[zacksmum]

Zack was a bit off colour today and when he refused his lunch I took him straight to the vets. A search of the garden discovered a couple of patches of vomit hidden in his favourite patch of shrubs. Turns out he has a possible hernia!

There was a bit of puffiness round the wound from his 'obstruction' op (see my introduction message) when he got his stitches out last week but the vet was sure this was a suture reaction. However today this puffiness was a swelling the size of a tennis ball. So he's at the vets for another op - hopefully he'll be home tonight.

Has anyone else had this problem with their lab after surgery? Any advice on making sure it does not happen again?

Elaine

 

[zacksmum]

update

just had word from the vet - no hernia (puffiness due to bruising) but he had another stone lodged in his bowel - no telling when he ate it (we have been watching him like a hawk and trying out all the advice previously given) but luckily this time it hadn't damaged the bowel. He's in at the vets overnight and should be home tomorrow.

 

[megaloo]

I do hope Zack gets well soon. Have you thought about putting a micky muzzle on him to stop him picking up stones? It is impossible to keep an eye on him all of the time, you need eyes in the back of your head best wishes to you and Zack

 

[zacksmum]

Hi everyone, Zack came home today from the vet, bright and perky. He had indeed swallowed another stone. His wound is bigger than last week and the vet gave us a muzzle to try out on him. We are also going to try a selection of other muzzles so my hubby Richard doesn't get worried about walking a fierce looking dog with a muzzle!

We had a bit of a worry this evening though. Zack's wound started to leak red stained fluid, so off back down to the vet again. They checked him over and said that he was probably ok. He the fluid was a serum leak that was normal (it just didn't look normal to have two or three teaspoons of stuff leak out of his wound). The vet's were discussing something about chroma????, but I didn't catch the medical term. We have him in a medical collar tonight as he wanted to lick and chew the wound.

Right now, at 10:30pm he is settling down for a snooze. Hopefully all will be ok and in a few days we can remove the collar and get his stitches out (again).

The vet has given us some more antibiotics for him to ward off any infection until his wound heals and we will have to be sure he always uses a muzzle when outside until we can train it out of him.

Fingers crossed all will be ok as it has been quite a stressfull couple of weeks.

Will let you know how he get's on.

Elaine.

 

[megaloo]

Hi
So glad Zack is home again and I wish him well. I am sure he will soon be back to his normal self in no time at all. When you heard the Vet discussing him may be he mentioned the word Haemotoma, which is a collection of blood and can form into what appears to be a lump. I just wondered if that is what he said. Anyway good luck

 

[bradleysmum]

Hi Elaine,

Oh poor little Zack, he has been through the wars hasn't he. I can understand how hard it must be for you, we had a problem with Bradley eating small stones when he was alot younger, which we spoke to the vet about, and they advised us they would probably just get passed out the other end. Thankfully they did, even now, he does try and pick up stones on the odd occasion, but originally it was so hard to get him to stop doing this!

It sounds like a muzzle is the best idea for Zack at the moment, and i'm sure he will get used to wearing it.

The vet's were discussing something about chroma????, but I didn't catch the medical term.

I would perhaps phone your vet tomorrow and ask him again what he meant by this...its easy to miss things sometimes isn't it, especially when you are so worried about your furbabies!

I hope Zack has a restful night, and you and your hubby also.

Bye for now

Julie