Teagan Has A Wound, Stitches Keep Splitting

[Guest LindsaySF]

I need some advice. Teagan got into a minor tussle with Cody last Wednesday, but of course thin-skinned Teagan got the short end of the stick. He has a bite wound on his hip.

 

 

 

The vet sedated him and stitched him up. A piece of muscle was nicked and hanging, so they cut that, and put a drain in. The wound looked pretty good once they closed it up.

 

 

 

It drained over the next few days (as it was supposed to) but no signs of infection, etc. The tiny puncture wounds at the top scabbed over nicely, and the skin tightened up over the drain. (I was actually worried that it was getting too tight over the drain). Yesterday he got the drain out. He still had 2 little holes from where the drain was, and they were still draining, but the wound looked okay. He still has antibiotics left until this Friday, so we were going to have a check-up that day.

 

Today his stitches popped open and the wound opened back up. (No photos of that, didn't have a chance). I brought him back to the vet tonight and they stitched him up again. They did a good job.

 

 

 

About an hour ago I checked on the wound, and the stitches have ripped AGAIN. Not the whole way, just the middle, the top and bottom stitches are still holding.

 

 

 

We're going back to the vet tomorrow. Can this heal as an open wound? I think there's still swelling in there and my gut says stitching it again would be pointless. The wound is smaller now since the stitches at the top and bottom are still holding, but there's still a decent piece of underlying muscle exposed (eww).

 

Any advice would be great! Thanks.

 

 

 

 

~Lindsay~

 

[greysmom]

It all depends on your level of confidence in dealing with open wounds, and what his daily life is like. There have been those here who have healed up worse wounds than Teagan's.

 

I agree that more stitches are probably not going to hold. Once the edges get torn there's just not enough skin left to get them to meet. See what the vet says.

 

He needs to be kept as quiet as possible, with as little getting up and down as you can manage. The less stress there is on the skin the better. He also needs to NOT lick it or bother it AT ALL, or the rest of them will pull out again. Even sedation if it comes to that, especially if he will be left without human supervision for any length of time. Plus a pair of boys underwear to provide some protection to the wound while letting the air get to it (though these have to be taken off and on for pottying).

 

Warm compresses will help and also help keep it clean. Keep him on antibiotics until it is well granulated also. It might take a week or more foryou to see a real difference. Be patient and keep him quiet as much as you can.

[Guest LindsaySF]

I've dealt with a lot of open wounds before with fosters, but none this size (or location), and none with stitches popping. I'm worried that the remaining stitches will bust too. Anything I can do to prevent that?

 

Teagan is very quiet normally (spends 90% of his life sleeping in his ex-pen), but I've been making sure he continues to be. Some problems I've run into though are he keeps roaching and laying on the wound (when the drain was in he kept roaching ON it ). Not sure how to prevent that? He also stretches that skin big time when he squats to have a bowel movement, and when he does the stairs (4 stairs into the yard, upstairs to the bedroom at night). I can carry him up/down the stairs if I need to, but he's gotta poop. He's wearing a muzzle with stool guard when he can't be supervised.

 

He's on Cephalexin until Friday. I will see if the vet wants to extend that. I've got all sorts of wound care and cleansing stuff (Betadine, Nolvasan, Derma Gel, Benzalkonium chloride foam and lotion, etc). I might ask the vet for Granulex though, I've had some success with that in the past.

 

Right now I taped a non-stick gauze pad to the wound. I considered shorts, but I didn't want to get fibers in there? It's still draining a bit too.

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

 

 

~Lindsay~

[Batmom]

It will likely heal open altho that usually takes longer. It is in kind of a crappy place for minimizing stress. If you wanted to keep the edges together better, you could make a big butterfly bandage from 1" Elastikon -- with telfa pads stuck to the Elastikon where it crosses the wound area; not a lot of room to maneuver there but just might work.

 

Scritchies and quick healing to your good boy!

[Guest BrianRke]

Why didnt the vet try staples? In my experience they tend to hold better than stitches in areas where the skin moves a lot.

[Guest Swifthounds]

Sutures won't hold. I would have shaved the area and stapled instead. Stays put, and heals so much faster, and stapling is much easier to do on an awake hound.

 

Vixen got a small skin tear (2cm) a few weeks back - our first in 15 years - over the bony part of the shoulder. Now way stitches would have held. Staples close beautifully and she doesn't even have a visible scar anymore - just a big shaved square.

[Guest KennelMom]

I wouldn't have the vet mess with it anymore. It'll heal.

 

We healed this on Scout several years ago:

[DonnaBehr]

Chica had a wound just the size of Teagan's last picture and it healed by itself in three weeks. Just a tiny dot now that I'm sure won't be there in a day or two. She wasn't a licker, so that was a good thing.

[Guest sheila]

 

 

Right now I taped a non-stick gauze pad to the wound. I considered shorts, but I didn't want to get fibers in there? It's still draining a bit too.

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

~Lindsay~

 

My first thought was also staples. However if you decide against that and leave it as an open wound you could still put shorts on him. Just line the area inside the shorts with a panty liner. It's clean, self adhesive, absorbent and can be changed easily.

[Guest crazy4greys]

Remember Spencer, my foster that the Humane Society gave us because they couldn't heal his wound? It was a bit bigger than Teagan's.

 

I did the water therapy, dried it off and sprayed it after with Granulex. It healed wonderfully! I am sure Teagan's will heal just as well

 

 

 

 

[Guest d0ggiem0mma]

My girl Maggie was in a terrible dog fight and almost died. She was in the ICU for 2 weeks and when she came home, she still had a large wound in her chest wall. I don't have any photos but it was easily 3 inches across and perfectly round. For the first 2 weeks we did twice daily bandage chances with sugar bandages. The 3rd week we were able to do just once a day. After that we were able to just put a little bandaid on the dime-sized spot and it healed over within days.

 

It sounds like there is just too much tension on the skin to keep trying to close it. Every time those sutures tear it damages the skin further. Make sure you really follow instructions as to bandages though, that makes all the difference. We had a lot of success using sugar bandages as the sugar draws out the edema (swelling) and allows faster healing.

[BootsyCollins]

Argos had a wound in that same general area that healed just fine, even though it was hard to keep it closed at first. Good luck

[FiveRoooooers]

The first thing that came to mind was Manuka honey.

 

Good luck, Lindsay, I hope Teagan is feeling better.

[Guest greytkidsmom]

No advice but hugs to Teagan from his brother Lucas

[Guest MonsterMomma]

We've never had good results with sutures, and always required staples for at least 3 weeks.

[MerlinsMum]

How is Teagan doing, Lindsay?

[Guest LindsaySF]

Sorry for the delay. Lots going on here. (What else is new?) Thank you everyone for the advice!

 

 

About the staples, I believe they opted for stitches over staples because there was a drain underneath? I don't know for sure though. I've had several dogs with skin tears get staples, this is the first time they did stitches. Just 2-3 weeks ago my foster Maggie tore her side open on a crate latch. (Sophie had a seizure and that spooked her ). They stapled that and it healed great.

 

 

 

 

 

As for Teagan, I brought him back to the vet after the stitches popped again and said I wanted to leave it open, and could I have some Granulex. My vet laughed and said that was going to be her advice anyway.

 

 

The wound looked okay for a few days. Then yesterday the top stitches started ripping from the skin stretching.

 

 

 

And by this morning they had torn completely. At least the bottom stitches are in place, and that portion of the wound is healing well.

 

 

 

I'm cleaning it well, alternating applying Granulex and leaving it open (during the day), and applying DermaGel and bandaging it (at night when he lays on it the most). It has stopped draining and weeping so much, so hopefully that's a sign that we're on the way to healing.

 

 

KennelMom, how did you heal Scout's wound?

 

 

 

 

~Lindsay~

 

[greysmom]

It's just going to be a slow go with that big a wound, but it will heal. Sounds like you're doing everything right though. If it's started healing at one end that's a good sign that it will keep working it's way up towards the top.

[mychip1]

Continued good wishes for healing!

[Guest KennelMom]

Hi Lindsay...we kept it covered w/a Tshirt a lot of the time. We did water therapy 3-4 times a day - basically just running some water over it for a few minutes. Then we'd dry it and apply bag balm (that's what the vet recommended to encourage granulation, though granulex would do the same thing).

 

I think it took about 3 months for it to heal completely. Once it stopped draining/weeping it really started to heal quickly so hopefully that's where Teagan is

[Guest meggera]

While it is used primarily for horses, have you considered using Vetericyn? I personally have not used it so I do not speak from my own personal experience. However, I have heard great things about it and the results it can produce.

 

I hope you will keep us updated on how the wound heals. Vanille and I are sending you both warm thoughts.

 

Vanille & Megan

[shawna]

Once upon a time, Chris's horse Slim got loose from the police barn and totalled a Lincoln Continental. When he rolled up over the hood, he opened wounds in his neck and hip. Once he finally extruded all the glass, we put silverdine (SP?)on it, kept it clean and dry, and he healed the wounds fine. And they were HUGE and open. Big enough that the vet couldn't stitch or staple it. The only thing wrong with him now physically is he has a slight limp and his hair grew back in white. So, not a big deal.

 

Good luck!

[Guest LindsaySF]

Thank you everyone for the advice! I think we're on the road to healing.

 

 

Here's a photo from Thursday. The wound is getting smaller.

 

 

 

 

 

And here's a photo from tonight. Definitely smaller and healing well.

 

 

 

 

 

I'll be glad for the day when I can't see his muscle anymore. Eww!

 

 

 

 

~Lindsay~

[greysmom]

Nice and pink, starting to granulate. Looks good! He'll be fine in no time!

[Guest LindsaySF]

I figured I'd update this. We had a bit of a setback. Teagan's wound was looking great. His oral antibiotics finished up, and I was still cleaning and flushing the wound daily and applying topical antibiotics and Granulex.

 

On Friday morning the wound looked good. By the afternoon, it was weeping a little more, some clear serum. I wasn't too worried, I expected it to drain if needed. But then the serum looked more like puss. I cleaned it up, and it looked okay. I was going to see if it continued, and if so, bring Teagan to my vet on Saturday morning (they are open).

 

He was acting a little weird on Friday evening, not like himself. He laid on the rug near my chair (he usually ignores me) and then laid on the couch (he never does that). He didn't even growl at me when I pulled him off the couch (he usually does). He felt warm and was lethargic, so I took his temperature. It was 105.0! I took it twice to make sure it wasn't an error. I brought him outside and hosed him off, and his temp went down to 104.2. He was acting more alert, shook himself off, etc.

 

Then we hopped in the car and rushed to the e-vet. It was down to 103.6 by the time we arrived, and once we got into an exam room an hour or so later, down to 101.9. At this point the puss was oozing out. In a matter of a few hours it went from looking okay to looking horribly infected. The vet flushed the wound and we got more antibiotics. They also sent out the puss for a culture.

 

Let's hope it heals uneventfully from here on out. The wound looked pretty good yesterday and today.

 

 

 

 

~Lindsay~