Forgot to add this in my last post so will post this and see what you all think

Had my bitch spayed around a fortnight ago, she is a rotti
Had a phone call at around 3pm to say op hadn't gone to smoothly and she needed extra pain relief as she was in a really bad way she would need it once the pain relief she was on at that moment wore off, did I mind paying for it......... well of course I didn't I wouldn't see my dog suffer. Went to collect her she was drugged up to the eyeballs but seemed ok, the next day she was fine so didn't need that extra pain relief afterwards.
Her stitches looked funny but didn't seem to bother her.  Went to have them taken out Saturday and was told she had an infection due to her stitches being put in to tightly ??????? so had to pay extra again for a course of antibiotics.  The extra cost is fine and doesn't really bother me to much as long as she is ok kind of thing.

But my question is should I have actually paid for the antibiotics as it was the vets fault ????

I have never heard of an infection being caused by stitches being too tight and I cannot understand the biology behind that, are you sure it was not the other way round ie the stitches had become very tight due to swelling from an infected wound.  In which case a recognised hazard I'm afraid in an animal that does not take a shower every day and sleeps on the floor and not really anyones fault :)

I once got an infection due to sutures too tight after a hip operation (on myself, not dog) - they were so tight that they dug into my skin and these wounds got infected.......could this be something similar?

As I say, I can't understand the biology behind it :)  I know they will use deep tension sutures where extra support is needed and I suppose that could make the wound difficult to keep clean or observe properly but I don't see how inert sutures can introduce infection in themselves.

Hi Thanks for replying, the vets themselves had to cut some skin because the stitches had become lodged so yeah Hayley it is kinda like your situation well exactly the same except your human lol, they even said that they had been done to tight themselves so what thats all about I don't know.

My descriptions are useless but I will have a go.  When my staff was spayed her skin seemed to be pulled together neatly and stitched but with my rotti it was as if they had grabbed two bits of the skin squeezed them together so they bulged a little then stitched behind the bulge if that makes any sense ????

*Edited to correct spelling mistake*

Your description sounds just like other sutured wounds I've seen, which haven't become infected. When one of my bitches was spayed the wound was stitched over the 'join' of the incision rather than behind it, and yet she developed an infection. It's very much down to chance.

When my dogs are operated on (spaying, or anything else), my Vet sends them out with pain relief and antibiotics to cover 5 days.

Same here, I've never had an animal NOT sent home after surgery with 5 days worth of Synulox to cover all eventualities.

I have never had prophylactic antibiotics, myself or dogs :), and, touch wood, no infected wounds.  I would always prefer to observe and only use antibiotics if necessary for all the usual reasons :)

Sounds to me like someone not too experienced at suturing! I had advanced Nurse practitioner skills in A&E and sutured myself(after being taught by a Plastic surgeon!) The amount of times I saw shoddy suturing from House Officers! I don't think they're taught to suture too well in Uni! Well, I suppose a lot of them were foreign Drs and so lack the training that some had in the UK!? I'm sure Vets are the same, maybe we should start a campaign? All the best, soz you had the problems! Dawn :D