MANAGING BITE WOUNDS IN DOGS AND CATS - PART II

Appropriate bite wound management includes preventing and reducing con tamination; appropriate antibiotic therapy; removing debris via irriga tion, staged debridement, bandaging, and drainage; and stimulating hea ling so that an appropriate method of wound closure can be performed. Wound management seems to be more important in the successful outcome of bite wound injuries than does antibiotic therapy. In the presence o f clinical infection, Gram's stain and culture and sensitivity testing are helpful in guiding initial antibiotic therapy. Because Pasteurell a multocida and anaerobes are major pathogenic organisms in dog and ca t bite wounds, the antibiotic of choice is generally a beta-lactamase- resistant penicillin. Bite wounds usually require open wound managemen t, which may result in extensive hospitalization or visits to the vete rinarian. The goals of wound management are to convert an infected or contaminated wound into a clean wound and to stimulate healing without complications (e.g., loss of function or mobility). Systemic and pati ent factors that affect the patient's resistance to infection may be p resent; systemic disease, such as diabetes mellitus, hyperadrenocortic ism, and hypoproteinemia, as well as malnutrition should be corrected or controlled if possible. Part I of this two-part presentation discus sed the epidemiology, pathophysiology, microbiology, and systemic inju ries associated with bite wounds. Wound management and antibiotic ther apy are reviewed in Part II.