# Will an open cut heal?



## millymace (Feb 12, 2010)

I noticed that my 1year old cat had pus seeping from her vagina on monday. I assumed that she had pyometra and took her to b spayed on tuesday. I was correct about the pyometra and the operation was outrageously expensive. After the op I brought her home and within an hour she already had 2 stitches out! My cat is very strong willed and highly strung. She gets extremely stressed out in the car, in a box, with a collar etc. I bandaged her up and phoned my vet. He said he would recharge me to put in new stitches! I live on a farm and its an hours drive to the vet. I couldnt put her under all that stress again so soon. She is on antibiotics already. I cleaned inside the wound wound with saline and applied an antibacterial and antifungal ointment. I then cleaned the surrounding area with hibitane/chlorhexidine. I applied a sterile dressing and bandaged her up to prevent her from licking it. The wound that is open is just big enoug to fit a earbud or qtip. Its now saturday and there is no swelling, inflammation or any other signs of infection. If i keep treating the wound like this and it stays uninfected, will it heal and close by itself?


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## NosyKitty (Feb 3, 2010)

Yes. Just make sure it stays closed as much as possible and she isn't reopening it by licking or biting at it. But if any other complications occur you will probably have to make that hour trip back to the vet.


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## KittyMonster (Nov 8, 2009)

I would crate her or put her in a small area (guest bathroom?) so that she can't jump around and potentially rip the stitches or expose the wound to any more bacteria than necessary. Be really really vigilant about cleaning out the litterbox so that fecal matter doesn't come in contact with it. 

Good luck to your kitty!


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## millymace (Feb 12, 2010)

Bubbles will go absalutely crazy if she is kept in a room! I closed the bathroom door as i exited it once and she was still inside, i didnt realise that she hadnt walked out with me. Her meows almost took the roof off! And she was clawing at the door. So keeping her confined just isnt an option. She took off her bandages today while i was at work. She didnt seem to b bothering with fiddling at the wound at all. It seems to b closing up slowly now. Stil no signs of infection. Lets hold thumbs that it all goes to plan! Will keep u posted.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

...I'd just like to comment...
Our cat Louie was rescued near death with a HUGE abcess on his neck, the size of a tennis ball. The vet had to cut away a LOT of skin. Louie had about 8" of stitches in a "Y" shape under his neck; from ear-to-ear and then from the center, down his throat to his sternum. A lot of those stitches didn't hold and when he would shake his head, those opened areas would shift, flap and slap with a sickening wet sound. The vet said he would slowly heal but I *made* her put in a few more stitches because Lou liked to scent-mark (rub his face/neck) and I didn't want him getting contaminated or opening the wounds any further. _Plus it just freaked me out._ I did bandage and wrap every day, but it still took a long time to heal. He did heal fine, though with a large scar.


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## millymace (Feb 12, 2010)

Im glad to hear that he did heal though! Scarring doesnt matter, i will love my babies to bits regardless of what they look like. Its monday today and all is still looking fine. Tomorow wil be a week since her op. The vet said the stitches should come out after 10 days. Thats about on friday. She has 2 stitches left at the top of her cut. Should i leave them in til she has totally healed the full length of the cut? Or should i take out her stitches on friday?


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

I don't feel comfortable advising you about when to remove stitches. Give your vet a call and/or use your best judgement based on how well the stitched area appears to have knit together.
h


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

This whole thread is making me very nervous because I have a friend who lost a beloved kitten horribly after she pulled out her spay sutures. If I remember correctly, the kitten was about a week post-op when she pulled the stitches out, the incision opened, and her intestines fell through the opening. My friend rushed her to the vet immediately, but the kitten couldn't be saved. It was so awful for the kitten and her family. This was a couple of years ago now, and I don't think her human family will ever recover from watching their kitten die that way.

There is NO WAY I would ever leave any part of a spay incision open to heal on its own. This is major abdominal surgery we're talking about here, and infection is only one likely complication. If other internal parts fall through the open incision, your kitten will die.

I hope your kitten heals properly, but IMO you are playing a dangerous game of Russian 
Roulette with her life by not having her incision stitched up properly again.

Laurie


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## hoofmaiden (Sep 28, 2009)

laurief said:


> This whole thread is making me very nervous because I have a friend who lost a beloved kitten horribly after she pulled out her spay sutures. If I remember correctly, the kitten was about a week post-op when she pulled the stitches out, the incision opened, and her intestines fell through the opening.


While I would not advocate a pet owner removing sutures on her own, if the above happened, then there was a whole lot MORE wrong than the owner removing the sutures too soon. The spay procedure involves TWO layers of sutures, after all! The outside layer is NOT holding the guts inside the cat! The inside layer closes the abdomen and those sutures are absorbable. The internal layer will be almost 100% healed up in a week in a healthy cat.

So if the above happened, either the vet was on crack when he did the surgery (and he forgot the internal layer - -which, really, would be impossible even if you ARE on crack!) or the cat had a serious reaction to the internal suture material (but that should have been pretty obvious to the owner). 

Just saying that maybe you are NOT remembering correctly!! People often think this will happen, but thanks to 2 layers of sutures, it's close to impossible . . .


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## millymace (Feb 12, 2010)

Shame Laurie, what happened to your friends cat is horrific! Fortunately i can feel the inner layer of Bubbles' stitches if i rub her skin on her tummy. Its been a week now and im keeping the wound very clean. Its knitting together already with no signs of infection. I really did not like your comment that im playing games with my cats life. Every1s circumstances are different. I live on a farm in South Africa. The vet is not just down the road. The vet is 150km from here! Thats a long and very stressful trip 4 my baby. Money is also a factor. In this month my husky was bitten by a puff adder (very poisonous snake) in his face, my jack russel had canine vestibular disease and my cat had pyometra. I used our familys grocery money to pay the vet bills. So i am really doing all i can for my animals whom i really could not live without. Your comment is your opinion and you are free to express it. Thank you for your thoughts, i do appreciate them.


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

Elizabeth, I didn't make myself clear. My friend's kitten pulled her spay stitches out herself; her owner did NOT remove the stitches. It may not have occurred as late as a week post-spay. The timing is the only thing I'm not sure about. But I do know that the kitten opened the incision herself (including, apparently, the internal sutures), and I do know that her intestines came out of the incision and that she died as a result, in spite of her owner's immediate action in driving her 30 mins to her vet.

Millymace, knowing how both my friend and her kitten suffered after her kitten opened her spay insicion, I'm am particularly sensitive to this issue. I know all about dealing with massive vet expenses on an overstretched budget. I've been doing it for decades. I also know about driving hours to a vet. These things make it very difficult to offer the level of care our animals sometimes require. Still, it's very risky business to leave an abdominal wound accessible to a cat's rough tongue and sharp claws, not to mention environmental pathogens.

Again, I truly hope your girl heals without further mishap.

Laurie


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## hoofmaiden (Sep 28, 2009)

laurief said:


> Elizabeth, I didn't make myself clear. My friend's kitten pulled her spay stitches out herself; her owner did NOT remove the stitches.


Ah, ok.  The pronoun referent wasn't clear!


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## millymace (Feb 12, 2010)

If u read my first post in this forum you will c that her wound is cleaned every day, she gets a sterile dressing and bandaged. So her rough tongue and enironmental pathogens cant get near the wound. Im so pleased with the progress her wound has made! Im going to wait till she has totally healed before removing her stitches, just to b safe.


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

I'm glad to know that you rebandaged the wound after she removed the dressing while you were at work. You hadn't mentioned rebandaging her, so I assumed you decided to allow it to heal open to the air.

Laurie


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## millymace (Feb 12, 2010)

U will all be glad to know that bubbles is totally healed! She has closed beautifuly! She barely even has a scar. No lumps or bumps that shouldnt b there. Definately no signs on any abcess formation.

Keeping her wound clean really wasnt that difficult. And im sure the antibiotics helped alot.

My baby Bubbles is back to her bubbly self again, coz she has no more bandages and stitches to worry about!

Thanks every1 for being so supportive x x x


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Yay! I'm glad she's all better!


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