Dew claw removal incision

[Tiga's_mom]

Annie got spayed last Wednesday. They also removed her dew claw on her back left leg. She was doing great until this morning. Her spay incision looks great but her dew claw incision looks terrible this morning. It's opened right up. She must have been digging at it through the night. I'm kind of surprised as I'm a very light sleeper and have woken up every time she's moved in the night since she had the surgery. It was a little red yesterday but it was still closed. She seemed to be acting normal up until now except that she pooped a lot yesterday (6 times!!) and the last couple were verging on diarrhea. This morning she was not very interested in her breakfast. She only ate about half of what she normally eats. She seems more lethargic this morning. I called the vet as soon as they opened this morning and we have an appt at 3pm. I'm worried and wish the appt was sooner. I feel terrible! We've been watching her so closely. Haven't used the e-collar at all because there's always someone here to watch her. I guess we'll have to start using it at night. I was hoping not to have to use it. I suspect we'll end up with antibiotics and I don't know if they can or will re-stitch it. They weren't even going to remove it but we asked them to as a preventative measure and it was much cheaper to get it done now then to have to have another surgery if it started causing problems. Now I'm wishing we had just left it. Anyone else have a dew claw removed?

[juliepoudrier]

I meant to reply to this earlier and got interrupted. You've been to the vet by now, but I would say that it's going to be tough to keep her from getting to her foot even with an Elizabethan collar. Don't feel guilty, this sort of thing (chewing stitches) happens a lot. I think it was a wise decision to do everything at once. You probably saw redness because she was already surreptitiously licking it. I'm guessing it's possible that it would heal even without stitches, depending on how attached the dew claw was. Better she got the stitches out there and at the spay incision.

 

Let us know what the vet said!

 

J.

[Tiga's_mom]

Well the vet said she needs antibiotics and either the collar of shame or wrap it. I opted to wrap it. She also said that one of the stitches is coming out but she didn't want to cut it in case it's still holding something. We go back tomorrow to check it and to change the dressing. She said if it hasn't started to close back up a bit tomorrow then she may have to put more stitches in it. We are to keep it wrapped for a few days and keep it dry. We can still continue with our walks as long as it doesn't rain. She also said it's common that they have issues with this surgery.

 

So she's all wrapped and I feel less nervous about it being exposed and about watching her 24/7 (although of course I'm still doing that). My biggest concern right now is that she won't eat her supper. She has to take her antibiotics with food. I should have gotten a can of the gastro food when I was out there but I didn't think about it. It's 2 hours past when she normally eats. Her appetite has been low all day. Might cook some rice and try her with that.

[juliepoudrier]

Too bad the vet didn't offer you a used fluids bag for use when walking her. You just cut off the bottom and then slip it over her bandage and tape it in place with sport tape (use only for walking as it will also trap any moisture already in the bandage, but if you have to go through dew-covered grass in the mornings, it's better to put some sort of plastic over the bandage--even a couple of newspaper bags or grocery bags to help keep it dry while walking). The fluids bags work well because they're such heavy duty plastic that they don't tear easily. Maybe you can ask if they have anything like that tomorrow.

 

If she's not terribly interested in eating, you might try boiling some chicken for her (or ground beef; something with a good smell to a dog). If all you have is rice, try cooking it in chicken broth to give it flavor. I've never had much luck getting a dog to eat plain rice if the dog was anorexic.

 

Tomorrow ask your vet about some probiotics as well. You can give those ~2 hours after antibiotics and they will help restore the natural gut flora that are killed off by the antibiotics. That should also help with stomach upset.

 

If you see her messing with the bandage at all, I'd go ahead and put the E-collar back on her. It may not be pleasant for her, but better to do what you can to prevent her destroying the bandage. I just went through a 2-week period with one of my dogs in an E-collar (hematoma on her ear). It was awful because she was constantly catching it on stuff, but the risk of her doing additional damage to her ear without it meant we just had to tough it out.

 

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

J.

[Tiga's_mom]

I will ask about the fluid bag tomorrow when I go out. That's a great idea! If there's dew in the morning I will probably try one of Tiga's booties or a bag. It's been pretty warm here so it may not be an issue.

 

I did manage to get her to eat about half of her supper and take her antibiotics. Took her for a little walk and now she's eating a kong. I freeze them with yogurt that has probiotics in it so I'm hoping that will help. She was on probiotics last time she was on antibiotics. I'll ask about that tomorrow as well.

 

She hasn't had the e-collar on at all yet but if she messes with the bandage I'll put it on her tonight. So far she's not doing too bad, she doesn't like it but she's tolerating it. I don't suspect I'll sleep too much tonight anyway.

 

If she continues to be a fussy eater tomorrow I will go get some chicken to boil for her. I've never had a problem with Tiga and plain rice. He loves it. Well he pretty much loves anything that even remotely resembles food. Annie is much less food motivated then him.

 

Thanks a lot Julie!

[Pippin's person]

You can also try putting a baby sock over the bandage and just tape it at the top--you'll still need a bag for when it's wet, but the baby sock will that the foot breath more and you might not need the e-collar. Healing up dew claws is tough--we did it with our first dog and it took quite a while to heal completely. So, much sympathy.

[PSmitty]

Her tummy probably just got upset with the surgery. I'm sure she'll be back to normal in no time. Sounds like the dew claw incision will be on the mend soon, too. We were very lucky with Alex's. They didn't even suture the incisions, they were glued. Healed super quickly, too. Last year he had a tumor removed from his toe, and that did not go as easily. Robin's advice of a baby sock is good, that's what we did. Also the plastic newspaper bag taped over top of it for the wet grass.

[Tiga's_mom]

Thanks Robin and Paula. We got through the night without her ripping the bandage off and without the collar of shame. She only fussed with it once and stopped when I told her too. Her appetite is back this morning. Of course it's raining today. So I put a bag on it this morning for her potty outing. We'll be doing a lot of clicker training today as the vet doesn't want us walking her when it's raining. Still have a few hours before we go back for the re-check but I suspect she won't need more stitches. It's obvious to me that she's feeling better. I'll keep you all updated when we get back. Not sure how long we're going to have to keep it wrapped but we should find that out today as well.

[Tiga's_mom]

Well the vet said that it's not any worse today so that's a good sign. She said we're to keep it wrapped for a week and we'll go back and have it checked again then. She said she could put some staples or stitches in but she's afraid that it will make Annie terrified of them. She's already pretty nervous out there because she's had so much done already she doesn't want to make it worse. She said she feels that as long as we keep it clean and dry it should heal just fine. We got a couple of fluid bags that seem to work well. Here's hoping for a quick healing process.

[juliepoudrier]

Well it all sounds pretty positive at least! Sending some quick and uneventful healing vibes Annie's way. After this is all over, Annie will need to take a few trips to the vet where all she gets is love and treats from the folks there!

 

J.

[Tiga's_mom]

Thanks Julie! Most definitely. We have been doing that as her first 2 weeks with us she was out there half a dozen times all for nasty reasons. She had been getting better up until this so I guess we're back at square one again. We're out there a lot for food, meds etc. so it won't be a problem taking her out there for positive reasons.

[Tiga's_mom]

Well we're back to the vet again this evening. I've been changing her wrap everyday and it's not looking any better and in fact it's still bleeding and doesn't look too good. I had to change it twice today and there was quite a bit of bleeding. I know she hasn't been digging at it because it's been wrapped and she's been watched like a hawk. I feel so regretful for even getting it removed. Her spay incision is pretty much healed already. She's been pretty restless and whiny so the vet said to bring her back in this evening and they'll take a look and may put more sutures in tomorrow morning but they have some sort of ointment that we can try for tonight. This is so frustrating. I feel so bad for putting her through this.

[DieselsGirl22]

Don't feel bad! Last year my boy Diesel had a dentigeous cyst, since he was going under for that already i had his few claws and neuter done at the same time. First he ate his cone of shame off his head, ripping the seutures from his teeth being removed from the cyst, then went after his dew claws.. Rinse and repeat, learned I can't use a cone of shame on my dog, and man I felt awful because I Elected to have his DCs removed. However you can't, trust me I know how frustrated you are. And I know how you feel, but it was the best thing to do to prevent an injury in the future. You are being a great pet parent! Stay strong

[bcnewe2]

Mick almost cut his metacarpal pad off once. I had to have it stiched back on and it kept ripping right through the stitches. He wasn't chewing on it but how he walked kept putting pressure on the stitches. And if he jumped or hopped it was a mess!

 

I kept it wrapped with a sock and vet wrap at the top. For a while I had to use a guaze pad cause it was pretty messy for quite some time.

 

Eventually we cut the stitches out best we could and I kept it wrapped for more than a month. By the time I finally let it open it was almost healed. Thick scaring but he was fine. The stitches never really held it together but we tried.

 

Keep it dry and wrapped. Each night I would upwrap it and make him sit by me so it could get some air and dry out if the sock had gotten wet. He hated it for a while but finally just let me do whatever I needed cause I wasn't taking the darn sock off no matter how he whined about it.

 

Good luck

[Tiga's_mom]

Thanks for the words of encouragement everyone! She's healing well. The honey did wonders. We've started keeping it unwrapped when we can watch her and wrapped at night when we can't. She goes back for a recheck this week and hoping this will be the end of it. I'm feeling less guilty now.