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Old October 24th, 2018, 06:51 PM
AyayaUwU AyayaUwU is offline
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Post-Surgery: Dog is just started limping again.

My dog (Mia) has recently had surgery done on her back left leg. The surgery was successful, and was given instructions on what to do and the medication she needed. Few days later there was some complications with her leg swelling up pretty badly, so we decided to take her back to the vets and they ended up giving more medication for possible infections. Since then the swelling in her leg has gradually gone down to the point it looks similar to her other leg (because before you couldn't even see her bone structure), however there seems to be a very small hole and from it looks like a watery red constantly coming out from the wound.

It has been 2 and a half weeks now and starting to get worried because the leg is STILL oozing from the wound and just doesn't stop and today they decided to take her stitches out, but that isn't the most worrying thing, it's now she has returned back to limping on that leg, which she didn't do since... like, the first 2 or so days of the surgery.

We tried doing everything by the book, made sure we kept an eye on her during the day, had the collar on at night, when she went out to make sure she was on a short lead and only went around the house for a little walk and of course made sure she her medication.

Still going to ask the vets, but just wondering some outside thoughts on what this means because the most worrying for me is she has returned back to limping. Any ideas?
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Old October 24th, 2018, 09:45 PM
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hazelrunpack hazelrunpack is offline
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Hi, AyayaUwu. Welcome to the board.

What sort of surgery did Mia have? Depending on the type of surgery, limping isn't necessarily a terrible sign. It sounds like there was some infection (oozing drainage hole), so that may hurt a bit and be causing the pain. Remember that in the early days, when they're still on pain meds and there's some swelling to stabilize the healing area, the pain is masked. It's not till they're off the meds and swelling subsides that they feel the discomfort a bit more. So the limping doesn't necessarily mean that the surgery has failed.

The infection is concerning, though. Is she still on the antibiotics? If the surgery was something that penetrated a joint capsule, I'd worry that the infection might have gotten into the joint. That sort of infection can be difficult to treat. If it's a more superficial infection, the drainage is good. As the wound drains, it gets a chance to heal from the inside out, but I'd keep her on the antibiotics, as long as she tolerates them well, until she's healed.
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Old October 25th, 2018, 07:12 AM
AyayaUwU AyayaUwU is offline
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Originally Posted by hazelrunpack View Post
Hi, AyayaUwu. Welcome to the board.

What sort of surgery did Mia have? Depending on the type of surgery, limping isn't necessarily a terrible sign. It sounds like there was some infection (oozing drainage hole), so that may hurt a bit and be causing the pain. Remember that in the early days, when they're still on pain meds and there's some swelling to stabilize the healing area, the pain is masked. It's not till they're off the meds and swelling subsides that they feel the discomfort a bit more. So the limping doesn't necessarily mean that the surgery has failed.

The infection is concerning, though. Is she still on the antibiotics? If the surgery was something that penetrated a joint capsule, I'd worry that the infection might have gotten into the joint. That sort of infection can be difficult to treat. If it's a more superficial infection, the drainage is good. As the wound drains, it gets a chance to heal from the inside out, but I'd keep her on the antibiotics, as long as she tolerates them well, until she's healed.
She had a plate/pin put in her back left leg, I don't know what you would call it but the material used was titanium for a damaged ligament. Also is on all prescribed medication that was given to us for her to take, including the ones to help reduce the swelling that was happening in her leg.

Just confused that despite still being on these meds, that she has returned back to limping and still having the oozing come out. How long do you think this should last the oozing?

Seems the wound is a bit better from last night as my mum has tried putting some antibiotic cream around it and was cleaning the wound with some luke-warm water to then dry it off to try make sure to keep it dry, even pressed at the top of the wound where it has pretty much completely healed and some more drainage came out from the bottom (where the drainage is), it didn't hurt or was in any discomfort, so I don't know.
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Old October 25th, 2018, 10:03 AM
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Frankly, in a perfect healing situation, the oozing shouldn't be there at all anymore.

Cleaning the area and using antibiotic cream is a good idea--but remember that you want to keep it draining till the infection is totally gone. If you press above and the would drains, there is still some infection going on. The goal is to get it to heal from the inside to the outside without trapping areas of infection inside. Is Mia still on oral antibiotics?

Your vet should be your first resource on what's going on. If your vet suspects there is an active infection going on at the surgical site, they may wish to refer you to a specialist. A second opinion might cost you a little more, but often can be very useful.
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Old October 25th, 2018, 12:49 PM
AyayaUwU AyayaUwU is offline
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Originally Posted by hazelrunpack View Post
Frankly, in a perfect healing situation, the oozing shouldn't be there at all anymore.

Cleaning the area and using antibiotic cream is a good idea--but remember that you want to keep it draining till the infection is totally gone. If you press above and the would drains, there is still some infection going on. The goal is to get it to heal from the inside to the outside without trapping areas of infection inside. Is Mia still on oral antibiotics?

Your vet should be your first resource on what's going on. If your vet suspects there is an active infection going on at the surgical site, they may wish to refer you to a specialist. A second opinion might cost you a little more, but often can be very useful.
Yes, Mia is still on oral Antibiotics.

We have of course been going to the vets as well with this problem, but we're just wary and worried for her that this isn't going very smoothly so was wondering what other people thought on this situation. We've been told to wait till Monday and if she still hasn't gotten any better to then go and see the guy who did the operation.

Just got concerning because she has returned to limping, when before she was using the leg like it was as good as new.
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Old October 25th, 2018, 05:40 PM
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hazelrunpack hazelrunpack is offline
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I can certainly relate to post-surgical worries. Over the years, we've had a couple of dogs with hip and elbow dysplasia that required surgery. Not all the surgeries went as smoothly as we'd like and I know how worrying it can be. Talking to the surgeon is a good next step if the limp and/or the drainage doesn't clear up.

Oh, and all the post-surgical problems we encountered in our dysplastic dogs did clear up in the end. Sometimes it just takes longer than expected.
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