Open sore/wound

Question
Hi, I was helping my almost 8 year old indoor dutch (King Dot) with shedding by gently pulling at fur where it is loose, I have done this with him for most of his life with no problem, however 3 days ago I noticed that there was an open sore with crusted blood in it about an inch above his tail on his hip.  It seems to only be through part of his skin as there is still skin below that.  I put Burt's Bees Rescue ointment on it and just left it(uncovered).  Yesterday when I was caring for him, I saw that it was not really healing but not getting worse either.  I cut away the surrounding hair so it would not get into the sore, cleaned the area with rubbing alcohol and then put a charcoal poultice on it overnight securing it with cotton and surgical tape.  This morning I took the poultice off(it looked much better, though there were specks of fresher blood on the cotton)cleaned the area again with rubbing alcohol and put more Burt's Bees Rescue ointment on it, covered it with cotton and secured it with surgical tape. Last night I again cleaned it with rubbing alcohol and put a charcoal poultice on it securing it in the same manner(it took him about 30 min to get part of it off, and the rest of the bandage was off this morning), then this morning I once again cleaned it with the alcohol and put the ointment on again and secured it in the same way...this time it took him 30 min to get the entire thing off, so I just left it off. He is eating, drinking, eliminating and acting 100% his usual self(which is nowhere near his actual age, he still acts 2 or 3)  If you could possibly give me some good natural remedies or other remedies to help heal this up I would appreciate it.   I see no signs of infection and the area surrounding it appears completely normal.  I am afraid that it will get infected and end up killing him(We have already lost 2 rabbits this year and would like to keep this one around for a while longer).

He is 100% pet, indoor and in a cage with a non-wire bottom which I keep quite clean.


Answer
Dear Valerie,

First, I would NOT use rubbing alcohol on the wound again.  This will sting like the dickens, and not do much to disinfect the area; it will just dry it up too much.

Instead, use a dilute solution of povidone iodine (Betadine) solution and daub it on with very clean gauze or cotton balls, then dry well.  You're on the right track by clipping away all the surrounding hair so the wound is open to the air. This alone will help prevent infection, and allow a scab to form so healthy tissue can granulate in from below and finally close this thing up.

The ointment might actually be inhibiting healing, since keeping the area moist will prevent a scab from forming.  And what we need now is "nature's bandaid":  a good, clean scab.  Until that forms, just wash the wound about twice daily with povidone iodine, and nothing else.

If it fails to close up in a day or two, then I would get him to a good rabbit vet for evaluation and further treatment, possibly including suturing the wound shut if it's so big that it's not likely to heal on its own.  You can find a good vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

Hope this helps.

Dana