[Calista]

Our 1 year old kitty had surgery the day before yesterday to remove a bell and a rubber band from his intestines. He got through the surgery fine, and he's on lots of pain meds and antibiotics, but I'm concerned about how his stitches look. His incision is about 3 inches long. The sutures look like they were done in a hurry or something though. The area around them is also pretty red. When he's standing up, or lying on his side one end of the incision looks like its sutured too tight. They look like they are pulled in farther towards his body and like they might be causing him pain. Someone told me that if it heals that way it could hurt him for the rest of his life. I'm definitely no expert on this, so I wanted to get other peoples' opinion. Should I bring him back to the vet? I put a couple of pics of him up. Take a look and let me know?
http://homepage.mac.com/msealand/Kitten ... bum21.html

 

[AnnaR6]

Poor baby...
I am not an expert either, but my Bimba got spayed 3 weeks ago, the first days I thought the suture looked bad too, but now I can't even tell where it WAS, it disappeared completely. Of course the incision was much shorter...
I hope things will go the same way with your kitty

 

[drjean]

The redness is a little more than I might expece, but it doesn't look bad from the pictures. It is normal for the sutures to "tighten" as the post-op swelling gears up. It takes a few days for inflammation to develop to its full glory, so it's going to look worse before it gets better. As long as the cat is eating and acting normally, isn't licking the area excessively, and there's no pus or oozing, it's probably okay, but the surgeon should be the one to evaluate it. In most cases the vet will do a quickie recheck for you at no charge, anyway give them a call and see if they want to see him.

Cheers,
Dr. Jean

 

[Calista]

Thanks, I think I will just keep an eye on it. My friend who works at a vet clinic told me that neosporin might help. It is actually a little redder now that it was last night when I took the pictures, but Titan (his name fits, he's 20 pounds) doesn't seem bothered by it at all, and doesn't mind me touching the red area. If its unchanged or worse on monday I'll take him in though. Thanks again

 

[drjean]

Don't put anything on it. Neosporin isn't going to do anything except make him lick it off and that will irritate the skin. If he isn't at all tender, he's probably just fine.

Cheers,
Dr. Jean

 

[Calista]

He hasn't been licking it at all since we brought him home. It might be because he's too fat to reach (dont worry, he's on a diet). You dont think neosporin would help anything? one of the stitches was still bleeding a little today, maybe just on that one?

 

[drjean]

No. It is not going to be helpful; it will only make the area greasy and not allow any air to get to the incision to heal it. Neosporin has very limited uses, IMHO, and this isn't one of them!

Cheers,
Dr. Jean

 

[Calista]

Ok. I'll skip it then. Thanks for the help. The more I think about it the more worried I get, so I think i'm goign to take him in tomorrow afternoon just to have the surgeon check.

 

[Padunk]

Ok. I'll skip it then. Thanks for the help. The more I think about it the more worried I get, so I think i'm goign to take him in tomorrow afternoon just to have the surgeon check.

That's exactly how I was in the same situation. They were supposed to keep the sutures in for ten days, but Punky was biting and irritating them. I called them six days after surgery because I was concerned; they ended up removing them early.

 

[Calista]

We tried to bring him in today, but when we got there our vet was closed. i guess the doctors went home sick or something Anyway, the area around the stitches is a little less red today, so that will probably clear up, but I'm still worried about the stitch on the end that seems to be pulling in a weird way. That stitch was still bleeding a little yesterday though, so I dont know if they will be able to take it out early. Titan doesn't seem too irritated by it, so maybe I'm overreacting. Lets hope!