Hock joints are notoriously difficult to heal in animals. As dogs as they get older, we see the hock lose hair and turn black. These are usually harmless and don’t bother the animal.
However, an injury is much more difficult to manage. That’s because of the level of movement on this joint. Imagine an ankle injury that requires you to sit still. But in animals, it is impossible for them not to use this joint.
A gentleman approached me for his dog. The animal had a large wound that had not healed for quite some time. They had tried various medicines, daily dressings etc. for a few months. Finally, the Vet had suggested a surgery, in which they would take skin from another part of the animal and graft it on the hock. The gentleman was obviously worried about anesthesia and the trauma to the animal.
The surgery would happen in a week or so but they really wanted surgery to be the last option. I suggested that we try Bach Flower Remedies before deciding on the surgery. Initially, as the wound was very raw, we added 4 drops of the Remedy mix to the Betadine Solution which was being used to cleanse and dress the wound. Within a few days, it seemed less raw. This course of treatment continued for a few days. A visible film of skin had formed.
After about 10 days, we added a pure Aloe gel-based as the base for the Bach Flower Remedy mix. The idea was to make sure that the dressing doesn’t stick to the wound and the healing energy of the flowers is absorbed directly in the wound. Within a month, the hair had started to grow back and the wound had closed completely.
