Hiya

Here's hoping you can help me on this....we had Molly (now 8 mth choc both lab) speyed about 4-5 weeks ago (vet recommended as we do not wish to breed!), she recovered fine afterwards & didn't seem to pull or lick the wound.  However I wasv brusing her last night when I noticed one of her stiches is hanging loose & her wound is raised like a blister (about the size of a thumb nail), it is slightly red & very much resembes a blister in the sense there appears to be fluid trapped beneath it.  I've touched it & she doesn't wince & it isn't hot to touch.  I rang the vets this morning & they said to bring her in to look at it (our vets always say that & then charge £25 for telling us it's nothing to worry about!!), but becuase I don't want to take the chance of it developing into something serious I'm taking her in at 5pm but I just wondered if it was something any of you had come across???

Any help would be appreciated & I'll post the vets opinion later!

Thanks

A very anxious Gemma!

It will just be a reaction to the loose stitich. If you / the vet take it out the 'blister' should resolve.

2 of my bitches got infections after speying :( When I talked to the vets about it they said it was probably because they kept licking the wound (I don't believe that for a start - they wore Elizabethan collars, so couldn't ;) ) A course of antibiotics later and they were all clear. I changed my vet and never had another problem after speying, so you can make your own mind up :D

If you had your dog spayed 4 - 5 weeks ago then either the stitches should have been removed at circa 10 days old or, if they were dissolvable ones they should have disappeared.........

So if there IS a stitch hanging out I would get the vet to look at it, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and £25 now is cheaper than a few hundred later on, although personally speaking if it WAS a stray stitch I would consider it connected to the original operation and would not necessarily expect to  be charged.

in this era of MRSA,i would err on the side of caution after any opp,im sure its just the stitch irritating but id WANT to be sure

Disolvable sutures don't always break away on their own and could well cause an irritation if they stay.  Most vets do not charge for any follow up consultations following an operation.

Hi All

Thanks for the advice, the vet cut off the stray stitch & said she was healing fine but had a small blood blister where the scar was, she advised it was best to let it run its course (didn't charge me!!), I am keeping an eye on it & it did start to bleed slightly last night so I cleaned it up & it seems to have stopped today!  But I'll definitely keep my eye on it over the next few days!

Thanks again

Not so anxious Gemma!