Management of partial thickness burn of the dorsum skin in a 3-year-old male German shepherd

Abstract

A 3-year-old, 25 kg male German shepherd dog was presented to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital of Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta with the chief complaint of anorexia. History revealed that the dog had been off feed for about three days. Furthermore, there was a fire incidence in the residence of the dog in the absence of the owner five days prior to presentation. The fire burnt the skin of the dorsum. At presentation, general clinical examination revealed normal vital parameters, and normal mucous membrane. Physical examination revealed flame burns from the cervical region (the C-spine) to the caudal region (the sacral bone). This lesion was painful to touch. Anaesthesia was achieved using 6mg/kg Propofol^® (Dongkook pharmaceutical, Korea) administered intravenously and 30ml of lignocaine HCL^® (AzraZeneca,UK) infiltrated around the wound edge from the c-spine to the sacral bone. The hair around the burns area was clipped, the wound was debrided and cleansed using 10% solution of Chlorhexidine gluconate^® (Saro LifeCare Ltd, Nigeria). Dermazin^® cream was applied topically on the wound and the dog was given 4.5ml Enrofloxacine, intramuscularly (I.M), 4ml Multivitamin I.M and 4ml Vitamin B complex as supportives. On the second day of presentation, Dermazin^® cream was replaced with pure honey^® (FUNAAB Consult) for wound dressing. 5ml Vitamin C I.M. was included in the treatment regime on Day 4. All medications were given for 6 days except for wound dressing with pure honey^® which continued until complete healing was achieved 88 days post presentation. Daily wound dressing with honey in this case re-vitalized the tissue, prevented re-infection and aided the lesion to proceed to the remodeling phase.

Keywords: German shepherd dog, Partial thickness burn, Pure honey, Rehabilitation, Wound debridement