There are different sores that immobile people get and the management is different. Warm flowing air is one thing that seems to help any type. Soaps and detergents are increasing thought to be harmful to elderly skin. Cleansers need to be pH balanced to skin and not drying. Skin breakdown from urine, feces, and other moisture needs to be kept clean and exposed to air regularly to heal. Desitin works well to protect from repeated exposure, but the area needs to be exposed to air and warmth too, for 20 minutes at least 3 or so times a day. It doesn't matter if you put the desitin on first, if it dries to a coating that will not hurt the skin (good in fact, if really moist and weepy), just don't think that you have to scrub every bit of it off every time you clean. A hair dryer on low, or a sunny window, or a warm lamp (NOT a heating pad or lamp!) are examples that work. Generally for excoriated or macerated skin, antibiotic creams are not needed and will upset the normal balance of bacteria on the skin. Pressure sores are another animal. They also need to be kept clean, but relieving the pressure is the only true treatment. Prevention is the best treatment! All the other dressings etc are just add-ons to try to provide the best environment for healing. There are many types of cushions available; gel is generally considered the best for a chair or small area, there are also some very good air seat (Sundance Medical makes a nice one that I got for my mother) and bed cushions plus the air mattresses that can inflate with a special machine do work. Eggcrate foam is another option more budget friendly. None of these will 100% (or even 80%) prevent a pressure sore if the person stays in one position for hours. The Calcium alginate and silver dressings are quite effective, westelle, I can tell you that. But it takes time. As someone stated above, elderly skin and tissue just don't heal quickly sometimes. Ulcers that are due to nerve damage or poor circulation can be nigh impossible to heal completely. I don't like duoderm that much for pressure wounds, I think that there are better products like Mepilex (very gentle on the skin) and Tegasorb, but it is a good protecter/preventor for areas that tend to get banged up like ankle and elbows. Tegaderm (and similar products) is good for skin areas that are prone to tearing or abrasion--like arms and shins. It is like adding a layer of tough skin, but mind, once it is on, it stays on until it comes loose on its own or you risk tearing the skin further. A product like skin- prep or cavilon no-sting barrier needs to be applied to the skin before any kind of adhesive (tape or dressing). These also can work quite well as incontinence barriers. The other key to preventing sores is to prevent shearing -- like when the person tends to slide down & out of the chair. Find a chair that doesn't encourage this. Hope all that helps someone! (PS I am a critical care RN and on my unit's skin team)

So after discussing the product with the trainer at the store we decided to return it. Besides the collar rubbing my pup's neck raw, there were times when it would not work when needed. This was a common complaint of the internet and it was not a battery issue or the prongs not hitting. It just would not work all of the time. I don't normally return stuff like this and the $189 pricetag was not bugging me even if I only used it a few times. It was the accumulation of issues. The store says they will return it to company with "customer dissatisfied" as the reason. So this morning he goes outside to check out the wind. Yeah, he sticks his nose out and just sniffs with his eyes shut. The neighbors boxer pup was running circles in his yard, jumping around like a kangaroo. So naturally my 2yr shephard had to join in. He barked a little but observing what they were both doing to each other it was clear it was puppy play. As soon as we asked him to Leave It and come Inside he obeyed wagging his tail. I felt bad for neighbor pup. From my upstairs window I could see him just staring at the fence with his little head tilted. I swear his eyes were tearing up! lol I think I need to see if my neighbor would agree to take them to a dog park so they can really play together on neutral territory. That could be really fun.

My 6 year old husky/shepherd mix tore her CCL (it is called a canine cruciate ligament in dogs, not ACL like a human) on January 5th, 2015. We opted for conservative care versus surgical after I extensively researched all options. Even with surgery, they have up to 40% chance of having arthritis in the stifle (knee joint). That is about the same as the odds of having it without surgery. Also, surgery so restricts their movement that often, up to 30-40% of dogs have the same injury happen to the other leg. I found that number to be much less with conservative care. She is just over 8 weeks out and walks on four legs fine at a slow speed. We never crated her, just restricted her movement. No jumping or running. (she had a setback once when some idiot let her out of her pole barn and she ran a bit....set us back a bit, but not much). She walks up to 15 minutes at a time on all four legs with her A-Trac Brace which I bought for her. Almost full pressure on injured leg. We walk her with the brace 1 time per day and give her 3 other walks without out it for about 5 minutes each. When she speeds up she does life the leg UNLESS she is on a mission (smells a rabbit or something along those lines). I know it will take many more months before she will full on using the leg 100% of the time and from here on out, we will restrict her running unless she is wearing the brace. But I guess the point I am making is that you can heal them without surgery. My vet is very impressed at the healing she has had. In fact he suggested surgery right away and I told him I was going to try the conservative treatment. He checked her at 4 weeks and was astonished at her level of healing. She was on pain meds for a couple weeks and also Meloxicam (anti-inflammatory) which she is still on, along with a supplement. I also give her organic bone broth with each meal (known to help with joints) and she gets lots of natural healing including Reiki energy healing and work with stones and crystals. She is doing wonderful. I know it is a long process and I am willing to work through it for her benefit.

Since I have had more than my share of dog skin issues to deal with, I'll just tell you what I think. I'll go down a list to sort things out. *Your dog has a sore that has been there for at least a month. *Your dog is uncomfortable. *It does not seem to be getting better. *It seems to be spreading. *Your vet has tried medications. *Medications are not working. There are numerous reasons why your dog could have a problem. In my humble opinion, your vet does not know why. It's been my (and my dogs) painful, costly experience, that when a vet allows something like this to continue this long, and/or switches medication more than once, vet probably does not know what the problem is. After much frustration and money spent on stupid, completely wrong diagnosis, I learned the hard way to put a time limit on medications. Be specific about a date when you will start to see improvement. If vet cannot tell you, and again, want's to switch medications, he/she probably is shooting around in the dark and does not know what the specific problem is. All of this while you are spending money and the dog is in discomfort. I would consider consulting a "qualified" veterinary dermatologist. Skin issues tend to be separate from other regular veterinary issues. Before I do this, I would consider altering the dogs diet, one to a "hypo-allergic" food available from your vet. Lots of people and vets simply do not realize that diet can and does cause lots of problems. Your dog may be prone to a food allergy. Going this simple route could wind up saving you so much time, frustration and money. If you have not already, research the subject on Google. If this is your problem, you should start to see positive results within a short period of time, perhaps a month. Gradually switch to the new food over the course of a week or two. Feed nothing but the new food for at least 6 weeks. Finally. You need to scold your vet for allowing this to go on this long. State that this is completely unacceptable, and you are depending on vet to fix this, you want to know what is going to happen, how much itÂs going to cost, and when itÂs going to get fixed. If your vet cannot get with the program and fix things, find another vet. SG