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How do you remove a wound drain (umbilical tape)?

post #1 of 5
10/1/08 at 12:53pm
Thread Starter 
Hi: Our cat, Snoop, got into a nasty fight with a local feral cat and sustained a deep puncture wound on the base of his tail (and also a couple of small vertebrae fractures). The wound got a little infected and the vet had to insert an umbilical tape drain in it to let it drain for a couple of days. This is where you cut two small incisions/holes in the skin and muscle tissue and pass some cloth tape through both holes and then tie the ends together in a loop on the outside of the skin. It looks like a little bow tied through the base of his tail. The cloth/tape drain is ready to come out now but it is somewhat crusty and I'm worried it has gotten stuck to his tissue inside the wound. Our vet is out of town right now so I can't call her to ask what to do. Does anyone have experience with this and can you recommend a good safe method to remove this drain tape/cloth with minimal pain and damage to Snoop? Thanks.
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post #2 of 5
10/1/08 at 12:57pm
My brothers cat had a drain but it was like a tube thing.
Hers stayed in a week longer then it should have and shadow was ok.
Not sure if your cat has the same time of thing.
It was used to drain the fluids from her infection out.
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post #3 of 5
10/1/08 at 1:05pm
Thread Starter 
Snoop's drain is just a thin length of sterile cloth tape (like a shoelace) that passes through the holes and then ties on the outside. The cloth is starting to stick to his skin so I'm worried about how it is going to come out.
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post #4 of 5
10/1/08 at 1:07pm
Bijou had a tube drain for the abscess on his back. Our vet took it out as part of the cost involved in the operation.

Even if your vet is out of town, someone at his office should be able to take it out for you.
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post #5 of 5
10/2/08 at 1:26am
When my cats have had that kind of drain, the vet always had me slide it back and forth a bit each day to prevent it from sticking. I would suggest using a warm compress on it for a few minutes and then trying to move it back and forth. Did the vet tell you to take it out now? Usually they want the cat to come back in to have it removed--that way they can check on the healing process. When Spot had his abscesses, I had also been flushing the wound with saline (sometimes stronger disinfectants are used) and using warm compresses daily to draw out the infection. It's important to make sure all of the infected material and bacteria are out of the wound before it is allowed to heal, or the abscess can reoccur.
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