A shallow cut with the edges together

What this tends to look like

• A clean line rather than a scuffed patch, with the edges lying naturally together
• Bled at the time and has now stopped
• Under an inch or so long, and not gaping when the animal moves
• Tender but not severely painful, and they will let you look
• No swelling or heat around it on the first day
• Usually from glass, a tin edge, a wire, or a bramble

What is usually going on

A shallow cut whose edges sit together will usually close on its own, and the reason to look at it twice a day rather than once is that shallow cuts are the wounds most often underestimated. Skin over a moving part will gape once the animal walks, even though it looked closed while they stood still. If it opens when they move, it needs closing, and the useful window for that is hours rather than days.

The other reason for close attention is that any wound through the full thickness of skin has carried bacteria into the tissue below. Most healthy animals deal with that without trouble. When they do not, you see it between twenty four and seventy two hours in, as swelling, heat, and a wound that is suddenly more painful than it was yesterday. Getting worse on day two is the pattern that matters, and it is easy to miss if you only look once.

Keep the same approach as a graze, with slightly more caution. Clean water, dry, open to air, no licking, and no strong antiseptics. If it is on a leg over a joint, or on a paw, be more careful still, because both of those move constantly and both heal slower than skin over the body.

What people commonly use

Educational information only — not veterinary advice. Check with your vet before starting anything new.

Where to find them

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What you can do at home

• Rinse with clean water or saline once or twice a day, then pat properly dry
• Check it with the animal moving, not just standing. A cut that gapes on movement needs a vet today
• Keep them on a lead for toileting for a couple of days if it is on a leg, and no jumping or rough play
• Cone or recovery suit on. A licked cut is the single commonest reason these go wrong
• Photograph it on day one and compare on day two. Getting worse rather than better is the signal to act
• Trim fur back from the edges so nothing is lying across the line of the cut

What progress should look like

How long to give this before you conclude it is not working.

• First 24 hoursBleeding stopped, edges still together, no swelling. This is the check that matters most.
• 24 to 72 hoursThe window in which infection shows itself. More painful, hotter or more swollen than yesterday means get seen.
• Five to seven daysA dry, closed line with pink new skin along it.
• Two to three weeksFully sound. Fur regrowth over the line takes longer, sometimes a couple of months.

When to stop and call your vet

• The cut gaping open when the animal moves
• More pain, heat or swelling on day two than on day one
• Any discharge that is not clear, or a smell
• A cut over a joint, or on an eyelid or in the mouth, which should be seen regardless