hands on today, and they made it through those situations they or their dogs found themselves in, I honestly believe that we set our dogs back health and longevity of life wise by over treating with anti parasitics and anti biotics, I've seen first hand the effects of bacteria and parasite resistance in beef cattle treatments, this is just my opinion but a dog doesn't need antibiotics every time they get and injury unless it's obvious it's needed, common sense goes along way, some people get enjoyment it seems by over treating little fefe when she's got a little skin cut by going over board when in reality if the wounds was flushed everyday with clean water and she was left alone to lick the wound she would be just as fine, at the end of the day they're your dogs and unless some one is footing your feed bill then the decision is yours to do as you see fit and needed and this post is just my opinions and the way I see and do things, as long as the animal is done right by the care giver then it doesn't matter whose methods or ways work better...