Help! Operation site won't heal!

[nellieellie]

I am at my wits end and just feel rubbish that I can't get this right. 12 month old dog had elbow operation 4 weeks ago. He has now had 2 lots of stitches, staples, and now this morning, the vet went to remove stitches again, and it all opened again. She had to put in more staples and is going to ring the surgeon (different practice) as she doesn't know what to do. He is being kept quiet, indoors apart from toilet breaks. I watch him 24/7. He is not licking or biting, apart from one occassion in the car when I couldn't see him and he licked a bit. It's in a difficult place so every time they bandage, the bandage comes off, every time he lies down he thumps down on it. I have a rota of other very kind parents to take my children to school so he is never left in case he starts cavorting about. He is now getting stir crazy, and so am I, but at this moment am feeling so tired and so scared that this is just not going to work.... Sorry for silly rant!

Is he on crate rest or just house rest? Could you try crate rest if he's just been on house rest?

Out of nosiness, what did he have done?

Tabula, thank you for your post. if I even thought about restricting him to crate, I'd have a crazy dog on my hands! Vets have said to confine to 3 rooms, but to be honest most of the day he is crashed out by the front door, so I don't think that moving around is the issue. He does have silly moments, but I think he would just damage himself in a crate. He's had the PAUL procedure, titanium plate inserted, for elbow dysplasia.

It probably isn't the issue, but it was the only semi-useful thing I could think of, lol.

Mine had arthroscopy for ED a couple of years ago...we talked about the PAUL procedure, but it wasn't what they decided on.

My dog has had 2 operations on his legs and feet and both times it took 4-6 weeks to heal enough to leave a dressing off so hang in there !

Tabula, what did you do for your dog in the end?
Floral, thank you for this! Is encouraging! I have just spoken to the surgeon who operated on him. I'd sent him a photo of the wound, and he said it looked ok and maybe just give it a bit more time. Trouble is, he was meant to be having the other elbow done in 2 weeks, in the Easter hols. Can't see this happening now. Will be nightmare if I have to fit the 2nd op around the school run......

It is probably better left to heal by secondary intention now (ie not stitched, just dressed). Manuka honey dressings can work wonders. The elbow isn't an easy joint to dress so I feel for you.

The one thing I always say to clients in these situations is that it will heal - if you don't deal with a lot of wounds they can look terrifyingly huge and impossible but almost any wound will eventually heal with patience and good management.

Your poor dog ,he's very young for elbow issues - does the other one need doing so quickly or could it wait a few months ?

Floral, the procedure he's had is more successful in younger dogs, under13 mths is best apparently. Also I'd rather get it all out the way and then we can concentrate on building his strength back up with hydrotherapy and physio.

Just the arthroscopy, they scraped off some fragments after they'd had a look at his scans as it was only one elbow and they couldn't see anything obvious needing holding in place or needing realigned.

So no big wound, but 3 weeks of cage rest and another three of house rest, then limited exercise, t'was not fun, lol.

Floral - my dog was 4 months when he started showing symptoms, 6 months when he had his surgery.

Dunelm thank you for your comments, very reassuring. I put some manuka honey on it yesterday actually. I think I have just been panicking because it's not gone as I thought, and because I'm concerned about the 2nd op. Also because he's a big, strong, lively dog who's starting to get impatient. And because the vet this morning just seemed at a loss! Thanks again Dunelm. Tabula, glad your dog just needed the arthroscopy, mine has elbow incongruity humerus, ulnar and humerus, radius so bit of a mess!

m.youtube.com/watch?v=YfL99xcEpXc might be useful x

Thank you Dunelm, this is very useful.

Agree with Manuka honey. Maybe get some dog pyjamas to go over the dressing - worked for me in the past. Hope things improve for you both.

Thanks Mitchell, when you say. Dog pyjamas, is it possible to buy such a thing? He's been wearing my long sleeve t shirts, but fit isn't quite right as obviously back needs to be broader but sleeves closer together on chest. Recklessly thinking of trying to make him some but would have to be hand stitched, as no machine.

My lab had an op last summer and was taking a long time to heal but we had a check up with a different vet who gave us some Activon Tube Manuka Honey. We put a little splodge on her bandage (it was her hind leg and she would chew it off at night so we were constantly re bandaging) where it would cover the wound, direct contact to the wound. It seemed to really speed up the healing process so might be worth a try. You can buy it online.

Second Manuka honey.
My dog had a tumour removed at the beginning of dec last year. Her stitches came out twice, staples came out & dressing wouldn't stay on. We where left with a hole which wasn't very pleasant. Manuka & a bit of time soon healed it up & she's all fine now.

Thank you for all your comments. I have now been putting Manuka Honey on, and have ordered some wondergel from Amazon. A Holistic vet has sent me some tablets to help and a calendula lotion to apply. Figwin, I saw the Activon stuff on a website, so will get some of that when my Manuka tub runs out. Think it would really useful to have in the house for dog and children! It's difficult to tell if it's getting better, as it looked fine before, until they started taking the stitches out, but I'm back to vets tomorrow, so fingers crossed.