Jack is doing fairly well after the removal of his lump yesterday. The wound has 18 stitches and it’s on the back of his front leg running up to the top of his shoulder which turns out to be a difficult place to keep covered. Every time he stands up the dressing slides down to his toes and the area starts to ooze a bit of serous fluid tinged with blood. We see the vet later today and I’m hoping she has a solution for this. I tried using a child’s sock with the toe cut off to keep things in place. That didn’t work. Then I tried a long swath of veterinary wrap wound tightly and that didn’t work either. Ditto for Kling wrap and a tensor bandage. He’s pretty sleepy today so it’s not too much of a problem, but it will be in a day or two when he’s brighter. The stitches stay in for 2 weeks and no walks until they’re removed. I’ve added a surgical photo under the fold in case anyone is interested. It’s a bit gory, but we nurses like that sort of thing. If you don’t or are squeamish please don’t click-through.
Not quite HappyJack today, ©voyager, all rights reserved
Bye, Bye Larry the lump, photo courtesy of Wellington Animal Hospital
Oh poor puppy. Wishing Jack all the best
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah -- since I clicked on the whole article, I automatically got the “below the fold” picture.
I thought vets used crazy glue a lot, to hold things together. When my Jake had a lump removed from his head, the vet stapled the wound shut. Then Miles (his litter-mate) pawed him on the head and tore it open (naturally!) so we went back to the vet, who sighed, took a piece of gauze and some crazy glue, and glued the wound shut with the gauze across it. I wondered why he didn’t do that in the first place.
Wow, that’s quite the lump. I’m sure you are both glad to see the last of it. Best wishes to Jack for a speedy and full recovery!
How about some kind of strap from the top of the dressing over his back to the leg on the opposite side?
Wow, Larry is really… huge! I’m glad the procedure went well, now I only hope that Jack co-operates with his recovery program! I hope you both get some rest, and figure out the wound dressing issue.
All the best for Jack.
Larry looks even bigger than I could have thought.
Marcus Ranum @ 2
I’ve been glued twice as a kid, but not by a vet. (The upper lip met a plinth of a chimney when a bigger kid pulled me in a pulkka (toboggan) at a fun speed, doing grand swooping curves, a few years later the cheek met a corner of a leveling drag when I stumbled.)
Awww, poor Jack, but at least Larry the lump is gone now! Actually, in that picture Jack looks more tired than anything else.
So glad that lump is gone! What a relief it will be for him when he’s getting around better. Disposable baby diapers and Vet Wrap topped off with duct tape makes a pretty good bandage, and I would think you’d need to wrap around his torso. One thing about Vet Wrap, it will not stick to his hair, so that makes it easier to change. Sympathies! I’ve had to bandage horses in difficult places, and they are not good about leaving the bandage alone!
Awwww sleepy Jack.
Glad the operation went well, Larry is bigger than I had realised, I bet Jack will have a new lease of life now he’s not got that burden. I hope you can manage a bandage that stays on and that Jack doesn’t bother his wound.
kestrel,
Brilliant. Thanks.
Marcus,
We had to take Jack to see the vet yesterday because the oozing was increasing. She tried to glue the edges, but it didn’t work. During the attempt she found a wee vein that had popped out with it’s interior stitch. Since the glue didn’t work she put in 3 staples.
@voyager, #10: no problem, and I hope you don’t live in a very small town like I do! You should just see the look on the clerk’s face when I check out with diapers… :-D
Aww, poor sleepy convalescent puppy! I hope he is resting a lot and recovering well. Soon he’ll be back to walking, and I’m sure a lot more comfortably now without that big lump!