Stitches

How do I care for a dog who keeps ripping out her stitches?

I am fostering a Pit Bull/Husky mix dog for the local no-kill shelter this weekend. Lucy is around 18 months old. Thursday, the vet spayed her and cropped her tail (due to recurrent infection, not cosmetic). While at the shelter Thursday night, Lucy ripped out all of her stitches. The vet patched everything back up on Friday. I took her home Friday afternoon. Today, she ripped out all of her tail stitches - even with the Elizabethan collar on. We managed to get some gauze and tape on it, but not well, and she soon got that off. It's hard to do much, since she really dislikes having her tail touched (no surprises there!). Since we cannot get her to the vet until Monday at the earliest, how should we take care of this? We are keeping her in a crate. She is a very good-natured dog, but very strong, and even two of us cannot get her to hold still for more than a few seconds. Also, she is taking an antibiotic and a NSAID once a day. Please help!

Public Comments

1. I've had this problem with dogs before. Find a bottle of Tea Tree Oil. You can get it at drug stores usually. Apply that around the area... not on the wound itself... just around it. Its heavily aromatic and burns their nose when they sniff around it. Its worked wonders for dogs I've had spayed or have had stitches and pulled them out. You have to keep re-applying it though as sometimes they'll lick it off. It doesn't taste good though. So they usually stop after a while.
2. Put something over it's head so it can't reach. I know it sounds cruel but it works if you do it the right way. Ask your vet for advice.
3. Get a neck collar, you know them big white things that go round the dogs neck, this pevents them pulling out stitches, licking the wound ect
4. You can try getting a bigger e-collar, if that does not help then keeping her in her crate will be the best thing to do, as long as she doesn't get to them there. She can also be sent home w/ sedatives if she continues to do this, ask the vet. In the mean time the only medication that you can give that may make her sleepy is Benadryl (plain nothing else in it) aka Diphenhydramine, goes according to weight. 1mg/lb. If she weighs 50lbs that would be two 25mg tablets by mouth twice a day. This will not interfer w/ her medications. Also, sometimes it has the opposite effect and makes them hyper so test it and see what happens. Call around to other vets in the area they may be able to RX something by doing an exam, doesn't hurt to try.
5. I do not understand how she is getting around the collar in order to bite her tail area? Is it a big enough collar? I have had dobies before and the collar has always worked. Not sure what else to tell you? maybe you should try using a mussle and remove it a couple times a day so she can eat and drink.
6. try getting a mussle so she cant bit at anything untill she can go back to the vets and try some long walks so she wont think about it,
7. what you need to do is get her a plastic thing that gose around there neck so they can not get to the stiches
8. It doesn't sound like the e-collar is large enough, although some very determined dogs will get around them. I fostered a dog who also had the same problem and after a few trips to the vet the only thing that worked was benadryl (dosage goes by weight, look it up on the web) and ambesol liquid (the stuff for tooth pain) to numb the area where the stitches are. Call the vet and see what they would suggest, the dog may need some pain meds, some vets still underestimate a dogs ability to deal with pain. If this dog is not bothering her spay incision she may be having phantom sensations from the nerves trying to deal with confusing signals due to the loss of part of the tail. This will also be helped with pain medication. You are going to have to call the Vet again.
9. Take her to an animal hospital. The collar is not on right if she did this with it on.
10. The E-collar must be too small. It needs to be big enough to go well past the end of the dog's nose, so that it would be impossible for her to reach around and access the stitches.
11. 1) i think spaying is cruel 2)i hope the Elizabethan collar isnt like one of those shock collars. 3) did you try one of those funnel things you put on their necks - that might help a bit. 4)Good luck
12. Try an oversized T-shirt. I put her head through the neck and her front legs in the arms and gathered the shirt near her tail and tied it. Like my vet told me, be creative, you should be able to come up with something.