should I be worried?

[12lawliet12Snickers, Truffle]

Yesterday Truffle got neutered, and this morning when I went to check on him, there was a little bit of blood on the bedding. I called the vet and they said that a little bit of bleeding is normal, but if I was worried to bring him back in. Well, tonight when I went to clean his stitches, they were bleeding still. I'm bringing him to the vet first thing tomorrow morning, but how bad is this? Is it normal, or did the stitches come out? He did jump last night, and that really worried me. He seems to be acting normally, begging me for food like he hasn't been fed in a month and begging to be allowed to play with the dog, but I'm really concerned about the blood. Snickers got neutered as well and his stitches aren't bleeding at all.

 

[BunnyWabbit]

I don't think you're wrong in being concerned I would be too!

Time stamps are all messed up for me on this forum. Have you taken him to the vet? How is he doing now?

 

[12lawliet12Snickers, Truffle]

I'm waiting for my mom to wake up to take him. He's been hopping in and out of his cage and into the little playpen I set up for him. I'm about to clean his stitches again, hopefully the bleeding's stopped.

 

[LakeCondo]

The jumping may have caused a stitch to come out, but the vet can fix it easily. So concern was good, but only low-level worry, I'd say.

 

[molly]

Don't clean the incision too much if he's bleeding, you'll only slow down clotting. You can put a cold compress on it as well (if he doesn't struggle too much), that will helps as well. As long as it's not a lot of blood, it's probably best to leave it than put him under again to close it again. I've had my rats open up incisions post op several times - it's scary but as long as it's superficial it resolves on it's own.

 

[tonyshuman]

It depends on what the vet did. If you can see stitches, there shouldn't be blood. The vet also could have used skin glue, or could have left the incision open. This last option is becoming more common lately and may lead to more bleeding being observed. It shouldn't be more than a few drops, though, and the bleeding should stop. Others are right, if there is clotted blood there don't disturb it. If you see wet blood, after all this time, he probably needs another examination. They might not need to put him back under anesthesia. A bit of skin glue or some other veterinary products that stop bleeding might be enough.

 

[missyscove]

A little bit of oozing might be normal, but it really depends on how much blood he's losing. If in doubt, I'd bring him in to have it looked at.

I don't think you're wrong in being concerned I would be too!

Time stamps are all messed up for me on this forum. Have you taken him to the vet? How is he doing now?

If you're finding the times aren't correct, then you need to go up to my account at the top of the screen on the black bar and then down to edit forum options and adjust the time zone to match whatever time zone we're in. We have members from number of different countries on this forum as well so what is "morning" for one may well be evening for another.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Our vet had us contain our males to their hutch for 4 days then let them out to run--maybe a little too soon with your baby.

 

[12lawliet12Snickers, Truffle]

The bleeding stopped and everything is back to normal! He goes back to the vet on the 15th to get the stitches out.