Luxating Patella Post Operative Problem

Hi Guys,

As you may know, Kosmo had surgery on luxating patellas in mid-July. He's now nearly 9 weeks post op and he's doing great. He's running full tilt, has been taken off all restriction, and I am extremely happy with the results.

There is one problem, however.

3 weeks ago on a Thursday I noticed Kosmo had a blood blister on his left knee. I took him into the vet, who said it may be a reaction to a dissolving stitch and gave me some amoxacillin for 7 days and we were to return last Thursday. I brought him back last thursday and he looked great. His blood blister had nearly dried up and there was barely any evidence it had even been there.

So today I went out and I noticed Kosmo licking his knee - I picked him up to discover a whole new egg just like the first one, in the same exact spot.

I have NO idea what could be causing this, and am really confused as to why it's happening. I am currently awaiting a call back from my vet, who I am sure is going to tell me to come back in, but in the mean time, are there any ideas out there?

The original thought was that it was an internal stitch not dissolving properly, but it was on the tie line, as it's at the exact point where the sutures had stopped. This "new" lump is not a blood blister yet, but I do see a faint shade of blue/purple under the skin, so I have an assumption that it might become one. It's about the size of a full peanut M&M.

Any ideas?? :xfngr::xfngr:

Thanks in advance

Hmmm, hopefully that is just again a minor problem with stitches. Some people really have problems with wounds healing though, for unknown reasons, and I presume this can happen with animals too?

I have a girl that was spay in May-- last month I found a piece of stitch sticking through her abdomen. It was one of the internal, dissolvable stitches. Her body is not handling it well.

Thanks guys for your answers. I got a call back from my vet. She has a feeling that there is a small infection going on inside his knee and we're putting him back on antibiotics and going back in a week. She said that the internal stitches can take anywhere from several weeks to several months to completely dissolve.

Apparently Kosmo doesn't tolerate them very well. I'm lucky that only this spot is acting up.

Sandy, what can they do about your girl's stitch? Are there any plans for removal, or???

I hope this next round of antibiotics does it. :xfngr:

arasara said:

Sandy, what can they do about your girl's stitch? Are there any plans for removal, or???

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They cleaned it up and tucked it back in-- they used surgical glue to close the space where the stitch had eroded through. I had first thought it was a "missed" external stitch-- but it was the wrong color suture.

Isn't that wonderful news about the great success of Kosmo's surgery

I hope that the bit of infection there will be easily cleared up by the antibiotics. :xfngr:

WoodHaven said:

They cleaned it up and tucked it back in-- they used surgical glue to close the space where the stitch had eroded through. I had first thought it was a "missed" external stitch-- but it was the wrong color suture.

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One of our dogs rejected her internal stitches after a spey , unfortunatly we had a very bad vet & she just stuck her dirty fingers in the wound & pulled the stich out ! That was the last time we went there !
It took a while but she is completely better now & you wouldnt know she'd had a problem

Peaches had problems after her spay op, she reacted to the internal stitches too and it took some time for it to heal up properly, but it did get there in the end...

It's great that Kosmo is doing so well after his op, and I really hope that this will soon resolve.