The surgery went well. The incision looked clean at discharge. Three days later the owner is back — the wound edges have separated, there’s discharge, and the tissue underneath doesn’t look like it’s planning to close on its own. This is post-surgical wound dehiscence, and it’s one of the more deflating events in general practice. […]
You’ve done the repair. The internal obturator was transposed, the sutures were placed under acceptable tension, and the dog recovered well. Eight months later the owner is back — the hernia is on the same side, the tissue looks worse than the first time, and you’re working in a field that has already been through […]
A Shih-Tzu presents with acute blepharospasm and a mucopurulent discharge. Fluorescein staining confirms a superficial corneal ulcer. Antibiotics are dispensed. At the two-week recheck, the ulcer looks exactly the same. Another course of antibiotics. At week four, still no improvement. The owner is frustrated. You’re treating the ulcer — but not the wound environment that’s […]
Oral tumors in the caudal oral cavity present one of the more demanding surgical scenarios in small animal practice. The tumor is often large before the owner notices it, the anatomy is unforgiving, and the preferred treatment — wide excision with clear margins — regularly produces defects that are difficult to close without significant morbidity. […]
It’s day 18. The wound is clean, it’s moist, it’s covered. And it looks exactly the same as it did at day 10. No new granulation islands. No edge contraction. The exudate has shifted from serous to something slightly cloudier. The tissue around the margin is pale instead of the pink-red you’d expect in an […]
Your patient is a 6-year-old Labrador with a recurrent perineal hernia. The first repair used polypropylene mesh — the standard choice, reasonable cost, familiar technique. Now you’re back in the same field, same defect, and the question isn’t just how to fix it again. It’s whether the material you choose this time will produce a […]
A 5-year-old French Bulldog presents with a two-day history of squinting and epiphora. On slit-lamp exam, you estimate the ulcer at 50 to 60 percent stromal depth — deeper than you’d like, but not yet a descemetocele. There’s no obvious melting, no positive fluorescein pooling in a central dimple, no iris visible. The question in […]
A client returns for a two-week post-op recheck after a routine mass removal on their dog’s flank. The incision is clean, the dog is comfortable, and healing is progressing normally. Then the client asks the question you’ll hear again and again: “Is the scar going to look like this forever?” The honest answer is more […]
A dog presents after being struck by a vehicle. The skin over the distal limb has separated completely from the underlying tissue — a circumferential degloving injury exposing tendons and fascia across several centimeters. The tissue is contaminated, the margins are irregular, and the owner is asking what comes next. Degloving injuries are among the […]
A 4-year-old English Bulldog presents with a two-day history of squinting and ocular discharge. On slit-lamp exam, the ulcer is larger than you expected — and the corneal stroma has a soft, gelatinous appearance at the margin. You’re looking at a melting corneal ulcer. The clock is now running. Keratomalacia, or corneal melting, isn’t just […]
