Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi. I am looking for information on holistic treatments for a slow healing wound on my dog's paw. I have a 13 year old spayed female Labrador Retriever. When she was 7, she was diagnosed with diabetes. Since then, I have been giving her 2 shots of insulin a day. About 3 months ago, Sandy began licking her paw. I looked at it, but did not see anything. I recall that it felt warm. In a few days, she had licked the pad off of her toe. She had developed an ulcer on it.

I took her to the vet's, and they recommended cleaning it with an antiseptic daily and also prescribed Baytril, an antibiotic. Two weeks later, the ulcer was still there. I went back to the vet's, and he told me he thought it was a tumor, and he recommended cutting the toe off. I told him I was not willing to do that now and that I wanted to keep trying to treat it. He agreed, and I began putting neosporine on it after cleaning it and wrapping in in gauze. In another week or so, the ulcer was still there, and the top of the toe was now red and swollen. Back to the vet. He did a cell aspiration; however, the results were inconclusive. He said the next step would be a biopsy. He said he would want to put her under anesthesia to take the biopsy and that I might was well have her toe cut off at the same time as long as she was under. I told him I wasn't even sure I wanted to cut her toe off, that I wanted to see what we were dealing with before I decided to do anything. I am not sure that I would want to put a 13 year old dog through that surgery. He agreed to take the biopsy without putting her under anesthesia.

The biopsy came back; it is not cancer, in fact, they do not even think it is a tumor. They believe it is just an ulcer that is inflamed and is healing so slowly due to either her diabetes, her age, or a combination of both. He said I could try just treating it myself, soaking it in epsom salts and keeping it bandaged, and to keep a eye on it for signs of infection or gangrene, that ultimately it may be necessary to take the toe off if she develops gangrene in it.

I am focused on healing the ulcer, and I began searching on the internet for natural methods to treat slow healing wounds in dogs, which is how I came to your site. I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on any natural ways to speed up the healing of this ulcer. Vitamins, oils, other treatments?

Thank you for taking the time to read my long post I look forward to your reply.

The ulcer is most likely due to the diabetes, which reduces blood flow. Ginkgo biloba extract opens up blood vessels to increase blood flow. Some homeopathic remedies that have been found useful for diabetic ulcers are Syzygium and Sanguinaria.

Thank you! I will get what you recommended today. Do you have any suggestions for a topical treatement? Thank you again.

One thing that is often done in people is to put honey or sugar on the ulcer, which will kill any bacteria and draw fluids to the site. This would also work in dogs if you can keep the dog from licking the ulcer, perhaps with an e-collar.