“Lingua canis dum lingit vulnus curat”
“A dog’s tongue, licking a wound, heals it”

Rob has been having skin problems with his affected hand. Because it is often contracted all day, it becomes moist and he gets skin irritations. It does not appear to be fungal, and there are no open wounds, but it is concerning.

We have been trying powders and creams, but none have worked very well. He is also neurologically hypersensitive on his hand, and anything I do to try to help causes him a lot of pain.

At night when he is relaxed and his hand decontracts naturally, we have started to let Jane the dog lick his fingers and hand for a few minutes. She does it very gently and seems to know it’s her job to be gentle and it’s instinctive for her to want to do it. Afterwards, I wipe it so that it is clean.

So far, it is really showing some results. I know many might think this is disgusting, but there are many historical and recent reports of the healing properties of dog saliva.  There are a number of components of saliva that have been shown by research to act against infection or to promote healing. Saliva contains antimicrobial substances including thiocyanate and lysozyme, along with nitrite on the tongue surface, which has long been used for wound care. It also debrides the unhealthy skin, and seems to be a catalyst to improve the healing of the healthy skin.

Nothing else has helped much, so unless we see an infection or negative results, we are going to keep trying this. It also has the added benefit that he seems to be becoming less hypersensitive to his hand being touched, and it’s also easier for me to provide care after Jane does her licking care.

Here are photo’s of before and about one week after trying this with “Jane care”.