Cancerous tumor, full tail amputation, recovery?

[AHBD]

Sounds good, I would really like to see how things go and will watch for any updates about Agni and pictures are always appreciated !

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Absolutely post pictures of Agni, anytime you would like. We all love to see progress of
everything, & how he learns to adapt to his body changes. I am happy that he is bright
& doesn't have a black beard right now, either.

Tracie

 

[Lilith86]

Hi everyone!

Agni seems to be recovering well! It's been slightly over two weeks, and he is bright and walking around a lot and starting to get his appetite back, and starting to take little poops again. It's been far enough out that he is off pain meds now and just on the antibiotic and a little supplementary baby food.

I did send an email to my vet, though, because I'm a little concerned about the color of the scales right on the incision line. They look pretty dark. I don't know if I that's just damage from the stitches and is normal, or if that's some kind of necrosis starting that I should worry about. Does this look weird to you guys? Some of the dark gunk is leftover scab material from the actual operation... the incision is not actively weeping.

I'm calling the vet first thing Monday morning... they are closed on Sunday!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Agni looks great! Bless him. I am glad he isn't on the pain medication anymore, they are kind of
hard on them.
It really looks clean, the scales look normal to me & not necrotic. It is possible that it could be some
dried blood perhaps? It is great the wound isn't seeping, so hopefully there isn't anything else going
on with it.
Let us know what the vet says on Monday.

Tracie

 

[Lilith86]

Hello,

Agni looks great! Bless him. I am glad he isn't on the pain medication anymore, they are kind of
hard on them.
It really looks clean, the scales look normal to me & not necrotic. It is possible that it could be some
dried blood perhaps? It is great the wound isn't seeping, so hopefully there isn't anything else going
on with it.
Let us know what the vet says on Monday.

Tracie

Thank you, Tracie! I will let you know! I think it's probably fine, but I'm such a worrier... we've come so far that I don't want one little weird thing to throw off the rest of his recovery! It also doesn't help that I haven't been able to find any images of health scales at an amputation site to compare to...

 

[Drache613]

Hello!

No worries, I completely understand. After everything he has been through I would definitely want
to be sure that nothing else was going on again.
I hope he is doing well!

Tracie

 

[Lilith86]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to give you an update on Agni. It looks like everything is okay for now. I talked to the vet, and she said that it's possible that the scales distal from the sutures (down the tail rather than towards the body) may die and fall off due to lack of blood supply, but that would be okay. I would only need to worry if it looked like tissue was necrosing above the suture, towards the body. I also asked if they wanted me to put any silver sulfadiazine cream on the necrosing scales, like I had done on the dry tail rot at the whole beginning of this experience. She said that was not needed, since he's still on the Enrofloxacin for a few more days.

Needless to say, I will be keeping a close eye on this. And I may call back and ask if I should put the silver sulfadiazine cream on after we stop the oral antibiotic in a few days, just so he has some kind of antibiotic support while that tissue is dying off.... but do you think that the moisture from the cream would make it not dry out and fall off properly?
... ugh. So many questions. I hope the vet is not annoyed with me.

The main thing is that Angi is very active and seems alert and happy, and his appetite is continuing to improve! He ate 2 silk worms in one sitting yesterday (normal for him is to eat 6 silk worms once per day). I did give him some watered down green bean and corn baby food via oral syringe just to make sure he's hydrated, because he still can't take bathes, and he hates being misted (does not lap it off his nose, just shakes his head).

Below is a picture of he amputation site, for those interested. The incision is shaped like an upside down T. The horizontal incision looks really good, no discoloration. It's the vertical incision that has 2 rows of darkened scales below the suture line, which look like they are necrosing and will fall off.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Honestly, I don't see any issue with applying the silver sulfadizine cream as needed, as a simple
precaution. Be sure to keep her hydrated though, since she is on the Baytril, too.
I don't think the moisture would affect the tissue in the manner of it not sloughing off properly.
It sounds like Agni is doing great, that is excellent. I'm happy he did eat a couple of silkworms
for you also.
Please keep us posted on his progress.

Tracie