Rear dew claw removal and healing...

[Canaqua]

7 month old BC mix had her rear dew claws removed last week when she was spayed. They were attached only by skin, were large and were hanging at a weird angle…an accident waiting to happen, she’d already caught one in a blanket, but I was able to detach her before it tore.

Anyway, she came home with several stitches in each back leg and bandaged with gauze and vet wrap. Instructions from the vet were to leave the bandages on for 5-7 days, then remove them and remove stitches at 10-14 days. Well, it’s been a week and I’ve changed her bandages several times, it’s been raining here and they kept getting damp or muddy. The incisions and stitches look pretty good, no swelling or signs of infection.

BUT, the stitches are certainly not ready to come out yet, there is still a little gaping between them, more on one foot than the other. I hear that dew claw removals are notoriously tough to heal because there is no extra tissue on the legs and the skin and stitches are tight.

Anyway, so question is, she’s supposed to, per vet, be wearing no bandages as of now. But, every time I take them off, she goes after those stitches and won’t leave them alone. I don’t want her to pull them out, because they are, visibly, not ready to come out. She’s pretty good wearing bandages, especially if I cover them with some duct tape so she can’t get a the vet wrap. How important is it to be “bandage free” and airing out at this point? I’m inclined to just keep changing them until the stitches are ready to come out, rather than resorting to a “cone of shame”.

[Simkie]

Can you call your vet and ask?

My off the cuff thoughts:

Are the incisions wet and weepy looking? Or are they dry looking and just not healed yet?

If they are dry, I’d say you’re fine to keep wrapping. If they’re wet-ish, they might really benefit from some air, and you might need to go to the cone of shame, or some other way to keep her off the incisions while they dry up and heal.

[Canaqua]

Yeah, I should call the vet and ask, but I’m in a kind of weird position. The vet who did the surgery is not my regular vet. I went to them ONLY because they are the only vet in the area who can do a laproscopic spay and I wanted that because keeping a 7 month old Border Collie quiet for two weeks for a traditional spay recovery was not something I was up for. The “other” vet did a good job on the surgeries, but I do not like them, they are a “big business” type of vet, with exhobitrant rates, massive marketing efforts and very rude and snotty front office staff, all dressed alike in a marble palace. Bizarre and not something I want. The vets are good, but I don’t like the atmosphere and whole philosophy. The vets “market” too, so I had to be VERY clear that I was there ONLY for this one thing and I wasn’t switching practices, to stop them from “selling” me everything under the sun.

Usual vet, who I’ve used for many years, and who treats the dogs, cats AND horses, is awesome. They understood why I went to the other vet for the spay surgery (I informed them first), but I’ll have to pay a la carte for any consultations with them on these surgeries, since they didn’t do them.

If something goes really wrong, of course I’ll call either vet and just deal with the consequences, but this isn’t such a big deal.

I do think you are right, Simkie, on the “dry versus soggy” thing. The incisions look pretty good, not mushy or wet or weeping, so I’m guessing just re-wrapping as long as it stays that way will work out. I have a “cone of shame” in reserve, just in case. I’m feeling kind of insecure because, every time I Google “dew claw removal” and “recovery”, I see all kinds of horror stories. I should stop reading the Internet, you only hear about the bad cases, not the good ones!

[Simkie]

When I was a kid, we had a dog who had dewclaws that we not removed as a baby and were removed when she was spayed. It WAS a nightmare!

I think you’re on the right track, and if they look healthy and healing, and she’s leaving them alone, keep it up!

(Laparoscopic spay, huh? VERY cool. I didn’t spay my retired show dog because I didn’t want to put her through a big spay surgery and her heats were totally easy. Paid for it with a pyo, though! Will keep a lap spay in mind for next show dog )

[Ben_and_Me]

Or you could try her in an E-collar to keep her from tearing them apart.

[Canaqua]

Oh, the lap spay was awesome! Totally worth the extra expense. She came home with one incision, the size of a pencil eraser and no external stitches. She was allowed to go back to her usual activities the next day! She was really none the worse for wear once she got over the effects of the anesthesia and one day without food. If it weren’t for the dew claw issue, it would be like it never happened. She doesn’t seem to care about the dew claw removal, I don’t think there was much, if any, pain, since there was no bony attachment. It’s just me who is suffering, trying to keep them clean, dry and unmolested during a longish healing period, due to the lack of tissue on that part of her body. The precision of using a laporoscope also allowed them to remove only ovaries, not the uterus…because she’s never had a heat, pyo is not a concern with retaining the uterus. Highly recommended!

[Simkie]

Just out of curiosity (and feel free to PM me if you would not like to post) how much did it cost? A quick google suggests only CSU does them in Fort Collins, and this totally questionable resource puts the figure at $1k.

I think the concept is really intriguing. I’ve had a couples laps and can certainly understand the advantage!