Open wound from mass cell tumor

[MTboxer]

Our 7 year old boxer just had a mass cell tumor removed from her back leg; luckily the test resulst came back a really low grade, so hoping for the best!

But, due to large margins being removed; the center is not healing. Luckily my wife and I work out of the house so we are able to keep an eye on her, so nothing we are doing wrong.

A week after the tumor removal, she had to get stiched again b/c the skin was pulled too tight and (the center) was not healing, stiches were ready to come apart. The vet put some type of tube stiching to try to relieve some pressure.

Today, 5 days later; one of the tubes came loose, and the scabs are starting to fall off so what we thought was maybe healing, doesn't appear to be. It also appears the skin on the inner side of the tubing, toward the incsision, is dying. Talked to the vet today, taking her in tomorrow, but vet is kind of at a loss of what to do.

Thus...any suggestions? As there is no stiching together the skin, as it's about the size of a 50 cent piece.

Will an open wound like this heal?

 

[Cami]

MCT removals are notorious for having issues with healing. The histamine they contain wreaks havoc on healthy skin tissue (weakens it).
Ask your vet about giving Benadryl....should be something that was suggested to you at the get go. If they assumed this was a MCT prior to removal they also should have administered it prior to surgery. You might even see it listed on your invoice.
My girl had sutures rip/tear from the skin after many tumor removals. We eventually started having staples but to be honest while it seemed to hold better those too would tear.
Are you making sure she isn't able to lick the incision? She should be wearing some sort of collar that keeps her away from it. I know you said you are with her but it's impossible to watch them 24/7.
Sending healing vibes to your girl.

 

[Tuff Love]

Our boy Tuff went through the same thing with his 1st MCT removal. It was also on his leg where there really isn't much give in the skin and the incision was huge to get clear margins.
We had to take him back to the vet twice for popped stitches and staples and there was a half inch gap of flesh exposed. Our vet put some "relief cuts" on either side of the incision to help give the wound a little more flexibility to close, but that still wasn't enough and I was so worried it would never heal and get infected... It was a nightmare. Eventually they gave us a Hibiclens rinse and a cream. I can't remember the name of the cream but the rinse was blue and was used every day to help keep the wound clean and the cream was spread directly on the wound to help promote tissue growth. It took forever to heal but the combination of those 2 things did work and skin grew back in the wound (more like scar tissue); hair never returned there. It was a rough recovery for sure. After that I couldn't get within 15 feet of Tuff with a Q-tip without him hightailing it in the other direction haha. Maybe you can ask your vet about the cream- they should know what you're talking about.

 

[MTboxer]

There is no way she is licking it being my wife and I work out of the house; thank goodness for this as don't know what would have done. She freaks out with a cone on her head, have tried it a few different times now, and in the past, and it's not a good experience.

And my wife hears every move Bailey makes at night, while we have no kids (wait, the dogs are our kids!) it must be the motherly instinct. Vet tech yesterday said it didn't look like licking was going on.

While it's obvious that there is no pulling the skin back together, vet said it doesn't look to bad. So they removed a few stitches and bandaged it, we are to change the bandages every 3 days and recheck on Monday.

My wife and I were talking after the vet trip; odds are it's not as bad as we were thinking, we are just overly concerned.

 

[Roge]

I am glad that the news from the vet was better than expected.
I think that there is no such thing as beeing over concerned, its better to be safe than sorry,

 

[LVMYBOXERS]

I am having the same problem. Emma has a tumor in her leg and is going to be remove next month. The vet also told me it were a bad spot because is not enough skin there. It is right in her knee.
Very interesting reading all your experiences with it. Thank you for posting. Hope your girl get well soon.

 

[MTboxer]

I am having the same problem. Emma has a tumor in her leg and is going to be remove next month. The vet also told me it were a bad spot because is not enough skin there. It is right in her knee.
Very interesting reading all your experiences with it. Thank you for posting. Hope your girl get well soon.

Not knowing what you know about mct; as is new to us...Bailey was on prednisone for 2 weeks before the surgery; as research has shown (per our vet and I believe I read it on the forum) this can help reduce the tumor size. If your vet hasn't mentioned this may want to ask.

May want to ask vet how they close it up with not much skin, just to see what they say.

Hope all goes well and hoping for good test results on the stage / rating of the tumor!

Changed the bandage today, and while the healing looks a little nasty (although doesn't appear to be a "divet" anymore), vet said it actually is looking good. Wound is starting to granulate (I think this was the term) which is a good thing; but vet thought would still be another couple of weeks before it heals over.