The first wrap change

This is Beau's leg this morning when I took off all the bandage material. Let me tell you- at the clinic they used a blade and wizz, slit right down the leg and undid him in about .7 seconds. Me, I used scissors...hay scissors... and it took about 10 mins to get him undone! Next time, I'll find a razor!

He was very good for the changing of his bandages. It is really a 2 (or 3!) person job... but I think we did OK for our first time. He was great while I cleaned and dried the leg. I could grab and squeeze and rub and scrub the hock without any sign of discomfort. That makes me happy, although there is still some residual swelling... It looks about the same as Friday I think... but I have been staring at this for so long now I'm never sure any more!

This is the cast of characters for the bandage change. Minus the wet paper and cleaning materials. I really could have used another set of hands- I think I'll try to get help for the next time, but today the window sill in his stall worked fine. It was difficult to hold the wrap in place and get the next layer organized and on without letting the wrap slip at all. My pockets were stuffed with what I needed for each subsequent step, and I managed to do OK but I wasn't totally satisfied with my job...

Here is my finished product. I didn't overlap the cotton well, it slipped and I pulled it as I went over with the gauze...hence the little crater about halfway down. I also realized once I was finished that I did vet wrap from top to bottom, and he had shown me bottom to top. I don;t think it much matters, but I want there to be enough flexibility in that hock so he can bend it to move. I'm going to ask about it when I go to get more meds... depending on what they say I may redo the wrap tomorrow too. I just don't like the way that looks and I don't want to end up with a shelf for swelling to build up. The antibiotics have been going down well- there don't seem to be side effects yet, so ill go grab some more this afternoon. His temp is down, appetite up and the leg continues to look good, so I guess we are on the right road!