af_wx_wife

I've never been through anything like this. I will you the best in making this decision & I will keep you in my thoughts.

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Gypsiemouse

How big is the nip / cut on the ear?

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Lynne- Owned by and Slave to Maggie and Mongo

LuluBear

the sooner the better, with my dog the next day after surgery she was her old self and she healed relatively fast. don't worry, it will probably be a short surgery because it's non invasive so Lexi won't have to be "under" for very long. Lexi will likely be much happier and comfortable without the bandage on her head, and she wont even notice that the tip of her ear is gone. good luck!

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Proud Mama to Holly-Shepherd/Lab mix, Lucy-Fancy Fawn Boxer and Toby-Pit bull Shepherd mix . If more is truly better that makes my four legged kids better than your two legged ones.

Doggiedose

Thanks everyone. It's been a hectic few days. My husband and I were thinking about whether to do the surgery (with cartilage removal) or not, and I ended up calling the vet with some more questions. Ended up speaking to a different vet who said she could suture Lexi's ear without touching the cartilage (thank goodness!). I was able to bring her over on Thursday and 3 stitches were put in. She has to have them in for 2 weeks, and we have to make sure we clean the area a few times a day with peroxide to avoid any dried blood or infection crusting over. (Apparently after they took the head bandage off they noticed a bit of pus which I'm not happy about...she was supposed to be in the bandage until at least Monday...I can only imagine the raging infection that would have been going on without us knowing.) She's also got antibiotics to help with the infection.

We've been giving Lexi a big spoonful of peanut butter while attending to ear cleaning. I'm so glad they were able to put in sutures without any major cartilage surgery/removal. I had to insist that my vet not use Ace Promazine as the sedative, which they would have used if I hadn't put my foot down.

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LuluBear

glad to hear Lexi is on the mend!

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Proud Mama to Holly-Shepherd/Lab mix, Lucy-Fancy Fawn Boxer and Toby-Pit bull Shepherd mix . If more is truly better that makes my four legged kids better than your two legged ones.

Doggiedose

Thanks. We're now trying to keep her from shaking her head and having her ears flap (every time she does that, the ear bleeds a little, though not like before the sutures), and from her and Jasper playing like nuts.

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af_wx_wife

Glad to hear that Lexi is on the mend.

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Gypsiemouse

Can you put a band aid over the stitches with some neosporin?

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Lynne- Owned by and Slave to Maggie and Mongo

Laneysmom

I am glad to hear Lexie is on the mend now!

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Laneys Mom,
CAROL

Doggiedose

We haven't put neosporin on - I would think it would have helped, but when I asked if the hydrogen peroxide would be too drying for the cut, they said that since there was an infection it's actually better that the area be dry rather than moist. Thankfully Lexi hasn't been playing with her ear or the stitches, although we've been watching her like a hawk - if anything, Jasper occasionally tries to lick or sniff at her ear and we immediately stop him.

Sorry Lynne...I missed your question earlier about the size of the cut. Originally I thought it was like a large-ish paper cut (without having seen it), but before they did her stitches they took a picture for her files and e-mailed it to me - it looks more like a little chunk is missing. They cautioned me that this is when her blood pressure was lower and the blood wasn't gushing like it had been a few days earlier. Here it is:

Even though it doesn't look like a "scratch", none of us thought that she got into a scrap with a wild animal.

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