Should I Let My Chihuahua Lick My Wound?

In simple terms, no, you should never let your chihuahua lick your wound. Most of the time, your chihuahua’s mouth is dirty place. When your chihuahua licks your wound, bacteria can get into your body, which can lead to infections. Since a dog’s tongue isn’t the softest thing to rub on your wound, licking can also make it hurt more.

If your wound has already healed and formed a scab, letting your chihuahua lick it could break it open again. Not only is this painful, but it also makes it possible for more bacteria to get in.

Even though your chihuahua’s saliva has some antibacterial properties, these benefits don’t come close to making it worth it to let your dog lick your wound. Antiseptics work much better in this way, and they don’t increase the risk of getting bacteria into the wound.

Will Licking Wounds Help Them Heal?

We have all heard that a dog’s saliva can kill germs. So, some people think that letting chihuahuas lick your wounds might be a good idea. But this is almost always a bad idea. Chihuahuas are very attached to their owners, just like many herding breeds or Pitbulls, they will try to lick their wounds. But that doesn’t make it a good idea or mean you should let it happen.

Licking is annoying for a number of different reasons. First of all, a dog’s saliva does have some antiseptic qualities, but they are usually not as strong as those of medical technology. You would do much better to use some kind of antiseptic cream. People often exaggerate how good a dog’s saliva is at killing germs.

One study found that a dog’s saliva can only stop the growth of certain strains. Some people will do well. For example, it’s hard for E. Coli to grow in canine salvia. This is a bacterium that often gets into newborn puppies, so it makes sense that dogs are resistant to it. Staphylococcus, on the other hand, is not hurt by the antiseptic properties and continues to grow.

Skin infections, which are caused by Staphylococcus, are the most common types of wound infections in dogs. This is probably because a dog’s saliva doesn’t stop this bacterium from growing.

Second, the microbiome in a dog’s saliva is different from the one on a human’s skin. Our bodies, including our saliva, have “good” bacteria. Dogs have bacteria in their mouths that are very different from the bacteria on our skin. So, if we let a chihuahua lick our wound, we could be putting bacteria on it that could be dangerous. Even though the bacteria might not hurt our dog, they will hurt us.

Last but not least, a chihuahua’s tongue is not very soft. It can hurt tissue and stop it from healing and growing back. It can easily make sores bleed again, which can lead to infections. If your wound has already started to heal, a chihuahua’s tongue can damage the new tissue that has grown.

Your best bet is to use some kind of antiseptic cream and keep your wound away from your chihuahua. Some dogs seem to have a natural urge to lick wounds when they see them. But this is not at all what you should do. Keep it away from them. If you need to, use a band-aid or something similar.

Is it true that your wound will heal faster if a chihuahua licks it?

No. This is an old chihuahua myth and a wrong idea about what a dog’s salvia does. Even though a chihuahua’s saliva has some antiseptic properties, they are usually not as strong as the bacteria that may be brought in. A dog licks his wounds because he has no other way to clean them. But it is no match for the technology we have today.   If you’re not putting dirt on your wound, you’re already miles ahead of what dog saliva can do.

Even if a dog’s salvia was a great antiseptic, it wouldn’t help the wound heal faster. Antiseptic things don’t make wounds heal faster; they just stop bacteria from getting into the wound and making it sick. An infection can slow or stop a wound from getting better. But there is no faster way to heal than “ordinary.” Dog saliva won’t help your wound heal faster if it isn’t infected.

if your wound is infected, advanced medicine can help you much more than your dog’s tongue. Your chihuahua’s saliva is worse than a clean towel with clean water.

Can Chihuahuas Heal Their Wounds by Licking?

Not at all, no. Chihuahuas lick because that’s the only way for them to clean their wounds. When you’re in the wild and hurt, the only way to get the dirt off a wound is to lick it. You can’t wash it in the sink with clean water and dry it with a clean towel. Dogs also don’t have bandages or other ways to keep wounds clean until they heal.

They can only clean the wound by licking it.

Because of this, nature has made this ability for animals the best it can be. Some bacteria can’t grow when dogs lick them. But this isn’t very effective, and that’s pretty much where the benefits end. There’s nothing in a dog’s saliva that can speed up the healing of wounds. They don’t heal their wounds by licking them; they just clean them to keep them from getting sick.

It’s important to remember that infected wounds can kill wild dogs easily, and they often do. Even though dogs’ saliva has some antibacterial properties, it is not enough to keep them from getting sick. Letting them lick your wound won’t help it heal any faster, and it won’t stop infections either.

Can you get an infection if a chihuahua licks your wound?

Yes. It is true that the saliva of a chihuahua can kill bacteria. But, as we’ve talked about, this is only true for some bacteria. It seems to be especially good at getting rid of E. Coli. But this is about where it stops being useful. Also, a dog’s saliva is not very good at stopping this bacterium from growing. Even now, E. Coli infections can still happen in some dogs. By no means is it foolproof.

Your wounds can also get a lot of different bacteria from a dog’s mouth. These bacteria may have just moved into your dog’s mouth, or they may be a natural part of your dog’s mouth biome. Just like people, dogs have bacteria in their mouths. But their bacteria are not at all like ours. When we let them lick our wounds, they bring these bacteria with them.

This doesn’t include any harmful bacteria that the dog may have picked up from the environment. Since most dog infections are caused by Staph, it makes sense that dogs are most likely to spread Staph to our wounds. But it is also possible that there are other bacteria.

Should I Let My Chihuahua Lick an Infected Wound?

If you have a wound that is getting worse, you have to see a doctor ASAP. It does not matter how big or the location of the wound. The biggest issue isn’t that the infection can hurt the wound and the skin around it. When you suffer from an infection in a wound, your biggest worry is that it will spread to other parts of your body. Wounds make it easy for bacteria to get into the bloodstream, which can lead to infections in places other than the wound.

Because of this, there is a chance that the infection is already in your blood. Your immune system will fight the bacteria, but an antibiotic that you take by mouth is usually the best thing to do. This will have an effect on your whole body, killing the infection wherever it is and where it started. For a healthy person, a topical solution may be enough, but you don’t want to take the chance that the infection has already spread.
This is why it wouldn’t help much if your chihuahua licked your infected wound. Their saliva isn’t very good at killing germs. Most of the time, it isn’t enough to fight any kind of bacteria. It also only works against a small number of bacteria, which may or may not help your infection. Plus, it only works in a small area. Your dog’s saliva won’t help you fight the infection that might be in your bloodstream.

Last word

There are some small antiseptic properties in a chihuahua’s saliva. But these are small and often blown out of proportion. Only a small number of bacteria can be killed by a dog’s saliva. Most of these are common infections in puppies, so it’s likely that the dogs’ saliva made them a little less dangerous.

But a chihuahua’s saliva is nothing like the antiseptic methods used today. Clean water and a band-aid are better. It might be beneficial if you’re hurt in the middle of a wild area with no other option. If not, our modern medicine is much better. You shouldn’t let your chihuahua lick your wound unless you’re stuck in the middle of the woods without any modern medicine.

Even though this probably won’t have much of an effect on most people, it can cause your wound to get infected by introducing harmful bacteria. Also, a chihuahua’s tongue is not the best thing to clean a wound with. It could hurt the healing or new tissue, which could stop the cleaning process.

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