“Rowdy”, a big beautiful English Setter has been in my neighborhood for years. He loves to go down to the lake to pick up big sticks and proudly bring them back home. I got the chance to get to know “Rowdy” and his family more when I started to routinely care for his nails after the launch of my business. It was less stressful for this type of wellness care to be done at home, especially since he is an older guy.” Rowdy” was also dealing with a growth on the right front paw pad which was being monitored for size increase. By this spring it was time to have it removed due to a significant increase in size. It most likely was going to start impeding his walks, bleed, or even become infected at some point. It was time to get a surgical consult.
Due to the nature of the growth and the amount of tissue that would have to be removed on the paw pad it wasn’t going to be a simple plan of suturing to close the area. The wound site was to be healed by second intention, in which the tissue will grow and granulate inwards naturally. This site would need to be closely evaluated and bandaged daily. I was asked if I could aid with these procedures to be done in the home. I happily accepted the duty of care involved.” Rowdy” would not have to go all the way across town daily for an undetermined amount of time each day. Healing time was hard to estimate, it was going to be a day-by-day type of progress.” Rowdy “ was scheduled for surgery on May 18, 2021, at Glenwood Pet Hospital.
Any pet going under general anesthesia always has risks, however, for the aging pet, it can be challenging. Body organs/physiology are older and lung capacity and strength may not be as strong as they once were when a pet was younger. Gretchen (his mom) and I discussed this in detail. I explained to her these specific changes and what clinicians and technicians do to specifically tailor an anesthetic plan for each patient. I discussed with her how intense the monitoring is during these surgeries to detect any changes regarding patient anesthetic depth, pain control, and safe recovery.
The surgery went well and “Rowdy” was sent home the same night with a nice soft padded bandage, after-care instructions, and medications. At my postoperative nursing evaluation, the day after surgery “Rowdy” was not eating well close to 24 hours after anesthesia. His brief physical exam indicated to me that he was having post-surgical pain based on vital sign changes that I observed. I advised Gretchen to relay this important information to the pet hospital. The increase of the pain medication along with some yummy rotisserie chicken started us on the journey of healing.
The first two bandage changes were performed by the pet hospital, I was to take over care from there on in. Every day for the next month I was Rowdy’s nurse. Evaluating everything from pain control, nutritional intake, digestive health, general attitude, and the progress of the surgical site itself. It was decided for this type of wound to have a thin layer of honey put over the site to enhance wound healing . Honey has antimicrobial properties and creates a protective barrier that prevents bacteria from attaching to the wound. It also speeds up wound healing by attracting white blood cells to the tissues. “Rowdy” was a little nervous at first about the dressing changes, but over time he became a real trooper and handled the daily care well. The progress for the first week and a half seemed slow at first, the honey and decreased stress of having to travel every day aided immensely in this healing process. Healed and cared for at home. He only had to make one trip back for clinician surgical site evaluation. We had total wound closure in just about one month. The veterinarian who did the surgery was amazed and so were we. “Rowdy” is now back on full walks trotting around the neighborhood and still walking by with those big sticks. I was so happy to be part of his daily care and be able to use my nursing skills in a whole new way by alleviating stress for my small animal patients by caring for them when I can….at home. It is a very rewarding feeling to be able to bring this type of nursing care to my pet patients. Good boy “Rowdy”….what a great pet patient!
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