A Very Bad Boo-Boo

A few months back while out in the back yard one night with our dogs and cleaning up some down tree branches I heard a yelp! I turned around to find our Kelsey a 10 year old Husky, Shepard lab mix, doing her best to stay away from our other dogs. Immediately I went to her to see what if anything had happened, I noticed some blood on her right side.

I took her in the house right away where Alan (my son) and I started our protocol of assessment. He calmed the dog while I grabbed the first aid box. Yes we have a first aid box set up for our pets, with as many pets that we have we have, you just never know. Keep in mind here it is now 8:30 at night and our Vets office is closed and the closest option we have is over an hour a way for emergency Vet service. It seems that nothing ever happens here when our Vets office is open! We have learned over the years that our dogs feed off our energy so as long as we remained calm, therefore so did Kelsey. Upon closer examination we found a rather large wound which was about 3 by 3 inches in diameter. We proceeded by cleaning the area with sterile saline solution. It appears that the skin has been totally cut off – ouch! We thoroughly cleaned the wound and I trimmed the hair back from it about ¼ of an inch. Than we applied triple antibiotic ointment and a compression bandage that we had, thanks to Keith’s (husband/editor) med kit supplies that he brought with him when he moved up here. All I could think was that it was a rather large wound and there was no skin left to be stitched back up and there is no way her hair was going to grow back over this wound. We watched her throughout the night and I contacted my Vet the first thing in the morning. To my amazement I was instructed to apply non-pasteurized organic honey to the wound three times a day and cover it by putting a t-shirt on her. With the t-shirt air was allowed in to help heal the wound and it was covered so the other dogs as well as she wouldn’t be licking at it. Honey you say? I never heard of such a treatment. Trusting in my Vet I bought some non-pasteurized organic honey at our local pharmacy and went home to start her treatment. I’m grateful that all my critters trust me when it comes to their care and treatment needed; Kelsey was a great patient throughout her treatment process. Everyday we cleansed her wound with sterile saline and applied the honey three times a day. It was a long process but each day there was improvement. It took better than a month, but I am happy to say that not only has her wound completely healed but all the hair has grown back as well. It’s truly amazing. So for all you critter lovers out there I highly recommend that you add non-pasteurized organic honey to your first aid kits, for all those abrasions, scrapes and scratches. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen its wonderful healing properties with my own two eyes! So, with that I had to do a bit of research as to the healing properties of honey and here is just a little of what I found …

Honey also contains several compounds which function as antioxidants. Known antioxidant compounds in honey are chrysin, pinobanksin, vitamin C, catalase, and pinocembrin. Unlike most other sweeteners, honey contains small amounts of a wide array of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and antioxidants

For at least 2700 years, honey has been used to treat a variety of ailments through topical application, though it was not until modern times that the cause of infection was understood. Now, it is understood that the folk remedy of using honey to treat wounds has a scientific explanation: it acts as an antiseptic/antibacterial agent. As an anti-microbial agent honey has potential for treating a variety of ailments, including MRSA. Antibacterial properties of honey are the result of the low water activity causing osmosis, hydrogen peroxide effect, and high acidity[1].

Do you have a cut? Honey is a natural antiseptic. Medical journals cite more than 600 cases in which honey was employed to treat wounds. By applying honey to your wounds, you prevent infections. Honey contains anti-microbial agents, which prevents infections by killing the bacteria in and around your wounds. When using honey it may help to heat it up before putting it on your wound (caution test the heat before you place it on the wound).Many types of bacteria can’t survive in honey, so wounds heal, swelling eases, and tissue can grow back.[2]

The use of honey as a wound dressing material, an ancient remedy that has been rediscovered, is becoming of increasing interest as more reports of its effectiveness are published. The clinical observations recorded are that infection is rapidly cleared, inflammation, swelling and pain are quickly reduced, odour is reduced, sloughing of necrotic tissue is induced, granulation and epithelialisation are hastened, and healing occurs rapidly with minimal scarring.

The anti-microbial properties of honey prevent microbial growth in the moist healing environment created. Unlike other topical antiseptics, honey causes no tissue damage: in animal studies it has been demonstrated histologically that it actually promotes the healing process. It has a direct nutrient effect as well as drawing lymph out to the cells by osmosis.

The stimulation of healing may also be due to the acidity of honey. The osmosis creates a solution of honey in contact with the wound surface which prevents the dressing sticking, so there is no pain or tissue damage when dressings are changed. There is much anecdotal evidence to support its use, and randomised controlled clinical trials that have shown that honey is more effective than silver sulfadiazine and polyurethane film dressings (OpSite®) for the treatment of burns.

Honey is one of the oldest known medicines that have continued to be used up to present times in folk-medicine. Its use has been “rediscovered” in later times by the medical profession, especially for dressing wounds. The numerous reports of the effectiveness of honey in wound management, including reports of several randomised controlled trials, have recently been reviewed, rapid clearance of infection from the treated wounds being a commonly recorded observation.

Other therapeutic properties of honey besides its antibacterial activity are also likely to vary. An anti-inflammatory action and a stimulatory effect on angiogenesis and on the growth of granulation tissue and epithelial cells have been observed clinically and in histological studies. The components responsible for these effects have not been identified, but the anti-inflammatory action may be due to antioxidants, the level of which varies in honey. The stimulation of tissue growth may be a tropic effect, as nutrification of wounds is known to hasten the healing process: the level of the wide range of micro-nutrients that occur in honey also varies[3].

Here are some other sites of interest on honey you can visit:

http://www.althealth.co.uk/help_and_advice/miscellaneous/honey/

http://www.pharmainfo.net/exclusive/reviews/medicinal_properties_of_liquid_gold:_honey/

http://www.earthsky.org/faq/honey-medicinal-uses

http://www.honeyo.com/honeyhealing.shtml

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3787867.stm

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/health/HealthRepublish_157940.htm

http://www.newstarget.com/z021506.html

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey

[2] http://www.bees-online.com/HealthBenefitsOfHoney.htm

[3] http://www.drgrotte.com/honey-medicine.shtml