Paw holding needed. Neutering surgery went badly wrong - TMI warning

[BlackbirdSingsInTheDeadOfNight]

We had our beloved 12 month old golden lab girl neutered last week. All went well and she came home that evening with dissolvable stitches and the standard very fetching lampshade thing on her head.

Four days later, DH popped out for less than two hours leaving her alone, and came back to find that somehow she'd managed to pop her scar open and - apologies for the grossness of this - her insides were hanging out of the hole. DH wrapped her up in a towel and rushed her to the vets where she went straight into emergency surgery. Her liver was the bit that had been hanging out and was severely damaged, and as a result the vet has removed more than 3/4 (probably nearer 7/8) of the liver.

She's now home on antibiotics and liver support medicine, and mostly sleeping or lazing in her basket, but when she's awake she's fairly perky, eating and drinking. We're now on a waiting game as if her scar becomes infected or her liver doesn't sufficiently recover then we'll probably lose her. Regular blood tests and liver function tests start next week.

We are heartbroken that such routine surgery - which wasn't even essential - has ended up going so badly wrong. That our beloved dog, who unofficially is an autism support dog to DS1 as well as being a friend to us all - was completely fit and healthy only a week ago but is now seriously ill. We know this was a freak occurrence, and the vet has been absolutely brilliant and we know will continue to give her the best care they can.

If anyone has any experience of severely damaged livers in young dogs then please share - and please hold my hand and her lovely soft paw.

Oh am so so sorry- no experience but as fellow dog owner paw holding.

I'm so sorry. What an awful thing to happen and how horrid that must have been to have to see and cope with.
You may not have seen it as essential or lifesaving but pyometra (spelling) and other conditions can be very serious.
I'm hoping and praying that she heals well and all the liver function tests come back ok. Wolfie pup and I send healing thoughts and gentle cwtches. Hoping for no infection. Thinking of you.

Oh no
No experience but a lot of sympathy. The operation was essential though as she would probably have got pregnant at some point which could have put her health just as much as risk. Don't regret having her neutered, thiswas an awful accident. Poor baby.

Thank you all for such kind words and reassurance. I know in my heart (and so does DH) that neutering was the right thing to do. Just beyond gutted for our poor girl that this has happened as a result.

Thank you for paw holding and understanding. x

Here's another friendly paw to hold
Sorry no experience to share but love from another lab

Oh, you poor things - must have been ghastly for your DH finding her like that.

Hopefully one of the MN vets will come along, but the liver does have a remarkable ability to regenerate unlike other organs.

How awful for you. I hope she's going to be okay.

In this situation, I would remind myself that I did what I thought was the right thing/was doing my best. Unfortunately, we cannot control everything.

Paws crossed here for your girl 😘

So sorry, Blackbird, hope your girl pulls through to be fit and well again.

You did what you thought was best for your situation, don't knock yourselves.

We are hugely grateful that it's her liver rather than anything else, so that there's at least the possibility of it regenerating. DH thought it was her intestines that had come out (again TMI, sorry) and the vet told him that if this was the case then she didn't have a chance of pulling through.

Quite honestly dpup deserves a part in a horror film!

DH is pretty traumatised by finding her like that. I'm selfishly grateful that it wasn't me who found her, as I don't think I'd have managed as well as he did.

Thank you all.

Aw bless you and the poor dog xx sending hugs and positive vibes, it must have been horrible.
Hope things turn out ok xxxx

Oh what a horrible thing to happen

Sorry OP

I hope she gets well soon

We had my cat spayed yesterday. Was supposed to keep the cone on but she had such a bad freak out over it that it was more risky to leave the cone on.

So now I'm paranoid everytime she starts licking. Will be glad when it all heals

Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. Thank goodness it was the liver.

You have to remember that you thought you were doing the best thing by getting her neutered. Well done to your DH - what a shock. I really hope she makes a good recovery.

Sounds hideous, your poor girl. Sending much love and good vibes from Monty and me.

Many a paw-holding from us here. What a shocker. You never can tell which are the pets that will do this. I'be had dcat rip out staples and spray walls with blood and gunk then escape (tmi sorry!) he was fine but nothing fell out. Shocking for your DH.
Hoping that she recovers well. X

Good grief that's horrendous. Hope she makes a good, full and quick recovery, bless her.

We had ours spayed 5 weeks ago and put her in a medical pet shirt rather than the cone. I came downstairs one morning to find her on the sofa, unable to move. I panicked at first but then realised that she'd managed to get both her back legs inside the t-shirt and couldn't get them back out again, so was lying in a tight ball! So there's no real solution to stopping them from getting to their wound (altho perhaps both the cone and the t-shirt could be used).

I'm glad I didn't read your story prior to having her done though - I was already really anxious and would have cancelled it. She's 3, so not a youngster and a rescue...

Best of luck with your little one... x

Xanthe says a very weary hello and thank you for all the paw holding.

For anyone else having neutering done, please please don't let this put you off or worry too much - we do know that it was extremely unusual. Shriek so pleased that your cat is OK. The vet was aware that it can happen very occasionally, but said he'd never ever seen a case before. They won't let her wear medical pyjamas yet because they want her scar exposed to the fresh air, but I think I'm going to ask for it once her cone comes off just to give her a bit of extra protection for a while. She's currently in a comedy colossal cone designed for Hagrid-sized dogs, as the previous one clearly wasn't effective enough.

Check up at the vets this morning and then blood and liver function tests start next week. Thank you all. x

Poor pup and poor you and dh

Our dog is a cone Houdini he learned very early that if he repeatedly banged the edge of the cone hard on the floor then he could force it open but thankfully he didn't have a go at his stitches

Paw and hand holding from us, and for you and a dog for xanthe

Poor baby (and you for the trauma!). Keeping all fingers crossed for you.

Our dog truly was Harris sized but could find his way around the biggest cone available, we came home after leaving him for 30 mins one day to confetti of plastic everywhere and just the bow remaining tied around his neck (and the drain ripped out of his foot)

*Hagrid sized

I hope she is all better soon. I have everything crossed for her.

So good to hear the update. Thank you...yes, he's still fighting fit and this is many years on but your tale reminded me of that awful shock when I saw pools of blood and blood spattered walls and missing dcat with cone discardes on kitchen floor! Was really horrifying, but like everything it all fades into the dim distant past

Continued multi-paw-holding from us for some encouraging test results. Nice young liver and healthy dpup so lets hope all goes smoothly now.

As for my dcat really sure he has gone beyond the usual allowance of just the 9 lives!

Thanks so much again everyone, the paw holding is lovely to have.

The vet this morning was really pleased with her progress (as was the assistant vet, and the receptionist, and the groomers in the dog grooming section....she seems to have become a bit of a 'celebrity' in there since DH ran in with her in major emergency mode).

Scar is looking as healthy as it can, no signs of infection at present and all external signs are currently positive. Once the liver function test start we'll know more. But so far, so good.

When my male collie was neutered he learned that he could use the edge of his Cone to scratch his wound. I didn't know this until I checked it 2/3 days after the operation and it was completely infected. He had to be re-operated on and have all surrounding skin removed! After that he also had a hagrid sized collar to prevent it!

Shouldnt that be a Fluffy sized collar?