Dog had op to remove ingested object, a week on has infected ruptured wound.

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My dog ate something he shouldn't have which then got lodged in his stomach. After several days of xrays and the vets hoping it might reappear via the rear exit, it did not and he had an op to remove it. All was well and good for six days but last night his wound was open again and leaking a bit. Took him to the vet hospital and he had to have infected tissue removed and his wound restitched and an overnight stay. He now has strong antibiotics,a collar and we need to cover his paws. No proper walks and we need to supervise him on lead at all times for loo vsits in the garden and then off lead in the house

I'm a bit worried as he is an active little chap and the vet thinks it might welk rupture again, especially given the infection. Then what?

By the way, this has cost heading for 2k now so it is a salutory tale for those who do not have insurance (we did thankfully although dh had tried to talk me out of getting it. Thank goodness.)

Crikey, poor little fella. My pups only 13 weeks but I swear to god, she'll eat anything she can shove in her gob. My worst fear is she's going to need an op to remove some random object she's eaten!

Hope your dog heals quickly.

Ooops.
You need to watch him like a HAWK. Collar and "boxing gloves" on 24/7, inspect wound constantly.
If you feel that is proving a real challenge, you could ask your vets if they would re-admit him for his recovery period (10-12 days, unfortunately restarted from Op#2). That won't be very entertaining for him but might be less stressful for you, and in the greater scheme of things would be over in a flash.

Do you think we should check him in the night? He has been quite okay today and definitely not lethargic. We will take the dressing off the wound before bed and let it air.
The vet said to put a tshirt on him, but what sort?! I tried to dig out old babygros as saw some people do that but not sure.

Should we redress the wound or leave it to air?

What sort of dressing is on it? I think the time to remove the dressing is not when you're going to sleep!

Do you think he might be belly-rubbing along the floor?

It's lie one of those typical wound dressings you fix on with micropore tape.

He is still crated so I don't think he will drag it on the floor but then I worry about how clean his bed is. I have clean vet bed I could put on the top of his bed. I do wash it but didn't for a few days.

The vets said to out him in a tshirt once we took the dressing off and they did say to do so tonight.

It is such a worry. His temp seems ok and he is lively and hungry so I hope that means he is fighting the infection off well. We were lucky that the rupture wasn't into stomach muscle by the sounds of it, and also that I was cautious and took him straight to the vet hospital.

Doris, great name btw, it was quite obvious he wasn't well and needed serious attetnion, whereas previously he swallowed a trainer liner sock and it just came back up after 12 hours with no other effects. He was retching whilst being sick about 12 hours after he had swallowed it ( fragments of chopped up tennis ball from a large mower on a field).

Sorry for typos, put not out...on ipad.

What sort of dog is he? It is pretty difficult to get a human garment to fit a dog nicely. There is a tight dog T shirt commercially available called a Thundershirt which is intended to calm nervous dogs. That might work.
I think the main thing that will prevent him accessing the wound is the buster collar anyway.
If he were mine, I would probably now take him out for a pee with the dressing on (may as well avail of its protective function), then whip it off while giving him some food/ hugs/ social time to keep his mind off his belly. Then try on any T shirt you feel might fit him while you're at it, change his bed (you could always use a fresh sheet if you're concerned) and pop him back in his crate. You could keep the crate in your bedroom or on the anding so that if he chews himself in the night you might wake up.

landing.

Thanks villain. Great advice.

We will do that before we go to bed - bit early for us. He does normally sleep very well so perhaps once he is in bed he won't scratch and the collar does seem to stop him, just hope it won't stop him sleeping.
He is a cockapoo and small spaniel size, long and thin though. I will try an old tshirt from when dc was a baby or a babygro. He has boxing glove bandages from the hospital on still but maybe tomorrow I will swap these for socks as presumably they need changing?
Going to get dh to take the dressing off and check as I'm too grossed out by it (pathetic I know).

We have suspended our usual no dogs on the sofa rule and boy is he making himself comfortable on here! Straight up at every opportunity!

I was thinking do it early so that you can see how he settles... but whatever suits!

The Buster collar won't stop him sleeping. It's no fun but it won't stop him sleeping.

If the boxing glove bandages are newly applied today and are still dry, I'd leave them 2-3 days as they are not covering wounds so don't really need to be changed.

You can cover his hind feet with baby socks as you say; I'd suggest buying a roll of broad elastoplast and applying it firmly but not tightly like a cuff around the top of the sock, half on the sock and half on the hair. Then wrap your hands around it for a moment to let the heat of your skin and his skin make the plaster as sticky as possible.

Will do. Will micro pur type tape do the job around the socks instead?

He has certainly managed to sleep on the sofa in the collar today so it isn't stopping him but does bother him when he is walking around. He'll have to get used to it as it is staying on for a good while with no taking risks.

Still a bit worried about taking the dressing off but the air will do it good presumably, even if that is just through a tshirt.

Thanks again for your advice which is so helpful.

I doubt if micropore tape will survive on the socks!

Let me know how you're going and don't be a bit afraid to return to the vet practice for any dressing changes or queries or to re-admit Pooch for a few days or whatever. You have just spent two grand with them!

He was already booked in for Tuesday at the usual vets and if there are any problems before the vet hospital were very responsive by phone initially so i will call them. The fees were split between the two but thankfully there is only one excess.

The hospital is part of the RVC and was amazing but a bugger to find in the dark last nightdown country lanes!

He still seems well and wanted to chase things in the garden just now but obviously he was on lead. Fingers crossed this is a goid sign. It has all escalated from that initial tennis ball chunk and thinking it would come out on its own through to two ops now :( poor boy.
Villain are you a vet? You sound very knowledgeable.

Yep. Mostly an equine gynae though.
I think that self-trauma and over-exertion are the biggest risks... I would be surprised if he were not well. He sounds a hardy little lad and if he was systemically ill they would hardly have discharged him home. If he does seem subdued or off food, get straight back in with him.
You just need to do your best prison guard impression for the next couple of weeks. NOT an easy task, I know. I often tell people that 50% of the work is in the surgery and the remaining 50% in the aftercare.

Wow that must be interesting. I presume there is quite a lot of travelling about to do 'stable visits'?!

We are going to take him out on a short lead walk now. It seems wise as it will keep him a bit calmer at home and the vets said that was ok.

Good idea. A (very large and unswallowable) new toy might also keep his mind off things!
Lots of driving in this game, yes.

Seems to be on the mend. He has still got his collar and paw bandages but the wound is healing (nearly 9 days post op now). His antibiotics finished this morning and he felt a bit hot so I'm on infection signs watch :(