Dog this morning had a mesquite thorn stick in her rear paw. I believe I was able to remove the entire thorn. Cleaned it but her paw has started to swell. We irrigated with peroxide and put some anti-microbial gel on it.

At what point should I take her in for oral antibiotics?

I'd like to wait till Monday if possible to avoid outrageous emergency vet charges on a Sunday. I obviously don't want to risk a nasty infection either.

Thanks

Update

Swelling has subsided some this morning. Still a little swollen and warm.

Still doesn't want to put weight on it.

I think it’s pretty much normal for it to swell after those nasty things are removed. Topical antibiotics should handle it. Keep it wrapped so he doesn’t wipe it off, maybe a sock.

My Border Collie pup had thorns in paws. Vet pulled thorns, gave prescription antibiotics 2X day for 10 days and soak feet in Epson Salts bath 2X daily for 5 minutes.

It’ll probably look even better by tomorrow

Yep that's what happened to my paw when we were kids. You would think we would wear shoes outside IDK. Mesquite thorns always hurt like hell for a few days and always caused swelling. I'm sure it's the same with dogs.

Soak the paw in epson salts for a couple of days. If there is still anything there, it will fester and come out. It probably wont show up on xray, and oral antibiotics will keep it from festering.

Robby

Few years back, mine got one in her paw...swelled up real big by Monday. Dr lanced it and cleaned it out on Monday morning...I was able to hunt her the following weekend but it came back and we had to the do the lancing again, this time on top of the paw. Keep an eye on it but they recover fast from thorns.

+1 on Epson salts will take the swelling down.

Mesquite thorns can cause some nasty swelling. I had one come in on emergency once that had a big swelling and even a fever. Removed the thorn, antibiotics and anti-inflammatories and she was fine in a couple days. Probably would have been whether I did anything or not lol

Well we are heading to the vet.

Swelling was going down and she was putting weight on it yesterday but today it's has swollen back up and she's limping again.

500mg Amoxicillin 2 times a day

I had a Brittany that got one the vet couldn't get out. The thorn has barbs and this caused it to eventually work its way out on the top of the paw. It took a while. Crappy deal.

A good vet a great answer