Prickly Paw-Paw

Everyone needs some help sometime. Dogs included.

Dilly was spending a lot of time this morning licking his paw, so I got down to his level and whilst 'pawing' through his paws, I made him yelp...not on purpose! Needed my magnifying glass, but eventually managed to pick out what looked like a thorn from our Pyracantha lodged between a nail and his skin. Poor fella.

He then spent the rest of the morning licking and grooming his paw. I have often been told that Dog's saliva has healing properties. I looked it up, and discovered it's true....that dog saliva does have antibiotic properties. Specifically, dog saliva contains lysozyme, an enzyme that lyses and destroys harmful bacteria. This means the enzyme attaches to the bacterial cell wall - particularly gram-positive bacteria - and weakens it, leading to rupture.

It also directly stimulates tissues and small blood vessels surrounding a wound site. This helps to increase blood flow and promote the growth of new capillaries, while the blood brings white cells, platelets, growth factors and other of the body's natural healing agents to the wound site.

See Dilly, it's true-oo-oo, I wanna be like you-oo-oo!