We have a cow dog that loves to chase coatimundi.  Wait, what are coatimundi?  They are animals native to Arizona that appear to be part cat, part monkey and part badger. They have sharp claws and are mean fighters.  Clearly, they're not the friendliest of animals to pick a fight with, but our dog feels otherwise.

One day while out on a hike, our dog Tiger (we can't fault him for trying to live up to his name) got into it with a coatimundi. By the time we could call him off, he had a deep gash in the muscle of his cheek about 2 inches long.  We probably should have taken him to get sewed up, but it was Sunday afternoon and we live out of town, so we decided to try and treat it ourselves. My mom always said that a dog’s saliva was a good antiseptic, but the cut was in a spot that he could not lick. 

We’re not vets and don’t pretend to be, but we have also been ranching for three generations, so we aren’t afraid to try things. We made a batch of 500 ppm hypochlorous acid (HOCl) and applied it with a sponge for about a minute several times a day.  We folded the wound back together every time we applied the HOCl and it quickly began to heal.  

Within a week it had stitched itself back together and today there is no sign of the wound.  Dogs generally heal quickly, but even the neighbors were surprised how fast this worked. Like we said, we're not scientists, but we love a cheap, effective solution--and so does Tiger!