MimzMum
Wise Old Thumper
Good Lord...when will it end???
I noticed last night that there was something crusty in the area of Mimzy's scar from his surgery in August. Believe it or not, only a bit of fur has grown back yet, mostly in the scar. It's still puckered because they had so little skin to tuck together upon closing the wound. This crusty area also had some dark red skin next to it and that sent up a flag.
So I poked around a bit and lo and behold, there is a long piece of plastic suture coming from the scar. I think, aha, well his body is pushing it out of the scar area (like I've seen on most of my animals when they had residual stitching material stuck in their surgical areas) so I'll just take hold of it and see if it slides out for me.
Well, it did not. In fact it is pretty well mired in there. So I cleaned the area a bit, put on some neosporin and left it thinking I'd just call today and see what the doctor said about it.
This afternoon, upon making the rounds and giving him his metacam, it is now inflamed and looks like he's chewed an area right behind the suture and it is definitely bulging. My guess is I've either caused him to irritate the area by messing with it in the first place, or from pulling the suture through the skin (where it is still stuck) and now it looks like he's brewing an abscess for sure.
I am so angry angry angry with myself for trying to dislodge it, or not noticing that something was growing under the skin beyond healing tissue or whatever...but now he's GOT to be seen again and we've got snow coming tomorrow (can't get in today, OH has prior dates to keep this afternoon). The office is so backed up with appointments that they are going to have to squeeze us in, which means we'll be sitting there for awhile most likely and my OH has too many physical problems to deal with that, but the road is too nasty for me to drive by myself. :evil:
I should've taken him back in last week, before the road went to poo, because now it's likely they'll have to cut him open, remove whatever they find and I'll be either dragging him back and forth to more appointments or having to irrigate another open wound for another couple of months. I'm not very happy with my good vet at the moment because she had to have closed the wound, why didn't she use dissolving stitches?
And why is he just not healing as well as he used to? Is this what I have to look forward to for him in his declining years? Constantly reopening old wounds to clean them up and causing more trauma? Not fair on him.
Is there anything I can do here at home until tomorrow to make this more comfortable for him? Should I be placing compresses on the area or should I just leave it and let the doctor tend it? (Mind you this is not the one who did the surgery but another exotics-not as good-who will see him tomorrow.)
I have a few pictures but they aren't great.
Last night, two views:
The crusty part has gone that was in this picture, I assume by him chewing on himself. :roll:
Today (only one because for some stupid reason my laptop couldn't read the other five I had taken even though they were all shot at the same time :? )
You can see the bit of suture sticking out from the original wound (which is under a fold of skin in this pic) and then the new lump I'm worried about is pretty obvious.
I am so stressed right now I want to scream. Why can't we catch a break? This poor bun has been through enough. And I'm at the end of my rope.
We did have a bit of happy time last night, before I noticed this problem, I'd emptied out some bunny safe packing paper from a delivery we'd just gotten and allowed him to tear it up to his heart's content. Wish I gotten video of it now, but he was really taking out some frustrations. It's the most I've seen him gad about in awhile. He doesn't eat it, but just shreds it to bits. There were two large sheets when he started and only two large sheets' worth of confetti when he finished.
My guess is, he's thinking of what a numpty mum is when he's tearing something up like that...pretending it's me most likely. :roll:
*sigh* Anyway, could we have some vibes if there are any going spare? I really hope this isn't going to be a major production tomorrow, for all our sakes. Many thanks in advance!
I noticed last night that there was something crusty in the area of Mimzy's scar from his surgery in August. Believe it or not, only a bit of fur has grown back yet, mostly in the scar. It's still puckered because they had so little skin to tuck together upon closing the wound. This crusty area also had some dark red skin next to it and that sent up a flag.
So I poked around a bit and lo and behold, there is a long piece of plastic suture coming from the scar. I think, aha, well his body is pushing it out of the scar area (like I've seen on most of my animals when they had residual stitching material stuck in their surgical areas) so I'll just take hold of it and see if it slides out for me.
Well, it did not. In fact it is pretty well mired in there. So I cleaned the area a bit, put on some neosporin and left it thinking I'd just call today and see what the doctor said about it.
This afternoon, upon making the rounds and giving him his metacam, it is now inflamed and looks like he's chewed an area right behind the suture and it is definitely bulging. My guess is I've either caused him to irritate the area by messing with it in the first place, or from pulling the suture through the skin (where it is still stuck) and now it looks like he's brewing an abscess for sure.
I am so angry angry angry with myself for trying to dislodge it, or not noticing that something was growing under the skin beyond healing tissue or whatever...but now he's GOT to be seen again and we've got snow coming tomorrow (can't get in today, OH has prior dates to keep this afternoon). The office is so backed up with appointments that they are going to have to squeeze us in, which means we'll be sitting there for awhile most likely and my OH has too many physical problems to deal with that, but the road is too nasty for me to drive by myself. :evil:
I should've taken him back in last week, before the road went to poo, because now it's likely they'll have to cut him open, remove whatever they find and I'll be either dragging him back and forth to more appointments or having to irrigate another open wound for another couple of months. I'm not very happy with my good vet at the moment because she had to have closed the wound, why didn't she use dissolving stitches?
And why is he just not healing as well as he used to? Is this what I have to look forward to for him in his declining years? Constantly reopening old wounds to clean them up and causing more trauma? Not fair on him.
Is there anything I can do here at home until tomorrow to make this more comfortable for him? Should I be placing compresses on the area or should I just leave it and let the doctor tend it? (Mind you this is not the one who did the surgery but another exotics-not as good-who will see him tomorrow.)
I have a few pictures but they aren't great.
Last night, two views:
The crusty part has gone that was in this picture, I assume by him chewing on himself. :roll:
Today (only one because for some stupid reason my laptop couldn't read the other five I had taken even though they were all shot at the same time :? )
You can see the bit of suture sticking out from the original wound (which is under a fold of skin in this pic) and then the new lump I'm worried about is pretty obvious.
I am so stressed right now I want to scream. Why can't we catch a break? This poor bun has been through enough. And I'm at the end of my rope.
We did have a bit of happy time last night, before I noticed this problem, I'd emptied out some bunny safe packing paper from a delivery we'd just gotten and allowed him to tear it up to his heart's content. Wish I gotten video of it now, but he was really taking out some frustrations. It's the most I've seen him gad about in awhile. He doesn't eat it, but just shreds it to bits. There were two large sheets when he started and only two large sheets' worth of confetti when he finished.
My guess is, he's thinking of what a numpty mum is when he's tearing something up like that...pretending it's me most likely. :roll:
*sigh* Anyway, could we have some vibes if there are any going spare? I really hope this isn't going to be a major production tomorrow, for all our sakes. Many thanks in advance!