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- Jul 28, 2012
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that just won't heal!
When I picked Adele up from the shelter she had the nastiest "feathery" light tan 2x1 inch scab across her shoulder blades. This scab looked exactly like one of those flat mushrooms with the ruffly edges that you see growing on dead trees when out in the woods. The shelter staff said that about a month before they had noticed two little scratches in between her shoulder blades. Over the course of the next month is ulcerated into the wound that I just described. They guessed that is was some sort of spider bite because apparently they had seen spiders in her cat room around that time. They didn't really do much to treat it, just kind of taking a wait and see approach. When I said that I wanted to adopt her they decided that it would be time to operate and close up the wound. I didn't feel comfortable having them close up a wound of dubious origin that was open and actively ulcerating for that length of time in a situation like a shelter environment. Cleaning it out and then sealing it shut just seemed like inviting disaster to me. I opted to take her home and have my vet look at the wound and they gave me the option to bring her back in for the surgery at a later date. After I adopted her I read through her records and discovered that the "scratches" actually occurred all the way back on May 14th. The wound wasn't a month old, but nearly two!
She didn't seem to mind it much and besides being hideous it didn't seem that problematic so my vet said he would take a look when I took her for her 1st checkup which wasn't until 10 days after I brought her home. In the interim the wound actually began healing rather nicely. The furry scab started to peel back and since it bothered her I snipped the loose bits off. As it peeled back it revealed nice white scar tissue and I actually thought we were getting somewhere. About half the wound was still scabbed over, but the other half was that healing tissue. Then about 10 days ago (two days before our scheduled vet visit) Adele fell behind a TV cabinet sometime after mid morning and was trapped in the corner until she was discovered at around 3pm. Beyond being relieved at her liberation she seemed none the worse for wear. That is until I realized she had scratched the heck out of her wound. Not only did she scratch the scab that was still attached off, but that newly healed tissue was ripped completely open. It was bloody and oozy.
I immediately called the vet and he said to bring her right in and that he would keep her overnight to clean and address the wound and to make sure everything else checked out. He had no answers as to what might have caused it originally, but after blood work and impressions diagnosed that she had yeast bacteria growing in the wound. Which would explain perfectly the unusual look of that scab. Given that it was itchy he prescribed twice daily topical applications of Otomax to kill the yeast and it contains a topical cortisone (like?) to alleviate the itch. That seemed to do the trick. She has pretty much left the wound alone and the scab has not come back.
However, I really don't think the wound itself has improved measurably. It might be slightly better, but I would think gains should be more than millimeters...if that. Also, this weekend she has started bothering it again. I, of course, will be calling my vet first thing in the morning. This is not an emergency situation so I will not bug him on the one day that he gets to have dinner with his family. However, I just thought I would reach out to you guys to see if anyone has any ideas. My vet loves it when we work as a team and I bounce ideas, however crazy and out of left field they may be, off of him. We have weathered quite a few storms together (slipped disks, canine meningitis, parvo, bloat) and I think he enjoys that I always roll up my sleeves and dig right in with him.
Here are some current picks of the wound as of today. Sorry, I do not have an photos of the wound as it was 3 weeks ago.
So, does anyone have any ideas as to what we might be dealing with? Suggestions for moving forward? Crazy stuff welcome!
Thank you again for reading my story and for taking a look. It drives me crazy that I can't help her and that nothing we are trying seems to be moving the process along.
When I picked Adele up from the shelter she had the nastiest "feathery" light tan 2x1 inch scab across her shoulder blades. This scab looked exactly like one of those flat mushrooms with the ruffly edges that you see growing on dead trees when out in the woods. The shelter staff said that about a month before they had noticed two little scratches in between her shoulder blades. Over the course of the next month is ulcerated into the wound that I just described. They guessed that is was some sort of spider bite because apparently they had seen spiders in her cat room around that time. They didn't really do much to treat it, just kind of taking a wait and see approach. When I said that I wanted to adopt her they decided that it would be time to operate and close up the wound. I didn't feel comfortable having them close up a wound of dubious origin that was open and actively ulcerating for that length of time in a situation like a shelter environment. Cleaning it out and then sealing it shut just seemed like inviting disaster to me. I opted to take her home and have my vet look at the wound and they gave me the option to bring her back in for the surgery at a later date. After I adopted her I read through her records and discovered that the "scratches" actually occurred all the way back on May 14th. The wound wasn't a month old, but nearly two!
She didn't seem to mind it much and besides being hideous it didn't seem that problematic so my vet said he would take a look when I took her for her 1st checkup which wasn't until 10 days after I brought her home. In the interim the wound actually began healing rather nicely. The furry scab started to peel back and since it bothered her I snipped the loose bits off. As it peeled back it revealed nice white scar tissue and I actually thought we were getting somewhere. About half the wound was still scabbed over, but the other half was that healing tissue. Then about 10 days ago (two days before our scheduled vet visit) Adele fell behind a TV cabinet sometime after mid morning and was trapped in the corner until she was discovered at around 3pm. Beyond being relieved at her liberation she seemed none the worse for wear. That is until I realized she had scratched the heck out of her wound. Not only did she scratch the scab that was still attached off, but that newly healed tissue was ripped completely open. It was bloody and oozy.
I immediately called the vet and he said to bring her right in and that he would keep her overnight to clean and address the wound and to make sure everything else checked out. He had no answers as to what might have caused it originally, but after blood work and impressions diagnosed that she had yeast bacteria growing in the wound. Which would explain perfectly the unusual look of that scab. Given that it was itchy he prescribed twice daily topical applications of Otomax to kill the yeast and it contains a topical cortisone (like?) to alleviate the itch. That seemed to do the trick. She has pretty much left the wound alone and the scab has not come back.
However, I really don't think the wound itself has improved measurably. It might be slightly better, but I would think gains should be more than millimeters...if that. Also, this weekend she has started bothering it again. I, of course, will be calling my vet first thing in the morning. This is not an emergency situation so I will not bug him on the one day that he gets to have dinner with his family. However, I just thought I would reach out to you guys to see if anyone has any ideas. My vet loves it when we work as a team and I bounce ideas, however crazy and out of left field they may be, off of him. We have weathered quite a few storms together (slipped disks, canine meningitis, parvo, bloat) and I think he enjoys that I always roll up my sleeves and dig right in with him.
Here are some current picks of the wound as of today. Sorry, I do not have an photos of the wound as it was 3 weeks ago.
So, does anyone have any ideas as to what we might be dealing with? Suggestions for moving forward? Crazy stuff welcome!
Thank you again for reading my story and for taking a look. It drives me crazy that I can't help her and that nothing we are trying seems to be moving the process along.
