# Month old incision red looking?



## quilter (Sep 12, 2011)

A month seems a ways out, but two vets warned me that incisions get itchy a couple of weeks out, when the hair grows in. My dog had a 4-5" incision on his side, it took about a month before it looked and felt like regular skin. It's been six weeks now, and the redness, stitch marks, and lumpiness are gone. It's still not completely covered in hair, and the skin is still darkened. I think it's going to take all winter for the hair to grow back. They also shaved some of his feathers to wrap up the IV and those are going to take until next spring, too.


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## SheetsSM (Jan 17, 2008)

Licking will definitely irritate the incision site--watch for any sign of discharge. My girl had back to back abdominal surgery (opened 2 days in a row) and had additional complications which hampered the healing process for her incision site. The docs had me do warm compresses 3x's a day (wet paper towels in a ziploc bag microwaved & then place a wash cloth between the bag & skin) and she absolutely had to wear a cone when I couldn't supervise her. She had to go back in 3x's for additional staples and was prescribed a topical spray--with time the incision finally healed.


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## Jennifer1 (Mar 31, 2012)

I suspect the licking is because if the fur growing back. There is one little spot that looks like it could be pus. Overall, it doesn't look that bad, but more red than it was a week ago. Plus without the spleen, infection will be a little harder to fight.
Here's a picture. Like I said not really bad, but there is the opaque spot about halfway in that I think might be pus and little spots of what looks like dried blood around the incision.


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## mainegirl (May 2, 2005)

The opaque area looks like it's slightly infected. I'd go to the vet just to make sure.
Beth, moose and angel


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## quilter (Sep 12, 2011)

Sorry to say, but Casper's looked like that, particularly the white spot. He had to have the whole thing opened back up and restitched, with a much bigger incision. We might have been able to wait and see, but opted not to. But this all happened about 4 days after surgery, not a month. The second time around, I covered it with bandage 24x7 and wouldn't let anything touch it until the stitches came out. It wasn't bandaged after the original surgery, and since it was on his side it got on the floor, the lawn, his bed, etc. Hopefully, you'll get good news from the vet.


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## Jennifer1 (Mar 31, 2012)

I have an appointment in 2 hrs to get it looked at. If it is infected, I hope I caught it early and just some antibiotics to clear it up. I guess the big question is what it looks like beneath the skin. Hopefully since it is a month old the inside isn't affected. He definitely doesn't seem to be in any pain at all. He is licking it occasionally, but not obsessively by any means. I've caught him licking it 3-4 times in the last 24hrs.
And since she doesn't want to be left out, I noticed one of Kenzie's ears looks red/dirty. Not really bad, but something seems to be starting there. Hopefully we can nip that in the bud before it turns into something big.


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## Shalva (Jul 16, 2008)

yep definitely looks infected.... keep an eye on it... My girl had a MRSA and it took months and several cultures in addition to 4 antibiotics to get it healed up ... 

glad you are on top of this ... keep us posted


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## Karen519 (Aug 21, 2006)

*Jennifer*

Jennifer

Please let us know what the vet says! So glad you are going!!


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## Jennifer1 (Mar 31, 2012)

Back from the vet.
It is infected, most likely the body reacting to the sutures. These should be absorbed by the body so we are going to treat with antibiotics and keep an eye on it. Basically we are going to try to keep the infection at bay until the body absorbs the sutures. If antibiotics don't work, then we may need to go in after the sutures.
He has no fever or anything and is acting fine

Kenzie's ear is okay. There is a little gunk build up in one, but not in the canal, just the outer ear. They didn't see anything alive in the goo under the microscope. Hopefully it's just a fluke-if I hadn't brought Guinness in, I would have cleaned the ear and waited for a day or two and see if the goo came back.


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## coppers-mom (Jan 9, 2009)

Hopefully the antibiotics clear this right up.


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