Case Study: Toro, a mixed breed dog with extensive burn wounds over his back and rear legs.

Toro (the cage muzzle had to be kept on for aggression)

Toro was a 1.5 year old in tact male mixed breed dog who was caught in a house fire.

Multiple veterinarians had treated him for several days for extensive burn wounds to his body, but he was difficult to manage because he was fractious and aggressive. One week after the injury he managed to get his Elizabethan collar off and he ate some of the dead skin off the wounds on his back.

He was presented to the Emergency Service at Ohio State Veterinary Hospital 16 days after the initial injury. On physical examination he was alert and ambulatory and his vital signs were normal except for his temperature that was 103 F. He was noted to be very dog aggressive. A complete blood count and serum chemistry profile revealed the following abnormalities: PCV 31%, neutrophilia (23,000), K 3.9, and albumin 2.8.

Toro’s burns covered an extensive area of his back and right thigh. He also had healing wounds on his nose, scrotum, thorax, and ventral abdomen.

The following pictures are all from day 2 after admission to the hospital at OSU.

Appearance of Toro's wounds over his back

Toro's wounds over his caudal back and right thigh

Close up of Toro's wounds over the more cranial aspect of his back.

Questions:

• How would you classify Toro’s burn wounds?
• What would you do initially for his wounds, and what is your plan for the next several days?
• Besides wound care, what other treatments would you prescribe?
• What is Toro’s prognosis?

Toro's treatment and outcome on the next post.