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Post by shelleylydon on Nov 20, 2009 0:10:51 GMT
Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum and really need some help or advice for my piggie.
His name is Junior and he recently had a fight with one of my other pig's, resulting in him having stitches on his side to close the wound. The first time he had stitches, he caught an infection (there was a big ball just under his stitches and puss coming out) which by the way is very rare to happen. The vet had to remove this infection and re-done the stitches back up, but I took him vets again today because it seems he had been picking at his stitches, making it bleed.
The vet basically said that if he doesn't stop pulling at his stitches, it runs the risk of him catching another infection, resulting in him being put down, because apparently there is only so many times they can do surgery on him. As you can :'(imagine, this news has devastated me, but I'm shocked that there is nothing that can be done to prevent him from pulling his stitches out??!!
Does anyone have any suggestions?? I'm willing to do anything!!! He is due to have stitches out on Monday (4days) which is obviously when they will do a check up on him to see how it looks, but was just hoping that anyone would have suggestions!!??
For example, I have heard that giving them a small amount of pure yogurt prevents infection?? Using staples instead of stitches so that pig can't tear stitches out??
I'm so confused please help, any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much xx
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Post by catalady on Nov 20, 2009 0:37:39 GMT
A ll I can think of off the top of my head is knitting him a little tube sweater or sewing a tube out of fabric ( something stretchy like a babies vest ) to put over his body so that he can't get to them to pull at them? Maybe someone else will have a suggestion of something you could apply to put him off chewing/pulling at the stitches that would be harmless to him. It seems awful that they would have to put him to sleep from an infection if it can be prevented. Hope it all works out ok for you, keep us up to date
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Post by Orlaith on Nov 20, 2009 12:07:22 GMT
I think the best thing you can do is gently clean the area with warm water to prevent infection and give him some probiotics to boost his immune system to help him fight things off.
My boy had a big abscess like the one yours had and the vet treated without anaesthetic so I don't see why he couldn't have the surgery again if needs be. What our vet did was to cut an x-shaped hole in the abscess and then squeezed out as much pus as possible. Then the washed the wound out with some surgical stuff that I can't remember the name of and then he flushed the wound out with baytril (piggy antibiotic). We were told not to let the wound close and to keep massaging it to encourage it to drain and after a few days we got a lot of fibrous white stuff out which was the lining of the abscess. The wound closed up on its own after that and we've had no problems since. So if it comes back, maybe you could suggest this route to your vet?
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Post by shelleylydon on Nov 20, 2009 15:38:45 GMT
hey guys, thanks for replying.
Catalady, yeah someone did suggest something similar to me, about making a vest or a lampshade to stop him from getting to the stitches. I'm actually going to another vet's in about an hour, it's more up to date in the methods they use and equipment, for example, possible using stitches under the skin so that he can't get to them?? So hopefully they can do something for me.
I'm just looking at his wound now and he has completely opened the bottom part of it, I just hope I can get this sorted!!
I will let you know how it goes, thanks for your responses though!! xx
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Post by Orlaith on Nov 20, 2009 16:33:25 GMT
Best of luck for Junior! You're right, a lot of vets use internal stitches these days and can sometimes use a surgical glue to stick the sides of the hole together.
I'd definitely lean towards the vest rather than the lampshade in case it interferes with him eating his poop. Aw, I'd say he'd be dead cute in a little jumper!
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Post by catalady on Nov 20, 2009 17:05:52 GMT
I had a thought this afternoon ( which in itself is amazing..me having thoughts!!! ) ..if you go down the route of trying to cover his body so he can't get to the stitches how about cutting the toe out of a cotton sock and putting that on him...so long as its not tight. Hope the new vet had some positive ideas and actions for you Tracy
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Post by shelleylydon on Nov 21, 2009 14:01:05 GMT
Just got back from the vets, jJunior has his operation so far so good i hope!! his a bit groggy at the moment but the vet was really good, gace us some antibiotics to help fight infection and a pre-cautionary lampshade if he starts trying to nibble his skin. apparantly this is a better option than putting a bandage/material over the wound?? I was looking at piggie jumpers yesterday and some are really cute so might purchase one for the future lol and catalady, that's a good idea actually never even thought about that!! thanks will update you on his progress. also, how do i put pictures up on here of my pigs?? xx
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