Open wound after surgery

My 8 year old mix underwent surgery two weeks ago to remove a mast cell tumor on her leg.  The wound was sutured and stapled, but because a large chunk of skin was removed, a lot of stress was put on the incision, the staples and many stitches popped out leaving an area of exposed muscle about 3 x 3 inches.  It is raw, bloody and gross looking.

The vet says there is not enough skin left to close the wound again and claims that the area will eventually granulate, fill in and close up but the wound looks so daunting I'm doubting it will ever happen.  I'm bringing her back every other day right now for bandage changes so the vet is seeing the wound pretty often.  She's on a couple antibiotics and pain meds.

Does anyone have any experience with this?  Can a dog with a large, deep open wound heal up?  I'm unconcerned about any scars, I just want the thing to close up.  Are their any treatments you know of that can help the wound heal faster?  Thanks.

[Thomas Dock, CVJ, Vet. Technician]

Hi there and I am sorry to hear that your pup had to undergo surgery and now this has happened as well.

Believe it or not, these wounds actually heal up pretty nicely.   In my 15 years working in veterinary hospitals, I have seen everything from "degloving" injuries where the dog's skin on his leg was torn off after being hit by a car to severe burns.  In many cases, the skin was able to recover and return to an almost normal state.

The important thing is to continue to follow your veterinarian's instructions and don't miss any of those bandage changes!!

If you would like another veterinarian's point of view, you might consider posting this question in the Ask A Vet Expert Surgery forum.

Good luck with your little girl!

[ginger899]

This sounds horrible, but I too am sure it will heal. Just watch out for any signs of infection in the wound. Strangely, there well may not be.

A short personal thing...once I had an accident with an hatchet. I cut off a large piece of the end of my finger (but bone intact) I kept the wound clean, but open to the air. It looked bad. But it healed just fine, and there wasn't even much pain. I left it to Nature and watched for any signs of infection. It is amazing how wounds like this do granulate, and close up.

[peekawho]

It will eventually granulate in and may not be pretty, but it will heal...provided that local tumor control is accomplished.  Your dog should be on antibiotics as long as the wound is open and draining.  

[bildo]

Thanks for the replies everyone.  I reposted the question on the Ask a Vet forum as Mr. Dock recommended.

[lizalou1978]

i know how u feel,my dog has had the same thing as your dog and ive been really worried about it.Im hoping it all clears up for both of them

[bella1062002]

i was just looking online to see if i could find any info on this topic, as it's happened to my poor pup, too.  she's an 8 1/2 year old boxer and just had a mast cell removed from her thigh...it's actually the third surgery in the area, so the amount of skin is minimal.  seems like a lot of time has passed since your pup had this issue - how did it turn out? any advice you could offer would be appreciated.  we're going back to the vet quite a bit, too...

[cjmh]

Our 11 ½ year old Irish Setter has the same thing and its been 5 weeks with that ugly wound.  It looks like it’s healing but ever so slowly.  We’re letting it air dry now -- BUT she lays on it so it must not be hurting her at all.  Thank goodness.  

Glad to know we aren't the only ones dealing with this.  

[cjmh]

I just noticed the 2009 date -- did it ever heal?