# Ripped tongue



## Jennifer Michelson

At our last (sar) training on Sat night, Griff ran into/through something in the woods. When I could finally see where he hurt himself, it was clearly a cut on his tongue. We happen to have a vet there that night and she said you cant do much with tongues. It seems to be healing, but seeing it today, it is a bigger split than I thought. Do you think it will heal well like this, or could he tear it at a later date because of the way it hangs? Opinions???


----------



## todd pavlus

Just goes to show you how much pain tolerance dogs have...That looks painful. My dog plowed through a barbed wired fence a few weeks ago without a flinch#-o. By the time I realized it he had blood runnin' down his face. He got a nice gouge about 3 cm from his eyeball:-o. That was a close one


----------



## Anna Kasho

Awww, he just wants to keep up with the latest body-mod trends... :-o 








Better watch out before he gets a tattoo or those nifty horn implants =; :lol: 

I don't know if tongue tears will grow together, they don't hold stitches well either... My first thought is to have that little hanging piece removed if it doesn't heal up, but I've never been through that so I don't know.


----------



## Jennifer Michelson

At first I thought the torn through part was much smaller, but obviously not.......I worry that if I dont get the hanging part removed, he could rip it more. 

Just to note on the pain tolerance--he went on to find 2 victims, I heard him yelp, but he didnt stop. When I realized the blood I had glimpsed (it was night) was not just a little thorn amount of blood, I tried to check him out thoroughly, but he wouldnt settle, I knew we were very close to the second victim, so I let him finish and then made him get in some cold water (we were working next to a reservoir), which helped the bleeding.

Todd--glad your dog's eye was ok--Yikes!


----------



## virginia reed

that hanging part may lose blood supply and eventually fall off. Or it will heal with that simple fault. Either way, no biggie. Doubt it will seal back together.

Personally, i would just leave it alone - maybe give him some antibiotics for a few days but infections on the tongue are rare.

definitely wouldn't pay to have it sutured or even looked at by a vet unless there's a clear problem.


----------



## Jennifer Michelson

Anna--I just gotta say "ewwwww!!!!"


----------



## virginia reed

oh, and as far as the dog ripping it even more - i think you'll just have to wait and see. I just wouldn't worry about a wound like that - it will resolve on it's own -----------somehow. Try to forget about it - dogs are resilient and healthy.


----------



## Jennifer Michelson

Thanks guys--most of me was saying to let it be and it would heal fine, but the little worry wart part was.....well....worried....I will attempt to not fuss. It is kind of gross, tho, when he flicks his tongue just a little and all that sticks out is the little flap...


----------



## Ted Efthymiadis

Jennifer Michelson said:


> At our last (sar) training on Sat night, Griff ran into/through something in the woods. When I could finally see where he hurt himself, it was clearly a cut on his tongue. We happen to have a vet there that night and she said you cant do much with tongues. It seems to be healing, but seeing it today, it is a bigger split than I thought. Do you think it will heal well like this, or could he tear it at a later date because of the way it hangs? Opinions???


I learned my lesson taking my dog in my little things like this over the years.
In most cases it's a waste of time if you ask me. Dogs heal very fast, and because it's a cut in the mouth, I wouldn't worry about it getting infected. 

But then again, I'm no vet.
Good luck


----------



## Al Curbow

I'd go to the vet and have them advise me what to do, for the same reason i wouldn't have my plumber do my taxes...............


----------



## Nancy Jocoy

I have had two bad tongue accidents; one was pretty darned close to a bleed out - trip to doggie ER, SUV was a bloodbath and they took her right into surgery said I could check in while they were working on her. They sutured it [big vein in tongue had been cut] healed up fine. Took her three days to get her strength back.

The next time a different cut - an old country vet told me to keep a bottle of saturated Epsom salts around in a squirt bottle and to hold the head so the dog can't swallow and flood the mouth. I'll be darned if it did not stop the bleeding right away and we actually were getting ready to hop in the car for that next trip to the doggie ER and decided we did not need to. It held and did not start bleeding again.

Neither time the dog showed ANY indication of pain. You just cant mash on a bleeding tongue to stop it.


----------



## ann schnerre

nancy--to make saturated Epsom salts, do you just start w/ "x" am't of epsom salts, then add water gradually to where the salts just barely are dissolved? or what?

just sounds like a good tool to have handy.....

and as far as Griff's tongue goes, i guess i'd kinda split the diff on the thoughts posted here: i'd consult my vet re usefulness of snipping off that tag vs not. seems like if left on, it may just catch on stuff in future and cause more problems (like those pesky dewclaws). but i wouldn't worry about infection, and tongues do heal up FAST--they have that good blood supply (right, nancy?)


----------



## Nancy Jocoy

Saturated - all you do is fill a bottle with the salts and top off with water and let it sit and sit and sit. There should still be salt crystals in the bottle or it is not saturated.

This ONE vet is the only place I have EVER heard this. It is not routine first aid but darned if it didn't work; it was a pretty fast bleed [and do realize there is usally as much slobber in a mouth bleed as blood]


----------



## Gillian Schuler

My younger dog ripped his tongue but I didn't see it happen. I thought it might heal but unfortunately, beyond the rip (at the side of the tongue) bacteria set in. The vet did a very good job of cleaning it up and suturing it and now it's fine - you can still see it but there's been no further complications.

I usually attend to cuts myself but I'm glad I had this one seen to.


----------



## ann schnerre

thanks nancy. 

i personally tried (accidentally) to bite my tongue off when i was little when i bailed off one of those park animals w/the big spring under it while hollerng to Mom that i was on my way. timing was bad. i ended up w/2 stitches in my tongue and (what i remember most )--couldn't eat chocolate donuts the next day  

that and my older sister asking Mom if i was going to die due to all the blood coming out of my mouth as Mom and Dad tried to find an ER in a strange city. i guess every time i opened my mouth to scream hysterically, the doc threw a stitch (only took 2 or 3). bottom line: it healed fast-i remember swallowing stitches, and i missed out on chocolate donuts, which we did NOT get growing up....


----------



## Anne Vaini

Maybe not entirely helpful... but FYI, a drink of ice-cold water stops tongue bleeding quickly.


----------



## Jennifer Michelson

Thanks for all the thoughts everyone. I emailed the pic of his tongue to the vet who looked at it on Sun night. Hopefully she'll weigh in soon. It looks clean and like it is healing well so far.

Thanks for the epsom salt idea Nancy. Easy enough to keep that in the truck. Does it work for all bleeding or just the mouth? I did make him stand in very cold water for a while and that helped a lot. He did drip for a while. Not enough for an ER trip, but enough for me to wish I could compress a tongue.


----------



## Nancy Jocoy

My daughter [7 at the time] decided that walking on the monkey bars would be fun at a friends house and slipped through the bars and flipped out her incoming adult front tooth. broke the front off the tooth socket. Tooth could not be saved. 17 stiches and reconstructive dental work years later and a LOT of blood.


----------



## Nancy Jocoy

Oh too late to edit

I only tried the Epsom salts on the mouth and only as we were prepared to head out for the doggie ER. 

For elswehere I figured pressure if it was that bad - 

I was thinking of throwing some of that wound clot powder in my bag - you know they sell for gunshot wounds - anyone have any experience with THAT?


----------



## virginia reed

sometimes too many opinions are worse than too few - LOL!


----------



## Gillian Schuler

Nancy Jocoy said:


> Oh too late to edit
> 
> I only tried the Epsom salts on the mouth and only as we were prepared to head out for the doggie ER.
> 
> For elswehere I figured pressure if it was that bad -
> 
> I was thinking of throwing some of that wound clot powder in my bag - you know they sell for gunshot wounds - anyone have any experience with THAT?


My vet once told me never to use any medicinal powder on an open wound (clogging) better lotion.

BTW, I never found any blood after I checked he had ripped his tongue - he did try to bite through the electric cable, though....... Guess I'll never know what it was.

Virginia, that sounds like too many cooks spoil the broth but you can't have too many on a forum - just choose the one you like best :lol:


----------

