Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hello!
Our boy Scott got his front left limb and scapula removed on 01/20. Needless to say, recovery has been a new layer of hell (I have posted our lives over in 'Three Legged Cats'). On Tuesday (02.07.23) Scott bit open the bottom 1.5 inch of his suture while we were at work and got out of his shirt he usually wears.
We rushed him to our vet, they said it was only the "skin layer" that he got opened and the fat/muscle layer look in tact still. They closed it and buried the sutures so he doesn't have to come back in.
Our original surgeon said that his sutures should be closed by the two week mark which would have been 02/03/2023. There was no oozing, bleeding, etc. They looked good before Scott tore them open.
My question is: HOW do we know when he is actually good to go without a shirt/e collar with these internal sutures? The vet that patched him up said just another two weeks, but he opened them after 2 weeks of healing already. Is there something we can help him do? I have tried to find stages in the healing process photos online and have not found anything. I am at a loss and the vets done want him to come back because he is so violent there.
Thank you!
If everything underneath is holding up then another 2-3 weeks should be fine. The only disadvantage of closing the skin with subcuticular sutures is that this is a continuous pattern in a high tension area so if he disrupts the incision the entire suture line can open up. Did they have to re-suture the entire thing? If so I would probably give it 3 weeks to heal completely. Have you looked into a surgical bodysuit?
Pam
Hi! Thank you for your reply 🙂
no, they did not have to resuture the whole thing, only the bottom 1.5 inches.
we actually did order a body suit and it came in yesterday , but it was too small. Our Scott is a bigger lad. So we are going to order a larger size. He is currently in a cone and a shirt right now, which he isnt a fan of 😅.
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