# Ohhh MARLEY! Why must you reject your sutures??



## MChis (Oct 13, 2009)

****WARNING MAY BE TOO GRAPHIC FOR SOME PEOPLE!!****




Poor Marley. He's had a rough go of it the past couple months. First the elevated liver enzymes (I believe due to his standing behind me & me bumping him with my heal in the side when I turned around) & medication for that. Three weeks later, he had his neuter which luckily went smoothly.

For the past few weeks he's had one end of a suture sticking out of his incision site. An internal one as the outside was simply glued as most are. It otherwise healed up nicely. I know these sutures disolve in time so I was *hoping* that's what would happen. Anyway, last week I noticed a bump about 1/8" away from the exposed suture which I figured was the other end of the suture. I've been keeping my eye on it every day & today when I checked it the bump was puss filled. I just touched it gently & it "popped" & proceeded to bleed. The skin is red/purple around it. 

Anyway, he's going to have it checked in just over an hour. I'm not sure what they do but I'm guessing they may need to open him back up & use an alternative stitch method? I would think if they just put him on antibiotics for the infection it would just get irritated & infected again since he's obviously rejecting the material of the suture. I'll let you all know what they say. I am bummed our regular vet is on maternity leave & the other vet (who owns the practice) is very intimidating & tries talking you into spending money on a bunch of unnecessary (IMO) things. But I guess today I'll have to trust her....UGH. Wish us luck!!

Oh & here is a picture of his incision. Before today it was all healed except a tiny hole in his skin where the one suture is that is listed. The other suture still is under the skin which is what is causing the problem atm.


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## chideb (Jan 29, 2008)

Aww, poor baby Marley...What a terrible time you are having..Please let us know what the vet says... I am so sorry the little guy is having such a reaction.. Blessings, Deb


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## jan896 (Dec 9, 2009)

wishing you all the best...... *hugs*


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## Ivy's mom (Feb 15, 2008)

Poor guy, hope it's an easy fix. Keep us posted.


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## Darkrose (Jul 5, 2010)

good luck, hope he gets to feeling better soon


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## 18453 (Feb 6, 2010)

Heather it looks like an abcess thats burst. I know that dogs heal very quickly.. but hopefully they can manage it without having to operate again? Can you feel any other sutures in there? I know when Daisy was spayed her internal stitches were a pain in the arse as they were causing her to limp and i thought she had LP anyway.. i could feel the knots of the sutures under the skin.. i cant now so knew they'd dissolved. Can you feel how many are left inside?

Bless him baby!! We're thinking of him over here xxxx


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## Aquarius (May 8, 2009)

Poppy got a little abscess on her scar after her spay, the vet said that dissolvable stitches need a certain amount of skin to dissolve and she was so small that they were taking longer than normal to dissolve - a course of antibiotics saw her right, hopefully it is the same with Marley


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## foggy (Oct 12, 2009)

Aww poor sweetheart. Best of luck with little Marley, let us know how it goes, I'll be thinking of you guys. xx


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## xSamanthax (Jun 3, 2010)

Aww poor Marley!! Hope he is ok


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## QUIGLEY'S MOM (Jan 12, 2010)

Poor baby. Hope all goes well with him.


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## flippedstars (Dec 16, 2009)

Yikes!

Let us know what happens, poor little Marley. I didn't even know their bodies could reject the internal stitches but I guess it makes sense??


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## svdreamer (Feb 20, 2010)

Yeah, I think it is abscess. When Reggie had his abscess after his neuter, he developed a huge abscess and the vet did not open him back up. I doubt they will open him up, just a round of antibiotics should do the trick. Reggie had that one stitch sticking out forever, too. He finally just bit it out. And I do not think the abscess is from him rejecting his stitches, I think it may be just a slow growing bit of infection that got in through the sutures opening in the skin.


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## LDMomma (Mar 28, 2009)

Poor baby!


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## MChis (Oct 13, 2009)

Ok, we're back! Thanks everyone for your kind comments & well wishes. Svdreamer (sorry don't know your name!) you were right.  Just an absess on the tip of the suture that wasn't exposed to the skin. They didn't even give us antibiotics because it was so localized. They gave us some Nolvasan to clean it really well a couple times a day & she said it should heal right up. Oh & they trimmed the one piece way down below the skin. I got so paranoid after googling today. A rejection had been on my mind anyway because the suture was sticking out...but then when I noticed the bump last week & this morning it was worse I was sure that's what it was. She said it will disolve...but it takes ages! I just hope it doesn't creat any more issues. **fingers crossed** 

And on top of that good news - they didn't even charge an office visit! Just charged for the cleanser. PHEEEEEE-EW!!! I was so happy about that especially being with the other vet. (maybe she reads this forum? haha)


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## Brodysmom (Jan 8, 2009)

Just seeing this. Great news! I'm glad for you and Marley that it will be a simple solution. Hopefully the cleanser will do the trick. Keep us posted.


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## Rico's Mom (Feb 21, 2009)

Good news!!


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## FBRaRrN (May 1, 2006)

So glad he is ok.


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## Guess (Sep 23, 2009)

OUCH!!! Hope he recovers very quickly - I'm in pain just looking at it! Poor boy


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## Terri (Aug 21, 2009)

Awww it does look sore bless him.
Glad all you needed was a cleanser hope it does the trick now.
Give him kisses from me. xx


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## Sundae (Jun 26, 2010)

Wow poor Marley (hugs) to you and he both!!


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## chi's R me (Jun 30, 2009)

Glad Marley's o-k.


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## MChis (Oct 13, 2009)

Thanks everyone! I think it's already looking a bit better. I feel bad because the vet told to me "really get in there" when cleansing the wound so it gets pretty inflamed after I clean it. I've been keeping him in the x-pen, with his hood of shame on LOL, so the others don't clean it for him (which they were trying to do). But he's out for the time being snoozing in my lap. He's so good about being penned though - such a good boy!


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## foggy (Oct 12, 2009)

Great news! So glad that all Marley needed was a cleanser. Glad things are looking better already!


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## MisStingerRN (May 16, 2010)

So happy to hear Marley is doing better!


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## MChis (Oct 13, 2009)

Just an update:

The site kept healing & within a few days it would be red, bumped up & a piece of the suture would be visible. I kept trimming it & keeping it clean. It never reinfected due to keeping it clean (thank goodness). But this morning I noticed it was VERY bumped up & hard so I started the cleaning regimine & clipped a bit. I was a bit nervous because the hard suture part was very big so I didn't know what was tissue & what was suture. Well, apparently it was the knot because when I closed my eyes LOL & clipped I was able to pull LONG pieces out! I think I got it all because I can't feel any hard bump under his skin any longer. I scrubbed it up nice & good & will definitely keep my eye on it but my guess is it'll heal right up w/o further issue now that the irritating material is GONE. So I guess he did reject it after all. I'm just glad the vet didn't think so & want to reopen him back up. It took a bit longer this way but it was definitely less invasive & easier on the pocketbook. 

Anyway...just wanted to give a bit of an update.  It's been a long process healing his neuter incision but I think we're finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!


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## Brodysmom (Jan 8, 2009)

That's good news. Glad you are so conscientous! Yes, it sounds like his body was reacting to the sutures, dissolvable or not! Glad you got it out of there. Now he can go on and heal up. Good job.


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## cprcheetah (May 4, 2009)

Wow poor little guy, glad he is finally on the mend though.


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## Suekadue (Nov 16, 2009)

Good news - Heather he is lucky to have you give him such great care. I bet he heals without any more problems - _yucky stitch is gone_.


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## foggy (Oct 12, 2009)

Aww poor guy! Glad he's doing better now. You're such a good Chi mummy.


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## lyndsey (Aug 10, 2010)

aww poor lil man....im glad to hear he is doing much better...xx


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