Split open spay wound - What to do

[Toady]

Last Thursday I took Madogan and Glenfiddoch down to a nearby vet for their sterilisation operations (I'm not a breeder and Madogan's a horror hormonal pee-er), they went through the surgeries with no hassles at all and was told keep them quiet for the next week and stitches get removed 10 days post surgery.

Except Glenfiddoch didn't relax like we had hoped and Saturday night somehow pulled open her stitches in her 1 inch long spay wound. Taking the vets suggestion we tried to super glue it shut last night but couldn't get it to join together, we also noticed it's starting to heal and yes it is a bit swollen and sore but no sign of infection or anything bad so probably too late to glue most of it shut again.

Wondering what you more 'senior' bunny folk would do - pay for a vet to restitch it closed, put some sort of bandage around her belly to hope it somehow help closes the wound a bit or leave it open but keep it clean (weak iodine solution or a weak disinfectant) and wait for it to heal in a month or so instead of just a few weeks?

It's not worrying her at all and she's eating, drinking, pooing and weeing with no worries at all... it's worrying us more than it is her.

 

[squidpop]

I think it might depend on how many days since she got the stitches?

 

[Dood]

Without seeing the wound it is hard to tell.

At the least I would take extreme precautions to keep her cage clean and ensure she is not licking at it.

 

[PSFAngoras]

I would contact the vet and ask their opinion again, make sure to tell them that you couldn't super glue it shut, but odds are if its already to the point where they can no longer stitch it, they won't damage any new tissue to cut off the dead, dry skin preventing them from stitching it. Keeping it clean is certainly an must, but I wouldn't deal with bandages on a rabbit as I would be more afraid if them ingesting the material and getting some kind of intestinal blockage.

 

[bobqdevon]

First, a picture would help.

Usually, if it's been a day, I'd stitch or staple it myself, but then again, I have those supplies at hand. After 3 days, there's no point in trying to re-stitch it, unless it rips completely open again.

Not sure if you can use neosporin on rabbits, but if you can, it probably wouldn't hurt.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

Keep it clean, moist with ointment and covered with a bandage, if possible. It will heal from the bottom up at this point.

 

[Toady]

Not the best photo but it's a bit hard to get a shot of a rabbit belly by yourself when they won't stay still.

Squidpop - her surgery was on Thursday, so it's now about day 6 post surgery, so bit too late to try stitching or glueing it shut again.

The vet said if I couldn't glue it shut then try to bandage which should close the edges a bit but I too am worried about her trying to nibble at it. My mother's a human nurse and agrees to keep it clean and let it heal from the inside out, true all her experience has been with humans but better than having no help at all. I'll try to get a better photo sometime today while we're cleaning it.

 

[bobqdevon]

Keep it clean, moist with ointment and covered with a bandage, if possible. It will heal from the bottom up at this point.

Agreed. 6 days post op, you can just leave it uncovered and let it heal. just make sure to keep it clean.

 

[Dood]

Not much to do this late after the incision

There are two layers of stitches. A set of dissolvable on the inside muscles, that are likely causing the swelling, and a second on the hide that she chewed out. This is the area you need to watch for infection and puss, if it developes it can seep through the inner row of stitching and that is a MAJOR mess.

As OneAcreFarm stated, it will have to heal from the inside out. Keep it clean and watch for infection.

 

[squidpop]

I would be very careful with iodine solutions- I put betadine which i think is only 3% iodine on a rabbit wound - I put it on a scratch and after the scratch looked more like a cut, the betadine seemed to eat the tissue. Later I researched it and found many sites saying betadine kills tissue- inhibits wounds from healing by killing the cells in the skin that help to form new tissue (and so does peroxide). I found lots of information on treating rabbit wounds with manuka honey or raw honey. So I wouldn't use anything except honey on a rabbit wound now unless it was prescribed by a vet.

Here is a Medrabbit article where a person uses manuka honey to pack a abcess. http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_disea ... _treat.htm

Just found this Medical study online where Manuka honey proved to be successful on healing rabbit wounds:

Effects of Topical Application of Honey on Cutaneous Wound Healing in Rabbits
Journal of Veterinary Medicine Series A
Volume 45, Issue 1-10, pages 181–188, February-December 1998
Summary
Although it has been known for many centuries that honey can accelerate wound healing, there have only been isolated reports of its use in the healing of burns, ulcers, infected wounds and open wounds. None of these reports developed a model to assess the changes in morphological and biochemical properties due to topical application of honey on cutaneous wounds. In the present investigation, efficacy of honey in the healing of cutaneous wounds of rabbits was studied on the basis of histopathological and biochemical changes. For this reason 40 healthy White New Zealand rabbits were randomly assigned to four equal groups. Using aseptic surgical technique, a 3 cm incision was made on the skin of the left thigh of each rabbit and the wounds of five rabbits in each group were twice daily treated with topical application of 5 ml pure unheated honey. The other half remained as untreated controls. Rabbits in groups A, B, C and D were biopsied on days 2, 7, 14 and 21 postoperatively respectively, and biopsies from the lesions of all groups were collected for histopathological studies and from groups C and D for biomechanical evaluations as well. Treated lesions showed less oedema, fewer polymorphonuclear and mononuclear cell infiltration, less necrosis, better wound contraction, improved epithelialization and lower glycosaminoglycan and proteoglycan concentration on days 2 and 7 postoperatively and better tissue organization and consequently an improved tissue ultimate strength and yield strength on days 14 and 21 postoperation. These findings suggest that honey applied topically on cutaneous wounds accelerates the healing processes and appears to have an important property that makes it ideal as a dressing for cutaneous wounds.

 

[Toady]

Squidpop, at the moment we're only making sure it's clean by wiping it over with saline, I've heard great things about Manuka honey and might give that a go in a few days.

 

[Marymotherofmany]

Staple

First, a picture would help.

Usually, if it's been a day, I'd stitch or staple it myself, but then again, I have those supplies at hand. After 3 days, there's no point in trying to re-stitch it, unless it rips completely open again.

Not sure if you can use neosporin on rabbits, but if you can, it probably wouldn't hurt.

Staple It your self? how? With what kind of staples? How do you do the stitches? Do you have a how to blog or reference I could read?