Among the ferret lists I am currently on (not a lot due to lack of
time but two are large) I have heard from 2 others who had ferrets
whose stitches gave way due to seromas undermining tissue integrity.

Seromas are kind of huge blisters under all the layers of skin in
that they are a collection of serum. I've been told that they can be
painful.

It looks like when a post-op seroma happens not only does draining make
sense but adding staples in case the stitches pull right through the
skin also makes sense. In Whiz's case the stitches were intact where
they were attached to the omentum but they lost their hold on the skin.

Whizzie is happily eating liquidy meals every two hours and looks
and acts great now. She is on added meds, of course, and carefully
monitored in case any sign of infection occurs. Peritonitis is the
worry when a ferret has the kind of problem she did, but thank
goodness for everything working in her emergency.

Later note:

BTW, the tad of intestine coils that began to be pulled along by the
"cords" of omentum were not as red as the omentum (though I gather that
they can be but are usually lighter with blood vessels along a side)
and the ones we briefly saw had about the diameter of the holes in
elbow macaroni, so very thin. It is easy to see how blockages happen
when ferrets eat latex, rubber, etc. The omentum came out looking like
thick, bloody coils.

This sounds to be a very rare complication, but we know now that if a
post-surgical seroma happens we will get the area stapled in case the
stitches rip through the flesh.

Thank goodness for having great vets, a wonderful hubby, the plastic
bag we needed to keep her lower body in while carrying her, and having
a strong little ferret.

Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html

[Posted in FML 5775]