Cat in Morocco Spitting Sutures

tigershark

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OK, I'm going to try to make a long story short here as best I can:
I currently live in Morocco and adopted a stray kitten who is now about 4mo. old, MC Solaar.

I took MC in to one of the city's 2 private vets for neutering. Well it turns out he's a cyprt. neuter, so the surgery is much more extensive (and she probably shouldn't have gone ahead at his age anyway).
He had a terrible reaction to the drugs and then developed an infection of unknown origin and almost died. He is thankfully better now but while under the vet's care he tore out one of his stitches on his side and chewed the skin a little (don't ask me why he has 2 incisions, one on his flank and on his abdomen, I have NO idea).

So she decided to leave it open and gave him to me with the instruction to Betadine the open incision 2-3 times a day and put a bit of antibiotic ointment on it. That was on Saturday (it is Thursday now). The wound is still open. What really concerns me is the fact that it has spit out at least 5 fully formed sutures! The wound doesn't look inflamed or infected, and there is no real drainage to speak of...it just keeps spitting out these sutures and will not close up. What is going on??? She insisted they were absorbable sutures.


You may be thinking, well why don't you just call her. I am planning to tomorrow but the answer is I just don't trust her anymore, too many things have gone wrong and the standard of care here is very different from that in Morocco (example: I told her he was lethargic with diarrhea still 5-7 days post-op and she said oh, he is just recovering. well turns out he was "recovering" with a high fever, anorexia, and weight loss, idiot).

There is no one else to go to for an opinion here so any advice is appreciated!
 
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tigershark

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I forgot to mention, the incision on his abdomen healed up fine and is nice and pink.

He's 3 weeks post-op now.
 

tarasgirl06

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As for advice, I would not want to give any, as I am not a professional; but I would venture to guess that the other incision, on his flank, is because he is a cryptorchid and the vet, who doesn't sound like a preeminent practitioner in her field, may have thought he was female and therefore started a flank lateral spay procedure.

Keep the incision sites CLEAN until you can determine a course of action, and I do hope others here at TCS can be more help than I am in advising you. I would use a weak peroxide/purified water solution once or twice a day dabbed on the site, followed by the antibiotic.
 
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tigershark

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Hi Tarasgirl,

Thanks. I have been Betadining the living heck out of it, then putting on antibiotic cream 3-4 times a day. There doesn't seem to be much else to do at the moment but I wish I knew what was going on.

She did say, when I picked him up, "You know he's a male, right? Not a female??" So I thought of the spay thing as well. Ugh I'm so angry at this point. I would try for a second opinion but a) there really aren't any and b) she is the only one who knows exactly what happened
 

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Originally Posted by tigershark

Hi Tarasgirl,

Thanks. I have been Betadining the living heck out of it, then putting on antibiotic cream 3-4 times a day. There doesn't seem to be much else to do at the moment but I wish I knew what was going on.

She did say, when I picked him up, "You know he's a male, right? Not a female??" So I thought of the spay thing as well. Ugh I'm so angry at this point. I would try for a second opinion but a) there really aren't any and b) she is the only one who knows exactly what happened
It's definitely a lateral flank spay incision. She'd probably never admit it, but that's what it is and she as much as told you so with her comment.

Keep up the good work. You're definitely keeping the site clean.
 
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tigershark

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Well, I took him in today and she tranked him lightly and removed the remaining sutures because they were keeping the wound from closing. Unfort he is very sensitive to anesthetic here (no gas, only injectibles) so it was a little scary to have to give him anything again. He's concked out right now but she said with the foreign objects (sutures) gone the remaining layer should heal in 3 days. here's hoping.
 

tarasgirl06

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Originally Posted by tigershark

Well, I took him in today and she tranked him lightly and removed the remaining sutures because they were keeping the wound from closing. Unfort he is very sensitive to anesthetic here (no gas, only injectibles) so it was a little scary to have to give him anything again. He's concked out right now but she said with the foreign objects (sutures) gone the remaining layer should heal in 3 days. here's hoping.
Thanks for the update -- praying and hoping for the very best for him and for you, and hoping you will keep us posted on his progress.
 
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