I. Causes of canine cellulitis
1. Dogs have skin damage due to bites or other reasons, resulting in local skin and subcutaneous tissue contusion, and bacterial infection can cause purulent inflammation.
2. After local skin damage in dogs, infection or hair follicle inflammation occurs, and cellulitis is secondary.
3. Cellulitis is caused by local injection, missed injection of irritant drugs, or improper subcutaneous injection, which is the most common clinical cause of canine cellulitis. Common examples of wrong drug injection include:
(1) Direct injection of oily drugs such as ivermectin, dolaronin, and lincomycin into the dog’s skin to damage the local area of the dog’s subcutaneous tissue.
(2) The irritant drug leaked into the subcutaneous tissue when intravenously injected into the dog, causing subcutaneous tissue damage.
(3) The dog struggles continuously during the injection of drugs, causing subcutaneous muscle damage or subcutaneous bleeding, resulting in blood pooling under the skin, and this disease is caused by infection.
(4) The local skin of the dog is not disinfected before subcutaneous injection, which may lead to bacterial infections such as staphylococcus and streptococcus.
(5) Improper application of corticosteroids. Corticosteroids can quickly reduce the immunity of the dog’s body, reduce the dog’s resistance to infection, and cause canine cellulitis.
2. Symptoms of canine cellulitis
1. Lesion, The symptoms of the shallower dogs, are typical: local skin redness, swelling, heat, and pain; the central inflammation is pronounced, and the inflammation rapidly expands to the periphery, resulting in necrosis and erosion of the subcutaneous tissue.
2. The symptoms of dogs with deep lesions are: redness and swelling on the skin surface but not evident, apparent tenderness in the cellulite tissue such as subfascial and intermuscular tissue, and often accompanied by high fever, tremors, and other systemic symptoms.
3. Acute cellulitis under the jaw or neck of dogs usually causes laryngeal edema and tracheal compression, resulting in dyspnea and ventricular apnea.
4. If it is canine cellulitis caused by anaerobic bacteria, the dog is often accompanied by extensive fascial necrosis, progressive skin necrosis, and other symptoms, and the pus is foul-smelling. The systemic symptoms are severe and frequent—wounds on affected dogs’ genitals, abdomen, and back.
Third, the treatment of canine cellulitis
early cellulitis There is no suppuration or exudation of tissue inflammation, and oral antibiotics can cure most dogs for a few days. However, if the condition is more severe and surgical resection is required, the effect of surgical resection is often more reliable, and the surgical damage is minor. However, surgical treatment should strictly abide by the following principles:
1. First, altogether remove the rotten tissue of the dog. The swollen lesions should be excised along the bottom of the lesions, and there should be no residual rotten tissue. At the same time, the purulent exudate flowing out during the cutting of the lesions should be avoided to contaminate the healthy wounds.
2. Reliable hemostasis. The wound surface and other bleeding points should be ligated to stop bleeding. It is not recommended to use compression to stop bleeding or use hemostatic forceps to stop bleeding.
3. Eliminate dead space during suture. If the wound is deep, the suture should also be more profound, penetrate the subcutaneous tissue of the dog, make the skin closely fit the subcutaneous tissue, and strictly prevent the dead space from being left, so as not to cause fluid accumulation.
4. If the dog’s body temperature is high and systemic symptoms appear, the operation should be postponed. You can use high-dose antibiotics and metronidazole for intravenous infusion until the dog’s body temperature returns to normal and the systemic symptoms disappear before surgery to prevent the dog from shock or even death during or after surgery.
