I took the Bullmastiff bitch I was fostering to be spayed 10 days ago, she then went to her new home as I already have Bullmastiffs one of which had not taken kindly to her arrival. The new owners rang me at the weekend to say Sasha had a massive internal infection and may have to be operated on again if it doesn't clear up with antibiotics. They contacted the vet who did the original surgery who in turn rang their vet to find out what the problem was.
The two vets agreed the infection happened because of a reaction to the thread used to stitch Sasha internally. Theirs said there are a number of different threads that vets can use and dogs can have a reaction to one and not another. I was going to have my own bitch spayed in a couple of weeks but am worried now that the same thing could happen. Has anyone heard of or experienced this before?

Thanks
Jan

Yes, I have had two friends whose bitches reacted to the stitches.  It is a bit like those of us who require hypoallergenic plasters.  You need to discuss this with your vet prior to taking in your bitch.

Hi Jan my Kira(gsd) reacted in the same way but after a course of antibiotics and making sure she wasnt too energetic to give the swelling time to heal it finally settled vet told us the same may have to open back up dont know if we were lucky but it eventually settled down, and was given the all clear after a few check ups in between,that was about 10months ago and she hasnt had any problems since, it can be worrying though. and i hope your foster girl gets better soon.

Thanks for replies, I must admit I'd never heard of reactions to the thread used before - it's not something the vets warn you about is it?. I'll discuss it further with my vet before I take Ellie for her op. Hopefully the antibiotics will work for Sasha so they don't have to open her up again.
Thanks
Jan

All three of my boston terriers have reacted to their stitches, I just drained them and kept it very clean of course I went and seen my vet once a week. Even her pups who were fixed reacted to their stitches.

Do hope all goes well for her :)