*CAUTION* At the end of this thread is a picture. It is VERY GRAPHIC if you do not have a strong stomach I do not recommend looking at the picture!*

Alrighty...where to begin..Well I will start with yesterday morning...

So yesterday morning I went about my new routine with Gizmo. Taking him out of the cage, giving him his antibiotics and bathing him. All was fine with his SX site. His brothers were happy and there were no problems. His e-collar was hopefully coming off today to see how he would do without it. I was excited about knowing he would only need that darn satellite on for another day. No more random HBO channels popping into his little head. It was a gorgeous day so I went out to have a picnic with my Boyfriend. Afterwards I went straight to work at 5 o'clock. I did not get home til about 10:45pm that night. At which point I went upstairs and took the food silo to fill it with Gizmo's food for the evening. The boys were just waking up but they were all snuggled in the hammock.

After placing the silo in the cage I reached in and gave Gizmo is antibiotics. A few minutes later after letting him wake up some more he jumped to the side of the cage..to my horror his incision site was wide open. I took him out, and got a closer look at the site. It was indeed open and much larger than it had been a week ago. The e-collar is still on. He is not able to reach around it and there was no evidence of blood on the collar or on his face to say that he had done it. Unfortunately I was in such a hurry to get him to a vet ASAP that I did not look at the other two in the cage close enough. A quick exam of Gadget did not reveal any traces of blood but I do believe that they were apart of what happened. *sigh*

So I finally got in touch with an emergancy facility that had a vet on call that could see an exotic. (All my other options were off the list) My bf and I rushed him to the vet, they took a look at him, spoke with me and it was all decided that he needed to be sedated again (now four times including last weeks neuter and re-suturing). The problem was he had open pockets beneath the skin that was openly exposed to the air when it should not have been. So while he was under they removed damaged tissue, flushed him out, and she had to place sutured where there was large pockets before finally being able to close and place internal sutures. Oh! The hole did not extend into his Abdominal Cavity! *so relieved* I picked him up before 8am this morning. *exhausted*

CURRENT PLAN
He is now in a separate cage again away from his cagemates. He will not be permitted to go back in with them full time until he is 100% healed. I am looking at having him alone for about a month. In which time there will be supervised play visits so that his scent is still with them and they recognize him as their family. He is getting Subcutaneous pain injections (Torbugesic) until tomorrow when I can pick up Buprenex (another pain medication) from my work to give him. I insisted he did not receive any more Metacam. He will be on Antibiotics for another 10 days. I have to pick up Yogurt from the store and give that to him every other day.



*GRAPHIC CONTENT BELOW*

The first picture is what the incision site looked last week. The Second picture is what the new hole looked like last night at the Vet. I will upload a new picture of the NEW closed incision site tonight once he is awake. The little monster is so tired..I do not want to wake him up yet. :(

My, that looks terrible. Have they put the cone of shame on him yet?

Omi, we never took it off from Last Saturday. (not yesterday the Saturday before)

OMG! I'm so sorry....that' looks just terrible.

I sure hope he heals fast so you all can put this behind you.

Oh no! Poor Gizmo! Bad bad cage mates to do that after nearly a week just when that e-collar was going to get to come off! Does the vet think there was possibly infection setting in under the skin?

*shutter* That looks terrible! I am so hoping for a speedy recovery for you, as well as praying that no infection sets in. Poor little Gizmo, you are both in my thoughts and prayers!

Thanks Jazz! I do too. :(

Sara, She is not entirely sure if it will get infected so I have to keep an extra extra extra extra close eye on him. He is on the antibiotics for longer..and I have a culturette I can send out to our reference lab at work tomorrow just to make sure there is no sign of an infection and to make sure the bacteria there is not resistant to the antibiotics we are giving.

Oh my, that looks terrible. Poor little Guy. I hope he heals up quickly. Keep us posted.

Hopeing for a speedy recovery.
Please keep us posted.

~Erica~

oh man, I hope he heals fast! I feel your pain with the vet and meds, but you sounds like you are on top of things and that means Gizmo WILL recover!!

How is he doing this to himself with a e-collar? Maybe you should rename him Houdini? <blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by crazed_girl</i>
<br />Omi, we never took it off from Last Saturday. (not yesterday the Saturday before)
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Thanks everyone! I'm hoping for the best...



<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Omis n Kais g-ma</i>
<br />How is he doing this to himself with a e-collar? Maybe you should rename him Houdini? <blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by crazed_girl</i>
<br />Omi, we never took it off from Last Saturday. (not yesterday the Saturday before)
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

From what I can gather it was not him that actually did it but either Gadget or Gimmick. There was no sign of blood around the e-collar or Gizmo's face that would have meant he is the one that did this. What I can speculate is that the others "senced" something was wrong with the area and opened it up... Like necrotic tissue.

Okay..what a day...

Gizmo is still lethargic today and he now has diarrhea which I suspect is stress and the antibiotics (which he has to be on for another 11 days..great! -sarcasm-) He is interested in his food and water but he isn't interested in running in his wheel any more. :( So I ran out tonight once I picked up my new bike to get some more yogurt... I've decided to mix that into his mix since I know he is eating and I want to make sure he gets some yogurt.

I also sent out his Culture and Sensitivity today, it can take 3-5 days to get back. Let's hope there is nothing serious growing in his abdomen after it had been re-opened.

Anyway..that's it for my update.

Poor boy. Last I had one of mine on antibiotics and they got the runs, the vet gave me a probiotic for her. I think it was Probiocin or something like that. Hopefully his lethargy is just because he isn't feeling well, and he'll perk back up in a few days!

Both of you are in my thoughts and prayers, I hope everything works out.

Thanks fox0r and LHill. He has perked up significantly since Monday.

It's almost been a full week now since his second incident. On Wednesday I had to clean his e-collar so my mom had to hold him while I was cleaning it off and placing new clean tape around it so it fit properly. While I was taping he wriggled out of her hands and went right for the incision site. Luckily I snatched his little fuzzy butt up quickly. He got one bite in on the incision site. Not enough to do any damage thankfully. I had her hold him again while I finished the e-collar and then placed it back on him.

I really think he is going to be in this e-collar for another week or two until it is 100% healed. I feel terrible but I know it is for his own good. We can not have another rough weekend. HOPEFULLY this weekend will go smoothly with no visits to the vet!

Anyway, I'll be in the chat on and off today..right now it is time to bathe the boy.

Still sending best wishes your way. Hope the little guy keeps moving in the right direction and gives you a calm weekend.

Sending my prayers you're way.
Still hopeing for a speedy recovery.

~Erica~

Im hoping your baby gets better!

Keep us posted, I'm glad everything is working out!

Ok, I'm currently typing with one hand..the other is holding gizmo after his evening bath... (he's so lucky)

I haven't been around for a few days. Gizmo has been ok. Still feisty. I spoke with the vet yesterday about his Culture and Sensitivity. He had abnormal bacteria growths but the antibiotics he is on should take care of both. (Yay!) I have to call the vet tomorrow b/c during his bath tonight a few scabs fell off and there is a little bleeding. I saw two small holes, one at each end of the incision site, so I want to make sure that it is normal after 2 surgeries.. Otherwise he is eating, drinking, and active. I do have a picture of the incision site now..(Thanks PetLuv15 for reminding me!)


I took this picture tonight after his bath so that is why he looks scruffy..EDIT: His fur is stained yellow, there is no discharge from the incision and he is spiky because his fur is wet.

Looking good! So much better than the last ones - they did a great job stitching it up!

Wow, big difference. I must have missed it but why did they tell you to bathe him?

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Omis n Kais g-ma</i>
<br />Wow, big difference. I must have missed it but why did they tell you to bathe him?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

He can't clean himself with the e-collar on. Since it has been on for almost 4 full weeks now he has been unable to groom himself properly. Also since he is not in with Gimmick and Gadget they can not groom him a little bit either. So if I do not clean him up he becomes sticky and just plain dirty. I just use warmed water(nothing too hot) and cotton balls to clean him up, especially around his wound. I don't want anything too abrasive.

Yes! The stitching is -much- better than the first time. But I am not giving him a chance to open this site up! Not happening!

Just a side note, I can't believe it has been almost a full month since his neuter! Time has flown by, I only feel like it has been two weeks..not 3.5!

have you tried using vetericyn? it would really help with healing also.

Thanks Dooney, I've been applying neosporin to it after his baths.

UPDATE!!!

Okay! I am so happy right now. :D I can't even contain how ecstatic I am! Tonight before Gizmo's bath the main scab had finally come off. It was attached by a part of suture so a little -snip snip- (which was ok for me to do. I spoke with the vet about it to be sure) and it was gone. I gave him his bath, trimmed his nails, gave him his third to last dose of antibiotics and...(see picture below)





hehehe! I know it is a little blurry..he's a squirmy one.. BUT It looks so good!! I mean I've seen the process but to me it has been soooo slow. You should be able to see a drastic change since the very very beginning. I'm hoping by the end of the week the last little raw area at the bottom will be nicely healed and we can remove his e-collar! -squee-

I'M SO EXCITED!

That is looking FANTASTIC!!!

Thank you for keeeping us updated.
I'm glad he is doing better!!
Still sending postive thoughts and prayer your way.

~Erica~

WOW you have done wonderful with his care, he looks amazing!! Can't wait to see the next pic update :) where he is free from the collar and all healed up! Is the infection gone? Always in our thoughts.

Thanks everyone! I know he is marking each day as an inmate would of how long he has been in solitary confinement. Lol.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by LHill</i>
<br />WOW you have done wonderful with his care, he looks amazing!! Can't wait to see the next pic update :) where he is free from the collar and all healed up! Is the infection gone? Always in our thoughts.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Thank you. :}

There was no infection to begin with, the vets wanted him on antibiotics just in case since the area was so open to contaminants. He is no longer on the antibiotics (YAY for both of us! Lol)

I'm dreading his next pictures actually. >.< He has a bald ring around his neck from fighting the e-collar so much in the beginning. And he has bald patches on his back legs where he over groomed himself the night of his neuter while he was at the vet. :( I felt terrible but I couldn't have picked him up the day of the neuter because I had to work..

I am off work tomorrow so I am debating on whether or not I should try and remove the e-collar tomorrow. I probably will..I already have a plan of how I am going to do this! hahaha Plus the vet is open longer hours tomorrow in case I need them.

All I can say right now is...FREEEEEEDOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!! and that is for Gizmo. :}

He is free of his e-collar! I have spent the past hour in the bathroom with him watching him like a HAWK after I took the e-collar off. He proceeded to groom his belly where the incision site was like there is no tomorrow! I held him in one hand in a blanket while he licked and licked and licked, etc...

He is now in an actual pouch! A POUCH! A REAL POUCH! (haha I'm so happy and I know he is too) continuing to groom. I haven't placed him back in his cage and I probably wont til I go to work this evening because I want to be 100% sure he wont bug it. So he is in a pouch on my stomach as I type this right now. :D I have a lot of picture of him just grooming his belly so I will post them after my camera charges.

~SQUEE!!!!!~