Seroma in a dog

[Gibson]

I have a dog that got a cut on his shoulder so I stapled it up and it's healed nicely. The problem is he developed a seroma on his shoulder/chest. Its about a baseball size pocket of fluid. I've drained it twice but it keeps reappearing. Once it reaches baseball size it doesn't seem to grow anymore. Should I just leave it alone and let it heal naturally Or keep trying to drain it?  Thanks for any advise

[Mike]

It will normally go away on it’s own. But if I have one reoccurring, I’ll cut it open with a scalpel so I can flush it everyday with the water hose.

[Gibson]

How big of an insicion? Like the whole length of it or just an inch or so to flush it

[Mike]

About an inch... you may have to pull it apart to flush it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[justincorbell]

^^ what mike said is what ive always done, a small needle sized hole will close up in no time. I generally cut 1- 1 1/2" wide to allow it to stay open longer to drain. One thing to try to look for is any foreign matter in it that could be causing it to fester. I have one that I just couldn't get rid of a couple years back.... this was after two seperate rounds of meds and 2 seperate cuts to drain it. Finally we decided to go at it our own way and cut straight into it, I ended up pulling out a 3/4" thorn that was laying sideways inside the skin. Soon as we got that out it healed up in no time.

[Reuben]

Yes what Justin said...make sure all foreign matter such as dirt, grass and leaves are washed out of the cut or it will take at least twice as long to heal...

I almost never stitch a cut...cut heal twice a day usually heals it right up...and if it is a larger cut I give  one capsule of 500 milligrams of amoxicillin twice a day for a few days and then cut back to one a day for a total of 7-10 days...

If you feel like you need to staple or stitch make sure to leave a low spot open for drainage.

[Amokabs]

If the pocket that has formed and keeps refilling has formed a rind, you may have to open it as stated and remove the rind so u have nice raw tissue that will heal. If rinsing it out every day as previously described don’t get it to close, then u may have to de-rind it

[Gibson]

Thanks for all the advise guys

[tmatt]

If you have the ability to put a drain tube in it helps as well. I have had to do that on a few dogs that were cut bad.

[Gibson]

I ended up cutting it open about an inch and flushed out with the water hose daily and a week later he's good as new. Appreciate it guys!