414. The abused puppy is operated.

Part I - Blog case No. 412.
http://puppytoilettraining.blogspot.com/2006/10/412-best-place-in-world-for-injured.html

Mrs Baker's puppy came for surgery to cover up the exposed muscles of the affected legs. There was no pus or smell as the puppy had been on daily antibiotics. The wounds were bright red.

"The swabs are is stuck to the wound," Mrs Bakers observed after using the scissors to snip off the protective bandage. "We used saline to wet the swabs before removing it." Actually, all I needed to do was to pull off the swabs and the puppy would not feel any pain. Saline water to wet and loosen the swabs were unnecessary.

I asked Mrs Baker to wait outside as it was all too painful for her. The swabs came off easily. Yellowish pus on the swabs showed that infection would be setting in soon.

"There is bleeding," the domestic worker pointed out to a bright red spot of blood on the examination table.

"Bleeding is due to the friction with the exposed muscles," I explained. "It is important to use the skin to cover the leg muscles, otherwise the puppy will lick the flesh till it gets septic."

But this operation is one I hate to do. The skin is tight. It is a challenging surgery and takes a long time as there are no spare skin available over the exposed elbow. And lesser skin over the hock (ankle) of the hind leg.

If the operation to cover the wound is successful, it could be very satisfying to the owner. Mrs Baker could see that there was no surrounding skin to cover the wounds.

"What a bad case of puppy abuse," she remembered the newspaper reporting about this serial cat killer who enjoyed abusing cats in the neighbourhood. "Are there such cruel people in Singapore?"

I said the puppy probably had a car accident. The lower side of the car had sliced off the skin of his front and back legs.

"How could this be?" Mrs Baker asked.

"The puppy could be hit by the side of the car. As she turned, the other leg could cut too. One back leg joint was extremely swollen."

Of course, it was my pure speculation. Mrs Baker did not think so. Surgery to cover the big exposed elbow and leg muscles would be necessary. After antibiotics of 7 days, the puppy was operated upon.






It took over 2 hours to repair the wound. If there was no infection, the operation would be successful. 90% of the muscles would be covered up. Mrs Baker brought the puppy home to nurse her.