WWYD?

So, my foster Buddy had a mast cell tumor removed from the back of his right front leg awhile back. Low grade and clean margins but they took one hell of a hunk out of his leg. It was not pretty when he came home since there's so little skin to work with in that area but it healed up and two weeks later he got his stitches out. The area was still pretty red & scabby at the time and a week or two later (once it had healed up some more), I noticed that there was a stray stitch in his leg and the area was puffing up again. Back to the vet we went - where they took out the stitch in question and put him on another week of antibiotics. I figured it was no big deal. He finished up the antibiotics earlier this week and then last night I noticed that he had a scab on that same area that was coming off, so I grabbed a tissue and tried to clean it off....but it was stuck. Like stuck to a piece of string still attached to his leg stuck. I'll be damned if it wasn't another piece of the stitches in his leg! It must've been under the skin and somehow worked it's way out. We trimmed it off as close to the skin as we could and I've been putting Neosporin on it but now I'm paranoid that there's still more stitches left under the skin. I'm not sure if I should keep an eye on it or if I should call my vet and at him.

Absolutely call your vet! Inside stitches should be dissolvable, and you should not be paying for complications from failure to remove all the stitches. I know you are tempted to , but I have found the "Help me understand" approach works well, as in "Help me understand how there are still stitches in his leg." Good luck, and hugs to Buddy.

I think Nancy has given the best advice here, although the temptation to issue a smackdown to the vet is understandable.

Poor Buddy. His poor leg must be so irritated. :(

I agree with Nancy and Renee. Hope Buddy feels better soon.

Yeah, I could never really get angry with my vet. He's far too nice! It just gave me a case of the heebie jeebies when it happened! I did call there this afternoon and I am going to take him back in on Saturday morning to have them take a look at it.

On a completely unrelated note, Buddy had a seizure last Sunday morning. It didn't last too long and we haven't seen any others (and he has no history of them), so hopefully it was one of those weird one time things.

Damn annoying - poor Buddy. Good advice given, Brenda. I hope there are no more stitches.

I would be utterly annoyed, however, I would live at the vet, if need be...those techs know Julian by sight and when I call and they say, what is your pet's name...I say Julian...and everytime, they say, Ah yes, Julian...the baby pug that cannot breathe...

Always call your vet, even for miniscule stuff so they get to know him & you get piece of mind, regardless of anything else....

Great advice given...but please take him back in...I know the stitches should be disolvable but they may have put in the other ones by mistake.

Soory for my I have seen too much!! Good Luck, Melissa