Update on our Saturday vet visit -- The vet opened up Yogi’s incision and took a look inside. Doesn’t appear to be any infection (they took a sample to culture just in case) but lots of inflammation along one line of internal sutures. It looks like Yogi’s problem is an allergic reaction to the sutures. They opened him up & no signs of infection but lots of inflammation & some pus along the subcutaneous suture line. The sutures closer to the muscle layer were healthy. The subcutaneous suture was Monocryl whereas the muscle layer suture material is PDS. This leads him to think what we have is an allergic reaction to the Monocryl suture material.

They cleaned and flushed the area out real good and put in new subcutaneous sutures using PDS. A shot of steroid to bring down the inflammation and put a fentanyl patch on again. They put in a couple of drains to help clear out any additional fluids that build up. They also placed a dressing over the area to absorb any discharge from the drainage tubes and help keep it clean. 

Sunday --

After yesterday’s second surgical procedure, to replace the sutures Yogi is allergic to, they used an absorbent non-stick dressing against the incision area to soak up and discharge from the drainage tubes. To make sure it stayed in place they put a compression bandage over it. Since tape won’t stick to fur very well they had to wrap the bandage around his leg and waist, leaving an openings for him to pee & poop through, then tape it to itself. If that sounds difficult – it was! Yogi’s back end is wrapped up like a mummy.

Yogi has a difficult time walking in it, but it’s working really good. He has been able to pee & poop without soiling his wound or the bandage. Being already sore from the surgeries and weak from the narcotics, the bandage presented a real challenge to squatting to do his elimination duties. To assist him we used his car travel harness & a leash to provide some lift to keep him from falling over when he squats.

Our baby mummy

What an ordeal Yogi went thru at the vet on Monday morning. It was a follow up to the second surgery he had on Saturday. It started off good; he walked into the hospital on his own and the bandage was removed without any trouble. The vet said the swelling was down so no need to keep the Penrose drain tubes in. Those drain tubes normally come out really easy.

Gayle, the vet tech cut the sutures holding the tubes in place, but when she went to pull the first tube out Yogi really jumped and let out a cry. A couple more tries with the same result. She got Brittney to help and she couldn’t get them to budge either. The vet authorized them to use sedation. They were able to get the small one out. Yogi was still yelping & squirming. We assisted by holding Yogi and covering his head with a towel. The vet was called in and he used a syringe of lidocaine to coat the area around the tubes, hoping to numb it some more. Gayle was then able to get a tube out by grabbing it in the middle, pulling it until it stopped and found a suture attached and buried.

Still one tube left and it just wouldn’t come out either way. The vet went into the tube channel with a thin forceps and found another deep suture. As soon as that was cut it came out really easy, just like they expected them to an hour before. They cleaned up the wound area and we’re using disposable diapers to cover the area as there are openings where the tubes came out that will drain for a few days. The hardest part now is keeping the diapers on...I don't think we have found the right size yet. I will go buy another size today and hope we can get it to stay on better!

If you’re wondering how could relay all the details of this procedure it’s because we were with Yogi through the whole procedure. It’s rough watch this when it’s your little furbaby on the table. A very special thanks to the vet techs Gayle & Brittney for a great job under very difficult circumstances. We know it was just as hard on them.

Yogi got home and slept most of the day. It was way easier to get him to pee & poop without his mummy wrapped butt. In addition to his amputation surgery incision he also has several holes where his drainage tubes were removed. The diapers look goofy, but works pretty good. Trying to hold dressings with adhesives or an ace bandage just don’t work in that area. He’s unfortunately going to have to wear a cone to keep him from pulling the diaper off. At least he’s getting around on 3 legs pretty good and pain seems controlled now.

Will it ever get better?!

We found out late yesterday that Yogi’s culture test came back positive for pseudomonas and serratia.

This goes back to when he had the allergic reaction to the one suture material and was oozing goop around his incision site. They took a swab or two of the goop and sent it to a lab for culture.

This is not good as these bacteria families are very resistant to antibiotics. Tuesday we pickup a special antibiotic (ceftazadime) from a specialty veterinary pharmacy. The stuff’s not cheap (about $130) and we then take it to our veterinarian who is going to show us how to inject the antibiotic. Yes, you read that right, we have to inject this powerful antibiotic into our little puppy twice a day for 10 days!

More details will follow after we meet with our vet.

Thanks - from here on I will only post in the "treatment" forum category where we will update Yogi's status.