Post op dog castrate swelling

RE: Post op dog castrate swelling

Leah Parkinson — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 20:29:32 GMT

Thank you for your reply- yes I agree some swelling is to be expected. It was just a couple of cases recently that swelled up dramatically during recovery post op that I was puzzled over. We had to use cold/ice pack compresses pretty much straight away to combat scrotal haematomas and just wondered if anyone had other techniques that helped with this.

RE: Post op dog castrate swelling

Leah Parkinson — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 20:17:58 GMT

Thank you for your reply- I shall bear the cream in mind!

RE: Post op dog castrate swelling

Leah Parkinson — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 20:16:55 GMT

Thank you for your reply- yes I think it is scrotal haematoma as it appears to happen during recovery post op. All vets castrate by the open method and double ligate everything. All patients get meloxicam with their pre-medication and are calm during their recovery. We haven't changed anything that we do but seem to have had a couple swell recently and have needed cold/ice pack compressing and pressure bandaging to reduce swelling but it doesn't help that much! Maybe we have just been in lucky in these couple of cases?

RE: Post op dog castrate swelling

Leah Parkinson — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 20:10:04 GMT

Thank you for your reply- it has happened a couple of times immediately post op during recovery as opposed to after the patient has gone home. I think it must be due to a surgical reason? But we cannot link it to anything in particular as we always castrate dogs with open method and everything is double ligated by all vets.

RE: Post op dog castrate swelling

Leah Parkinson — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 20:07:08 GMT

Thank you for your reply, yes that's exactly what we did but it didn't seem to help much and the patient was very relaxed and not bouncing around his kennel. There was no bleeding coming from the wound either and he was not bothered by the swelling ( not painful) but it doesn't look nice! So I just wondered if there were any other techniques that other people do to prevent it happening as I cannot seem to find a reason why!

RE: Post op dog castrate swelling

Leah Parkinson — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 20:03:46 GMT

Thank you for your reply. It is the odd one that happens immediately after surgery and appears to be scrotal oedema. We do open castrate procedure and all patients are given meloxicam with pre-medication and for 3 days post op with strict rest and buster collar if needed.

RE: Post op dog castrate swelling

Sal the 1st — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 19:21:49 GMT

[quote user="Leah Parkinson"]

Hello all

I wonder if anyone can help, what do you find helps best with post op dog castrate scrotal swelling? ( NSAIDS already given pre op)

thanks

[/quote]

are you getting a lot of cases or just the odd one?

RE: Post op dog castrate swelling

Symphony — Sun, 26 Feb 2017 22:37:53 GMT

Cold compress wrapped in a towel, applied for 5-10 minutes at a time, usually reduces the swelling quite well. Sometimes a bandage if the swelling is more severe!

RE: Post op dog castrate swelling

melanie lavender — Fri, 24 Feb 2017 16:02:40 GMT

We tend to tell the owners that they need to keep the dog calm, with the use of nutracalm if needed.

The use of a buster collar or a body suit will help.

The swelling is either from the method of castration or the dog up setting it by being too active or licking at it.

RE: Post op dog castrate swelling

steph fursland — Fri, 24 Feb 2017 15:29:22 GMT

Scrotal swelling could be a scrotal haematoma, so it's due to bleeding rather than inflammation. Are your vets doing open or closed castration? I find doing open is best as there's a tighter ligature on the testicular blood vessel, but the tunica can sometimes bleed a tiny bit too (not enough to be dangerous but enough to cause a bit of a haematoma) so should be tied off. A cold pack on the surgery site for 5 minutes post op can help reduce bleeding from small skin vessels too.

If it's painful, hot or inflamed looking then it's more likely inflammation so to prevent that the standard no exercise, no licking, NSAIDs for 3 days post op. If if doesn't respond to that or the patient is pyrexic, we usually at that point give antibiotics as an infection could be causing the issue.

RE: Post op dog castrate swelling

Dove — Fri, 24 Feb 2017 00:58:55 GMT

I think a degree of scrotal swelling is normal, I was taught to explain to owners that it might look like they've not been castrated but that some swelling is to be expected.

I've just had my dog castrated and he also had scrotal swelling but the actual incision site was great. He had meloxicam for 3 days post op. I didn't use a buster collar because he didn't interfere with the wound.

RE: Post op dog castrate swelling

Ellie P — Thu, 23 Feb 2017 21:51:42 GMT

We tend to continue nsaid's a couple of more days and restrict exercise, lampshade and apply arnicare onto the affected area. Also get the owners to purchase either the tablets or cream, works great! x