Help! My cat's stitch is sticking out!

[Taminar]

We had our kitten Kali spayed on February 16. There were no external stitches; they glued her together. We took her in last Saturday, because a large part of the incision didn't seem to be healing, and she had a superantibiotic injection. Almost overnight, a large part of the incision seemed to knit and be healing well. One spot still looked gooey, to put it plainly. Last night, it looked a little more gooey to us, so DH took her to the vet this morning. Rather than waiting on an exam room, the one vet tech took her back for a few minutes and said the vet said it looks worse than it is, it's doing fine.

We got home a little bit ago, and Tim grabbed Kali and turned her up to look at her belly. He said, "What's that?" I said, "That little white bit, that's been there the whole time." Well, there was something dark near this light bit that seemed to be sticking out, and so we thought maybe she got some lint or something trapped in the incision, so he held her and I grabbed it and pulled at it, and at first, it seemed okay, but then suddenly it gave a little and it's a piece of surgical thread! Kali doesn't act like it's bothering her, and I think the internal stitches are always supposed to be the dissolving kind, but of course, I can't call the vet until morning. I don't know if I should try to cut it off or just leave it.

Anyone ever have anything like this happen before?

[Fidget]

i had this on my incision after hernia surgery. Doc just trimmed it as close to the skin as he could. It disappeared eventually :shocked3:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fidgetblogs/3247436005/ you can see it there but warning, it's a yucko pic b/c i had a bad sulfa reaction at the time

[Taminar]

If it even happens to people, I feel a little better. I was horrified that I might've pulled the internal stitches too tight.

[DeniseL]

If she's likely to grab the end and pull it, I would cut it closer to the skin. Scary!

[skpaw]

I had shoulder surgery and there were internal stitches. At the almost 2 week point post op, the incision split open and a stitch popped out. There was a drop or two of blood and a bit of drainage. I phoned the surgeon because it was Sunday. He said that was common and he offered to meet me at the office or I could have him phone in a prescription for antibiotics.

I did not want to make a long car trip if I did not have to so I asked him to order me a prescription. I was to cleanse the area with antibacterial ointment, keep it bandaged (Good luck on a kitty! It might take one of those E collars.)

Mine healed fine and they checked it on my visit a few days later and told me to finish my antibiotics as a precaution since the skin broke.

Call the vet in the morning, keep it clean and don't let kitty lick it till you get her seen. At the same time don't worry too much unless you think it is more serious. Most vets have an after hours phone number if you are worried.

[psipsina]

Yep this happened to me once. I had this little tag of dissolvable suture sticking out of an incision. It was there quite some time after my surgery so my gen practitioner told me to put antibiotic ointment on it and it worked its way out. Not a big deal unless it looks infected or is opened I guess.