Jennw
Well-Known Member
Midge (one of my rat train girls) went in today to have a tumour removed.
Here she is before, to give you an idea of the size of the tumour:
Apparently, at the vet, she ripped out her stitches. :shock: She did this just after lunch. Doc put her back under, and sewed her up again. Then he put a little bit of that stretchy material around her, because she kept picking at it. When we went to get her, she had her toe stuck in the material, so he took it off.
She was pretty wired when I brought her home, so I checked on her fairly often. Sure enough, within an hour or so she'd ripped out the stitches again. It's more than likely just the top run of stitches. He said she probably wouldn't pull out the inner stitches, if she even managed to dig around enough to find them, and that she would ultimately be fine if the stitches were out. I'm just to make sure her cage is clean and that we wash well before we touch her, and of course to keep an eye on it.
I got the husband to make her reach for a blueberry so I could get a shot of her wound, since she wouldn't let me near it. Here it is:
From what I can see, it's the bottom few stitches. There was a little blood, but not much, and she's finally settled down now. It's in the foldy/wrinkly part, so I'm going to assume that it's actually somewhat protected, just because of its placement. (If it was on the backside, I would think it would be prone to more stretching or tearing.)
I was going to let her see her sisters tomorrow, but I think I might hold off now, since I worry about introducing anything that could get in the wound and get it dirty, and Monkey was VERY aggressive when Jenka came home from her surgery, so I worry about that, too. Their cages are beside each other, so they're not too far removed.
Anyways, long story short (HAH!), is there anything else I should be doing to keep her comfortable? Ice? Some kind of bandage??
Here she is before, to give you an idea of the size of the tumour:
Apparently, at the vet, she ripped out her stitches. :shock: She did this just after lunch. Doc put her back under, and sewed her up again. Then he put a little bit of that stretchy material around her, because she kept picking at it. When we went to get her, she had her toe stuck in the material, so he took it off.
She was pretty wired when I brought her home, so I checked on her fairly often. Sure enough, within an hour or so she'd ripped out the stitches again. It's more than likely just the top run of stitches. He said she probably wouldn't pull out the inner stitches, if she even managed to dig around enough to find them, and that she would ultimately be fine if the stitches were out. I'm just to make sure her cage is clean and that we wash well before we touch her, and of course to keep an eye on it.
I got the husband to make her reach for a blueberry so I could get a shot of her wound, since she wouldn't let me near it. Here it is:
From what I can see, it's the bottom few stitches. There was a little blood, but not much, and she's finally settled down now. It's in the foldy/wrinkly part, so I'm going to assume that it's actually somewhat protected, just because of its placement. (If it was on the backside, I would think it would be prone to more stretching or tearing.)
I was going to let her see her sisters tomorrow, but I think I might hold off now, since I worry about introducing anything that could get in the wound and get it dirty, and Monkey was VERY aggressive when Jenka came home from her surgery, so I worry about that, too. Their cages are beside each other, so they're not too far removed.
Anyways, long story short (HAH!), is there anything else I should be doing to keep her comfortable? Ice? Some kind of bandage??
