Follow-up on the post-surgical seroma at http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/message/4315 Something I sent my dear friends who are also FHL moderators this morning before I hit the sack: Between 5 and 5:30 Whizzie either had the stitches give out where the seroma had formed or she pulled them. I found her at 5:30 with omentum hanging out -- a LOT of omentum hanging out. She would not stay in plastic wrap (which I know is used in emergencies for that kind of injury for humans) so we got her lower body into a plastic bag and drove to the hospital to meet our vet for emergency surgery. So we are just back from that, and it was just in time. The omentum was dragging along a bit of intestine. Anyway, we are home from our first time helping with an abdominal procedure, and she has extra meds, tough antibotics, antibiotic stitches and staples. Looks like a post-surgical seroma in a ferret can signal the potential for worse happening afterward. Stitches are not Whizzie's friends... Okay, more details: Whizzie is having small meals about ever two hours and actually seems a bit more comfy than she was with the seroma. Boy, did we all have a scare, though. When I first saw the ropes of bloody stuff hanging from her I thought that at least part was intestines, But fortunately, a tad of the coils of intestine that the omentum dragged along did not emerge at all until at the hospital (about an hour's drive away normally but with such little traffic and luck with most of the timing of the lights we were there much sooner). Basically, she had her own version of some liposuction... The reason I knew about plastic wrap was because of the Red Cross training I long ago had, but she kept pulling it off. A large plastic zip lock freezer bag was absolutely IDEAL for protection with me holding her (TIP). The reason we caught it fast is because in her case with a partial pancreatomy we were providing meals every 2 hours, so Steve and I were doing shifts, and at times she had an extra check -- in this case because I was returning to my chair from the bathroom so i stopped and checked. We all got lucky. We still don't know if her tissue gave out or if she tried chewing at the seroma location. Point to take to heart: a post surgical seroma at an incision might indicate a place of vulnerability so get it checked out promptly even if it seems okay long-distance, and monitor any ferret with such a seroma rigorously. Second point to take to heart: luckily, everything that looks like intestines is not so don't give up. Learn to live and live to learn. 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 5774]