My six month old black lab was spayed 13 days ago. The wound has been oozing mostly clear but sometimes a brownish tinted fluid. The fluid is not thick, nor does it have a smell and doesn't appear swollen. I'm concerned that it seems to be taking forever to heal. I did take her back to the vet last Friday (9 days post spay). He saw the fluid and didn't really have an explanation as to why it's oozing. He gave her an antibiotic shot and said he'll see her again to have the stitches removed. Tomorrow would be 14 days post spay and I'm supposed to take her in to have her stitches removed, but it doesn't look healed. I called the vet again today and he seemed stumped...said to give it another 2-3 days and then bring her in to have the stitches removed. Any thoughts as to what's causing it to ooze? Could she have torn an internal stitch? I'm at a loss as to what to do a might take her to another vet. I've attached a picture of her incision. Thanks in advance!
therrling
Concerns with spay incision...not healing!
My six month old black lab was spayed 13 days ago. The wound has been oozing mostly clear but sometimes a brownish tinted fluid. The fluid is not thick, nor does it have a smell and doesn't appear swollen. I'm concerned that it seems to be taking forever to heal. I did take her back to the vet last Friday (9 days post spay). He saw the fluid and didn't really have an explanation as to why it's oozing. He gave her an antibiotic shot and said he'll see her again to have the stitches removed. Tomorrow would be 14 days post spay and I'm supposed to take her in to have her stitches removed, but it doesn't look healed. I called the vet again today and he seemed stumped...said to give it another 2-3 days and then bring her in to have the stitches removed. Any thoughts as to what's causing it to ooze? Could she have torn an internal stitch? I'm at a loss as to what to do a might take her to another vet. I've attached a picture of her incision. Thanks in advance!
Attachments
Some dogs seem to have a re-action to the sutures so see what your Vet says as may be better to take the stitches out. All the dogs I have had spayed, they used dissolvable sutures which did not have to be removed and they healed up great.
Strange. It doesn't look infected but doesn't look like it's healed as much as it should in that timeframe either. I would take her into your vet. If after that appointment you're not comfortable and totally trusting in your vet, it might be an idea to go elsewhere for a second opinion.
I've recently had issues with Layla's spay incision too, but we had dissolvable sutures. It healed up pretty well despite a mild suture reaction, but then got infected after more than three weeks post-surgery. Antiobiotics have helped enormously.
Good luck!
I've recently had issues with Layla's spay incision too, but we had dissolvable sutures. It healed up pretty well despite a mild suture reaction, but then got infected after more than three weeks post-surgery. Antiobiotics have helped enormously.
Good luck!
So I took Bella to a different vet this morning for a second opinion. So glad I did! They confirmed that the incision is not healing normally and that she's having a reaction to the sutures and has possibly developed an infection around the sutures in the muscular wall. That reaction in the muscular wall is what's causing the oozing and not allowing the external incision to heal. She was brought back to the operating room so the other 3 vets in the practice could check her incision. They decided on using a moderate approach right now, which is cephalexon (750mg two times per day) and she will be seen again on Monday afternoon. If the incision does not look better by Monday, then they will have to proceed with an aggressive approach...which involves opening her up again, removing the internal sutures, cut away the infected tissue in the muscular wall and use different sutures on both the inside and the outside. The concern with that is her muscular wall is already pulled tight, and once they trim off the infected tissue, there might not be a lot of muscular tissue left to work with and suture together :-( So, fingers crossed that the antibiotic will work and the stitches can be removed on Monday. The oozing has gotten better over the last 24 hours so I'm praying that the antibiotic will help everything heal. The vet did warn me to keep an eye on her incision (which I'm obsessive about anyway!) because it's beginning to pull apart as it tries to heal. She said there's a chance the internal sutures could break open and put enough pressure on the external sutures and her insides will fall out...obviously that'd be an emergency situation but she did send me home with emergency numbers to call. Please pray for Bella!
Good for taking her to another vet! Fingers crossed that the antibiotics work. Keep her super quiet through the weekend. That's the same drug that Layla got (she's still on it), though your dose is a bit higher. It might be a few days before you notice much improvement. Keep us posted please 
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