Sukie,

Oh dear, poor little Whizzie. Thank goodness you had the presence of
mind to act as appropriately and quickly as you did.

Linguini had exploratory surgery in August with a great deal of
bruising and inflammation post-surgically. Fortunately, the homeopathic
remedies I used resolved the bruising and inflammation within a few
days. She had internal stitches but the external incision was held
together with glue.

About a month after her surgery I noticed little bubbles forming around
the incision, which had healed nicely. No redness so not an infection
but it sure looked like she was herniating. Sure enough her internal
stitches were giving out. The vet opened her up again and redid all the
internal stitching. He suspects that the extreme inflammation following
the initial surgery had weakened the internal sutures. He put her
into a latex sleeve after the second surgery. She hated it since it
restricted her movement, she couldn't even squat to pee. By the time
I got her home her 4 paws were swollen and beet red. I slit about an
inch of it and within seconds her paws were normal. However, she still
hated it and struggled until she managed to crawl partially out of it,
getting it wrapped around her back legs. So I just cut the darn thing
off her.

She's fine and active as ever now. But this is another example that we
need to watch our babies very carefully after major surgery.

Tressie A. Dutchyn, MA
ID PhD student, Dalhousie University

Research Associate
Atlantic Interdisciplinary Research Network for Social & Behavioral
Issues Hepatitis C & HIV/AIDS
Department of Community Health & Epidemiology
Faculty of Medicine
Dalhousie University

[Posted in FML 5775]