Seed removal issues - help

[Notakitkat]

Our pup had suspected grass seed in his paw - did surgery - found nothing. It’s a week on and the wound isn’t healing. We think is due to prematurely unwrapping the bandage and them not fully closing the wound (to allow a seed to exit - apparently).

they’re now saying they think there is a seed in there and want to refer to a specialist vet for a CT scan, cultures and further exploratory surgery. This will cost £1000s over and above our insurance limit.

essentially I’d like to know if anyone else has experienced similar and what our options are here. Could the wound not be healing due to bad stitching? Should the vet have found any issues in the first surgery?

would it be worth us getting a second opinion

sorry bit of a rant but just unsure what to do here and just want poor pup to get better

Vet nurse here , poor pup.
What you describe is completely common with a grass seed, if vet is lucky a squeeze or incision of the site will sometimes get the seed out whole there and then but many more grass seeds need further exploration.
The seed can move upwards from the foot leaving a tract along the way, when this happens it is literally like looking for a needle in a haystack.
The wound is usually left open to drain and possibly expose the seed /material in time but sometimes if a large incision is made there will be some sutures .
Due to the difficulties and complexities of searching for a grass seed a scan etc would be the gold standard in care but obviously costly.
If they are not keen on doing another explore themselves then you could always seek another opinion at another practice before refferal /scan but be aware however skilled a vet is they may not be able to find the seed/fb, if a tract has formed the seed can move along breaking off and dissolving en route leaving foreign body debris causing infection and reaction .

Thankyou so much for replying @tsmainsqueeze - would it never heal on its own then? Or would antibiotics etc be able to help?

really just trying to weigh up options here and what we can do do get him better, whilst ideally avoiding more surgery for him/cost for us 😫

Hi, at the practice i work at if no improvement after 1 week our protocol would be a further exploratory examination.
If the 1st exam was done under sedation or a shorter anaesthetic the second would most likely be a general anaesthetic were we would look again starting in the same site and you never know it could be there this time and it may just pop out , always great exitement at work when this does happen !
We would follow the tract with fine forceps if a tract found and we may be able to extract the seed or any material that way, the inscision will probably be bigger this time.
Sometimes because its been going on for some time the infection may cause inflammation /pressure build up and what was there may burst out of the same area, you can compare this to an abscess.
Even though the primary site for a seed is between the toes the seed can migrate up the leg and an infection site /lesion can occur there after some time.
If this were my dog i would definitely be wanting a 2nd exploratory before a referral with scans etc.
It could be that the vet does leave the inscision open for further drainage and if the dog will let you at the vets guidance they may ask you to regularly bathe with salt water or diluted hibiscrub , not advisable to let dog lick area as once they start the do not stop , you could put a loose cotton sock on the foot tie around the leg and fold over the top of the sock.
I can't answer the question about how long to heal as we tend to see then solve the problem fairly quickly and do not have to refer, very few have to be reffered, but i do know that they are very painful so that is why 1 week later is enough to advise seeking further help asap.