Pulling staples (with pics)

Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
Trixie pulled her staples. She's 17days post spay. House arrest is driving her mad and even the mild sedative I insisted on is not enough to take the edge off. My girl needs a RUN.

I contacted the ER vet, and sent pics....they aren't concerned. Said she can wait til Monday.

Of course I'm worried now because not only is she bored and active, but now she's got no staples.

So I've wrapped her up and added a male wrap to cover the bandages

I tried steristrips....but she's grown in too much fur, they won't stick
 

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Stacia

Stacia

Location
Malvern Worcestershire
Shamas mom said:
Trixie pulled her staples. She's 17days post spay. House arrest is driving her mad and even the mild sedative I insisted on is not enough to take the edge off. My girl needs a RUN.

I contacted the ER vet, and sent pics....they aren't concerned. Said she can wait til Monday.

Of course I'm worried now because not only is she bored and active, but now she's got no staples.

So I've wrapped her up and added a male wrap to cover the bandages

I tried steristrips....but she's grown in too much fur, they won't stick
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Usually the muscle is stitched underneath and the skin stitches are superficial, so if that is the case I would try not to worry. Here in UK we take stitches out on the tenth day (when I was spayed they took mine out after five days!). Also we take the lead off after ten days (not letting them run mad of course), one vet I worked with, had her Lab off lead on day three, though I wouldn't recommend that!
 
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Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
That makes me feel much better! She feels fine, so my only concern at this point is infection

The vet had given clearance for walks, but not running or excessive jumping but to be honest, she's been jumping since 48hours after the surgery in spite of our best efforts. We finally added a mild sedative to take the edge off her energy levels. Takes her from a 7 to a 5 and lets her relax.

She's not bothering her incision, so my biggest worry is infection.

We took her to a store for a walk today. She is out of practice on her obedience....seems like a good time to go right back to basics on leash work. Perhaps get all her gear out of the picture and restart with a simple collar while we're in a low distraction space
:)
 
Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
So we had our appointment, and she is infected. Not so much that I can see, but the vet says she's seeping pus.

Given the risks involved, being a surgery incision, she's been placed on antibiotics..topical and oral. And continued sedation to take the edge off of her continued confinement.

Upon arrival at the office this morning, she wreaked absolute chaos. Jumping, bouncing, climbing under chairs to prevent them accomplishing a timely check-in. They finally got her weighed in, and into a room...and she nearly broke out, because....door handles are fun and I was outside. They had to put a table in front of the door. She has to be separated from me, else she will ignore everything they ask of them, and try to play instead. If I'm in the room, only I have any kind of authority.

All this while on leash with 100mg of Gabapenten to "calm her down" LOL!

She'd have been healed 10 days ago, if she didn't have springs in her feet!

So at least they know I'm not exaggerating when I say she's going insane under house arrest!

At one point, the menace realised that the one receptionist was not watching, so she escaped, and ran over to "boop" her.
 
Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
SwampDonkey said:
It could be a reaction to the staples themselves.
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Possible

@Jelinga the vet said it's taking so long because she's so active. They do understand that we're trying our best, but even with sedative in her system she resembles the Tasmanian devil lol!

There's only so much you can use the crate, tie her to humans, train, and otherwise manage a dog who is used to running 3hours a day......she's antsy! And as a result, even when on umbilical, she has begun doing kangaroo hops. She's rubbing against the walls,and chewing baseboards in frustration......the only real relief she gets is the leash retraining

I'm working on changing how she feels about the harness by linking it to her few outings
 
Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
@Jelinga I think you might be onto something....the whole time she was stapled, Trixie's incision was crusty, and didn't look to me like it was really improving.

Now, a few days after pulling them out, the wound is about where I'd expect to see it at about the 10 day mark.

Perhaps, her body doesn't like staples, and healing was slowed. Even with the sedative, she's still active. And I'm taking her out to walk the last couple of days, as the ground is dry.
 

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Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
After nearly a full month of recovery, Trixie FINALLY got the all clear from the vet.

Which is a relief, because SHE feels fine. AS the tech's telling us she can resume normal activities, she's doing her best Kangaroo impression!

I hope we get some decent weather tomorrow because I have a day off and she needs a WALK!
 
Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
Jelinga said:
At long last! Poor girl, she will feel so much better, as you will :giggle: x
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She's much less antsy now. We're still doing a lot of inside walks, on Shamas account...but she's once again got free rein of the yard. We're working on harness training--I finally found one by Kurgo that she'll tolerate. Not love, but tolerate. IT's from their car restraint line, so is designed not to choke, or be bulky. It's crash tested to 75Lbs, and she's 68 right now.

So I'm training her that pull=stop and in order to walk, you must reset to my side.

This is a basic concept that Shamas still struggles with to this day. Stop=sit as far as he's concerned...he has no idea where the pull comes into it, he's just tolerating MY slowness:cwl:
 
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