I had another post on here last week which some of you may of read ,about my dogue , she had a large mammary tumour removed and was spayed at the same time last Monday. I started a new thread as I am worried and would like to hear from anyone that's had this happen.

She came through the surgery fine , although she was bleeding all over really heavily , the vet said she opened her back up a couple of times to try and stop all the bleeding but couldn't find the actual bleed site. She put a drainage tube in which helped the blood find it's way out.

I took her to get the tube out on Friday but the vet seen it was still leaking so advised it stay in until Monday , however during the night Saturday she managed to pull the tube out ( even with her hood on ! ) When I got up in the morning I noticed swelling down her left leg and her vulva is swollen and droopy on the left. I tried to keep her calm all day until her appointment today , I have had myself worried sick think ing she is bleeding inside but when I've seen the vet ( a different one as my regular one got called out ) he said some dogs get a reaction to a large operation and it is her body repairing itself inside , and if she is walked 3 times a day for 30 minutes I should see the swelling go down. He has also given her some more Rimadyl tablets.

Has anyone had this happen before ,and their dog been okay , I'm still not 100 % convinced , they even got another vet to tell me the same. It's just I worry soo much about my dogs when they're poorly I end up making myself ill aswell.
Thanks

Do not really know but is it where she has been lying on one side, and the fluid has collected.  

If you are still worried you should ask to speak to your senior veterinary surgeon, and get his reassurance.

Hi , no it's not like where she's been lying , as the fluid is all down the leg from the hip , it's swelled up about three times the size as it should be. I've never seen anything like it before , other than when a person has elephantitis . My vet is a senior surgeon who co owns the surgery and I've never ever doubted anything she's said or done in the past , however I am shocked at how Fern has been after this operation.

Does not sound right to me I would return her to the vet to be checked, it is possible she is bleeding into the leg or it may be infection either way it will need to be sorted as soon as possible.

The only thing I have experienced similar is when my Munsterlander had an infection of the tissues in her leg and the whole leg was six times the size it should have been, antiobiotics sorted it.

If it was me I would go back again, even if I was being nuisance, better to be safe.

It sounds like a blocked lymph gland and may have happened during the op or insertion of the drain.

Ask if this is a possibility when you next visit vet.

Thanks for your advice , I'll speak to the vet about a blocked lymph gland tomorrow.
The swelling hasn't gone down any yet , I just can't see where it could all drain to. Can't wait until tomorrow when she gets checked over again.

Is she OK in herself? It would depend on what is causing the swelling in the leg as to how the condition would be improved. If it is blood it will be reabsorbed eventually, if fluid because the lymph node is damaged that too will reabsorb once the problem is sorted however if it is infection that will need to be treated quite aggressive as would haemorrhage if that is the cause. To be honest I would have been back to the vet before tomorrow unless I had been warned they may happen.

I was at the vet yesterday and two of them had a look over her , they want to see her back mid week so I'm going tomorrow.
She is on antibiotics as well as Rimadyl but the antibiotics run out tonight. I think she'll be needing more ( possibly a stronger dose )
She is fine in herself she is eating like a horse ( something she has never done ) and drinking a bit more water than usual ( I don't know if it's the heat the last few days ) but I'm going to mention it to the vet tomorrow.

When I'm walking her she is tiring quickly as it looks like her leg is very uncomfortable , but I'm giving her shorter walks today as our 30 minute one last night I didn't think we were going to make it back! And she is generally such a fit dogue normally she'd walk all day.

Sorry I did not realise you saw a vet yesterday, what did they say had caused this problem? It is true that when an operation takes place limbs are strapped out of the way firmly but I would not have thought this would have caused such long term problems.

I had Fern back at the vets this afternoon , and I'm much happier with the outcome.

The main owner Mr Prescott was in and as soon as he saw her prescribed a diretic ( think thats how you spell it! ) to help take the fluid away from her leg. He also gave more anti biotics. He said this is being caused by a blocked lymph node after surgery and it will clear up , and I have to keep up the walks , although not so far as she has been struggling a little.
I'm back with her on Saturday for another check up , so fingers crossed there'll be a big improvement by then.

Glad you are feeling more content, I hope your bitch is feeling better soon - one thing from personal experience she will have difficulty is controlling her bladder and when she wants to go she will need to go without delay. This will last for about 2 hours after she has taken her tablet.

Thankyou Nova for all of your information , I have found it really helpful.

That's more reassuring news for you all.

I had a Boxer do this too (she had partial mammary gland strip and spay), and it was fluid retention.
She was pretty reactive to any operations.

At first all seemed ok, until the drain was removed and like yours her back legs and vulva was swollen.
The vet mummified her in vet wrap on the back end/legs for a few days. This helped a little
I guess it was like compression? But we ended up going back every few days as they had to open up a wound
(I think it was where the drain was) to let the fluid drain out. I can't remember how long it took to completely
disappate.

I've also had it in her daughter (who again is very reactive/sensitive to ops) - she had an operation on her front leg and again fluid retention.
The fluid eventually worked it's way out through the skin surface, so via massage (which again I think we did
with her mum) etc we managed to disappate the fluid.
But it does look very uncomfortable/painful for the dog.

Hope your girl will soon be much better

Hi Boxacrazy

I was thinking they may have to open her up again , but she started leaking out of her spay scar yesterday , so it's looking like it is going to drain away naturally now. Also I have seen a big improvement with the swelling in her leg , it has reduced quite a bit today , I am so relieved , as she must be so uncomfortable. I am massaging her leg like you have done so this may be helping also.

> but she started leaking out of her spay scar yesterday

I have been following this thread, but didn't have any constructive advice, so just kept checking in to see how things were going.

I think I must be almost as relieved as you are!  The news is great!   :-)

Glad to hear that she's starting to get rid of the fluid herself.
Keep up the massaging

Hope it won't be long before she's 100% back to normal for you.
:)

hi Cani1,
Just to let you know I have been following your dogues progress on here and I hope you are finally getting somewhere and she is feeling a lot better.