it’s mostly hydrated lime, so it’s a bit frightening to think to use this on my dog. However, we used to use it on horses all the time.
Has anyone used Wonder Dust on their dog? I have some slow healing wounds that need drying up…
Is there any proud flesh?
Wonder Dust does a wonderful job of destroying tissue, which is why it is so helpful on proud flesh. If the tissue on your wounds is healthy, healing, normal tissue, I would absolutely NOT use Wonder Dust on it…
I use it for dogs, it makes a good scab over an open or runny hole in an animal. These are SMALL and SHALLOW wounds, NOT gaping holes, not much depth to the wound. I usually use the straight lime, because I have that on hand.
With the solid cover of lime over the hole, no bugs get in to cause infection, excess drainage can still come thru if needed. For me, the wound heals under the lime cover slowly, CLEANLY, makes good flesh growth without the proud flesh or scarring. Lime scab falls off when healing is done.
I also was VERY leery of using lime on small wounds, thought it was rather “country” along with just weird! Then came the day I was faced with a scraped up horse, no meds around. LOTS of flies. There was the bag of lime, my BEST FRIEND had used it without problems, no scars left on her horse. She got the lime treatment from her old Vet, back in the day where you had Red or Blue paint, with lime as the third medicine of choice. So I went with the lime in those scrape lines, covered them up. Horse healed fine, no infection, no proud flesh, no scars or white hair. I have been using lime since then.
Was quite interesting to find Wonder Dust (a “REAL” medicine) contained lime, just cost a bunch more than the straight stuff.
I’ve used it on weepy wounds that need help drying and staying clear of flies and gnats. Never had a problem and kept me from needing a course of antibiotics later.
Thanks for the replies. The lyme component is making me balk a bit. Trying Vetericyn for now (I’m sure I’m butchering the spelling though).
We’ve got one of the wounds nearly closed up. The other, also on he elbow, she favors sleeping on. I’ve been padding it with a large antibacterial Band Aid, then covering that with a maxi pad, taped in place for padding. Problem lies with the fact that it needs air to heal fully… which is why I considered the Wonder Dust.
sigh This ‘free’ dog is the most expensive critter I’ve owned!
I suspect wonder dust will dramatically slow down healing- it’s primarily intended to prevent “proud flesh” (rapid over-growth of tissue during the healing process, a condition that doesn’t really affect dogs).
Wendy: my thoughts too. I was looking for something that was drying, and my familiarity with Wonder Dust is that it WILL dry it out, but at what cost? I can’t afford this tender, new granulation to go away because I’m using the wrong product.
SO grew up on a farm where his parents used horse first aid products on him as a kid :no:. This includes Wonder Dust and Furizone (before the “could cause cancer, wear gloves” warning was added :eek:). According to SO Wonder Dust is extremely painful, so I’m not sure a dog could handle it. The pain was pretty crippling for him as a kid. A horse’s pain tolerance is ridiculously high.
The reason Wonder Dust is used in horses is that they have a tendency to produce over granulation…proud flesh…the Wonder Dust is used at the end of healing a wound when the granulation tissue has filled the wound and is begining to rise above the level of the skin. Until then the goal is to keep the wound moist and encourage granulation. Once the Wonder Dust is used it will encourage the formation of a dry scab. The next thing the healer has to do is watch the scab and begin hydrating the scab so it comes off without tearing and re-encouraging more scab formation. But dogs don’t have a problem with proud flesh generally though they do form pressure granulation on elbows I don’t think this is the same thing as proud flesh though harder to manage even than proud flesh. Usually the biggest concern for dogs is preventing them from licking a would and causing a lick granuloma. Perhaps Wonder Dust might discourage licking. Generally if the dog is not licking I would just take the bandage off and let it air dry or if it is in a place getting banged up like a elbow use a dry pad. If they are licking then the old Elizibethan collar is needed. The one thing to NOT do is use Wonder Dust and then cover the wound. The purpose of Wonder Dust is to be a caustic and don’t over use it or trap it under a bandage that would make moisture and caustic damage new tissue beyond what you want. PatO
Is your dog’s sore similar to a hot spot? I use Gold Bond powder on hot spots, after washing the area with listerine, and it dries them out really fast.
This sounds like a great idea!
I also wonder if activated charcoal power would be useful? Isn’t that the other main ingredient in wonder dust?
