Of these, there were a couple in particular that had been improving slowly over the proceeding weeks, similar in nature and desperately frustrating to treat.
Both were dogs that presented with tumours on their lower limbs, one front foot, the othe
r back with surgical removal the only option.
In each instance the cancerous lumps were about the size of golf balls, and though a little complicated both were excised without any unexpected problems.
Unfortunately, with any surgery involving the lower limbs the real challenge begins when trying to close the surgical wound.
Biopsies taken from the lumps by sampling cells through a hypodermic needle suggested both masses were of an aggressive nature and so had to be removed with a reasonable margin of apparently healthy tissue. This inevitably means that a significant amount of skin is also lost when the tumour is cut away.
With the skin effectively forming a very snug tube surrounding the limb, there is very little to spare and consequently trying to bring the edges together after this type of surgery can be very difficult.
Even if the skin edges do meet, the wound invariably ends up under more tension than you would want and is thus very susceptible to breakdown; the normal heeling process unable to take place.
Further small incisions parallel to the main wound can help to provide a little extra stretch by converting the adjacent skin into a lattice but there is only so much that you can do.
Both dogs have ended up with areas where the skin is absent effectively leaving the tissue below exposed.
The only option is to keep these areas dressed to protect them and allow the skin to eventually heel across the defect.
This often long and frustrating process is known as heeling by second intention and relies on the formation of granulation tissue which must be kept moist to allow new skin to grow in from the wound edges.
Thankfully modern wound dressings are very good at providing optimum heeling conditions, with the added advantage that they only require changing every three to four days.
However, dogs being dogs, there is always the risk that they will take exception to the bandages and chew them off if left unattended, so they have to be fairly robust, not to mention able to withstand padding around in the mud.
There is always a slight feeling of trepidation when removing the dressings, a bit like opening a Christmas present from an eccentric aunt, you are never really sure what you are going to find until you actually see it.
The wounds can seem to go for weeks with little change then suddenly improve dramatically within a few days.
