sore looking genitalia

[Shadowfein]

Am holding thumbs and crossing fingers for you....

[Traci]

It's possible she got stuck on something, but I still think this is a dog bite. Dog bites can cause a fair amount of damage, as I explained earlier. Shaking a cat can rip and tear vital skin and tissue/muscle and create any type of puncture wound or serious wound. If she is allowed outdoors, you have to take into account it could have been ANY animal bite, her docile personality has nothing to do with it.

As for the vet not remembering your name, don't take it personally. Vets see on average, 20-30 clients a day, nearly impossible to remember last names. I'm sure he just wanted to verify when checking over kitty's records.

[Guest]

Tiger is home now, the surgery went well. Vet says there is no internal punctures, so hopefully there will be no problems down the road.
Tiger has a cone on to stop her from picking at her stitches, but she has already figured out to drag her bum on the floor to alleviate the intense itching. She's not very happy right now, that's for sure. I let her have the cone off this morning, at first she was happy and just cleaned her self- then went after the stitches, I guess I can't let her have the cone off at all for now. The stitches and cut look very nasty. I just hope it heals up nicely, with no problems.
Once again thanks "cat help board people", I appreciate the advice and support.
Deb.
P.S. Traci, you are right about the vet seeing so many people, I think I was just overly-emotional dropping off Tiger yesterday.

[Traci]

Debra, just as a precaution, examine her incision twice a day.....the following are signs you want to get her rechecked immediately: swelling, oozing of blood or pus, missing sutures, bruising, dirty or necrotic skin or tissue, decreased appetite, fever or lethargy, any of which could indicate an infection at the suture area. I'm assuming your vet sent home oral antibiotics with you and instructions for a followup to remove the sutures, but do keep a close eye on her, and try to discourage her from sliding her behind on the carpets, etc. I realize this is in a tricky area, but the incision area needs to be kept clean and dry for the best recovery. You can ask your vet for some gauze-soaked pads with nolvasan, in which you can gently clean or dab at the area twice daily to help prevent infection.

Don't hesitate to get her back immediately should any of the above signs occur.

[Guest]

Thanks Traci for the great info... unfortunately when I picked Tiger up yesterday the vet was busy so I didn't get a chance to talk to him. I would've liked to ask him when I should bring Tiger back to check stitches, remove the cone etc. I was given some "Baytril" tablets and instructed to give Tiger one half of a pill everyday. I am assuming these are antibiotics. Unfortunately the receptionist wasn't able to tell me much.
I asked the receptionist if the vet had given Tiger a rabies shot, she went back and asked him and he said no, would you like me to give her one? I was confused because when I first brought her in the first vet I talked to insisted that she have one. So, I asked him to give her one. I will be calling the vet first thing tommorow morning.
Tiger is going crazy trying to scratch at her stitches, is there anything that I could put on her poor bare little bum to help? Other than that she seems to be doing ok, recuperating nicely.

[Traci]

You need to find out if the FIRST vet actually administered the rabies vaccine, then find out if the second vet administered one.....hopefully, only one injection was given! Also, your vet had good reason to suggest the rabies vaccination, especially if kitty was not up-to-date on it......any exposure to another animal outside (as with this puncture wound), you don't want to take the risk of not having her protected.

I don't recommend anything applied to her suture area at this point, unless your vet specifically recommends it.....if it's in an area more likely to get dirty, sutures manipulated, etc, then ask for panalog or something similar. I would simply suggest the gauze-soaked nolvasan as mentioned earlier, to keep the incision area clean.

[Debra]

Tiger managed to pick out all of her stitches with her cone on. She had 1/2 them out on Monday morning and the rest were gone by the end of the day. The problem: Tiger's wound is still wet looking and deep. I called the vet and he told me to bring her in. I don't have any more cash left, between my husband and myself it has cost $300, and I am completely tapped out. What I want to know is, is it absolutely necessary to be seen by the vet? Is it possible for this wound to heal on it's own without involving more stitches?. Tiger is six and overweight (13 lbs.) so the vet said she would be slow healing, but what if I just keep her inside and give her TLC, would that work? I really need a second opinion on this, I hate packing her in the car and traumatizing her again with yet another vet visit when she is in such good spirits.
Deb.

[Traci]

Yes, you DO need to get her back and re-sutured...I would also suggest confining her to a large pet carrier or crate for a few days until the wound starts closing.....The sutures need to remain intact for at least 7-10 days, depending on the size and nature of the wound.

The sutures are necessary to close the wound and promote granulation from the tissues of the skin...without sutures, bacteria can enter the wound and then you'll be right back where you started, only worse. I assume your vet also prescribed oral antibiotics?

Your vet may not even charge you to re-suture the area...often times we can opt instead for staples, and this may not require anesthesia, would probably only take a few moments, but your vet has to take a look at the wound first and ensure that bacterial infection is not already a problem. He may have to flush it and clean it up again, then re-close it.

Please tell me you are NOT allowing her outdoors, if you are, this wound is NEVER going to heal and will only cause worsening problems. You can't possibly supervise her and ensure that she won't reopen that wound, get dirt or bacteria in it, etc. KEEP HER STRICTLY INDOORS, please.

Don't wait on this, get her back for resuturing or stapling ASAP, and make sure she doesn't need additional antibiotics....also ask about the nolvasan scrubs I mentioned earlier...