Odd Wound By Spay Scar

[jaym1]

so, i've had vicki for a month. in that time, she has already managed to sustain a serious (and costly) eye injury, which is finally healing. however, i just noticed that there is an odd wound/abscess at her spay scar. vicki is just two years old, and had her surgery shortly before coming to me. the wound itself almost looks like the scar has sort of separated, though its not deep at all. nor is it really bleeding -- it's more just raw looking. strangely, she doesn't seem to be bothered by it in the least. i just cleaned it and put some antibiotic ointment on it.

 

when she sliced her cornea, i was distraught at the thought of spending thousands i dont have after having already spent thousands i didnt have on my dog who died of osteo days before i got her. the idea of heading back to the ER, unless absolutely critical, is even less appealing now. vicki's insurance kicks in in 5 days. what does greytalk think about the look of this?

 

[tbhounds]

Looks like her incision is dehiscing . Not an emergency so long as the interior sutures don't break down. When was she spayed? Keep her from licking!

[jaym1]

she was spayed on sept. 4th. she wont be licking it since she is still mostly in her cone from the corneal laceration. though even when she's out of the cone (under supervision) she shows no noticeable interest in it.

[tbhounds]

She could be having a suture reaction

[kudzu]

That definitely deserves a vet visit but I wouldn't consider it an emergency. I'd just get her to your regular vet at the first possible chance. You all are having some incredibly bad luck. I'm sorry for all you are going through.

[Batmom]

Did she come spayed from an adoption group? The vet who did her spay surgery should take care of that with no/minimal charge.

 

With any luck it's just a suture that surfaced and that she picked at .....

[MaryJane]

Talk to the adoption group that did the surgery, they might have their vet look at it since he did the operation.

[jaym1]

the organization who did the surgery is in augusta, maine, which is about 170 miles from here. far, but somewhat doable. i am trying to find out about that now.

 

it seems to be healing nicely. it really doesnt seem to be something thats infected -- it literally just looks like the very top layer of stitching or scarring let go. the scar itself has always seemed really taut and solid, so perhaps it just finally gave way? there have been a number of weird bumps, one of which is fairly pronounced, on and around her scar since i got her. my understanding is that some weirdness in this area can be typical, no?

Edited November 9, 2013 by jaym1

[greymomnc]

We picked Minnie up on a Friday and by Monday I had her to the vet for this:

 

I took her to my regular vet. They felt like it was a reaction to the sutures combined with an odd stitching method. She got a 14 day course of Clavamox. In addition, and what I thought really helped most, were cold laser treatments to expedite the healing. It's just like a flashlight that they wave back and forth over the wound. I think each laser treatment was around $24.00. Obviously, this picture shows stitches still intact as this was 6 days post-spay. You can see some of the tissue (dark red) but there was also a lot of oozing....due to a full blown infection. These lumps eventully went away and she has healed quite nicely considering how bad this looked. This was the first time one of our females had any complications from a spay. I was really worried they would have to redo the stitching and put her under again. Minnie wanted to lick this area ALL THE TIME so I think since your girl is leaving hers alone, that is a good sign. I would let the vet look at it, but as long as it is not worse and she is not licking it, I would wait until regualr office hours. Hope this helps.

[Guest greymarn]

This is definitely under the category of post-op, or related to surgery - reactions. the vet who performed her spay procedure.should be able to take care of it with little or no expense to you. Agree with all the others I.e. Keep it clean with normal saline or plain water, no peroxide or other caustic solutions and absolutely no hydrocortisone or other steroids as they can cause further ulceration As skin is almost every creature's first line of defense, she is at greater risk for infection.