Help! Very Infected Neuter!!

[Sam's Mommy]

Hello everyone!

I had my male rescued rottie neutered last Friday. I posted immediately following about what to expect the days following my Sam's neuter. You all responded with great advice -- to get an e-collar, make sure he wears it at all times and that he doesn't lick.

Well, unfortunately he has been using the edge of the e-collar to rub his stitches and last Monday when I got home from work he had worked the stitches out completely. I immediately got him to the vet and he didn't restitch him, but gave me some spray called Granulex V, which is supposed to speed up healing from the inside out. We have been applying this as directed, but this morning the wound looked terrible -- basically a gaping hole. We took him in at 7 am. We picked him up and the vet didn't seem to have spent much time -- he'd given him a penicillin shot and gave us some antibiotics and said it would heal....

Well.... I continued to question and have him "really" look at it and by the end of our conversation he recommended we bring him in tomorrow for stainless steel sutures. Frustrating from a time standpoint -- we wanted it taken care of today. Also, I just wonder why he didn't do it in the first place. His e-collar is bent out of shape and the vet didn't have another one, so we located one at another vet that we'll pick up tomorrow.

Does anyone have any experience with this? We've tried our best to make sure it didn't get infected, but obviously it still did. I am worried, frustrated and concerned about what is the best next step.

Your expertise would be so appreciated!!

Thanks so much!!

[Tri-Star]

Your Vet probably didn't want to stich him up because he needs to fast to be put under sedation. make sure you don't feed him in the morning.

[Judi W]

Look for the Bite Not (or is it No Bite?) collar instead. Looks like a cervical collar and works great without that big old sharp thing sticking out.

[LORHEL]

I'm sorry to hear about your poor guy... I've only been through it once, and it was a laser surgery... we didn't get an ecollar at first, but that did solve it.. I panicked because i didn't realize it was okay that the oozing was coming out as long as we got him the collar he was able to stop licking, but obviously you are way past that point.. I am sorry.....

..I hope he is feeling better very soon....:(

[Knucklesmom]

Could you try putting a little Bitter Apple spray near the wound? When Knuckles was neutered, he wanted to lick his sutures, so I put some in my hand and dabbed it on either side of the stitches (never on on the stitches or in the wound!) It kept Knuckles away from his stitches, and I never had a e-collar on him.