Is it normal for dogs stitches to bleed? Get Your Pet Thinking

What Happens to a Dog’s Skin After the Incision?

Any breakdown of the dog’s skin, including wounds, lacerations, and incisions, stimulates the body’s immune system. From the moment the skin is affected, the body attempts to close the wound and heal the break in the skin. This immune response results in the mobilization of white blood cells, inflammatory cells, and protein to the site of injury. Initially, the skin swells and reddens and may even show signs of bruising. Over time, the repair cells and proteins diminish and a scar is formed. In a normal, healthy dog, properly healing, non-infected incisions typically heal within 10-14 days and a permanent scar forms within about 14-21 days.

Causes of Bleeding From The Incision Site

Bleeding from the incision may occur when your dog or cat licks and chews at the sutures. In your pet’s mind, those sutures do not belong there. Your furry friend can be persistent in attempting to remove these foreign objects. As the incision heals, it can become itchy. Once this sets in, your cat or dog will lick and chew at the incision to relieve the itch. Excessive physical activity during recovery, internal bleeding or inadequate suturing can also cause bleeding from the incision.

A quick look at your pet’s incision area is usually all it takes for your veterinarian to determine what is going on. If your pet has been chewing at the incision, the reddened area and missing suture will be the telltale signs. If your exuberant retriever bounds into the examination room to exhibit a swollen incision area, a seroma will be obvious.

Hemorrhagic blood is pure blood, which is thick and dark red in color. Sanguineous fluid is fluid that contains blood. It is thinner than pure blood, and the color is a lighter shade of red. Purulent discharge, better known as pus, may be cream, yellow or greenish, and it is often accompanied by an odor that is characteristic of an infection. Other signs to watch for when monitoring your pet’s healing incision are excessive redness, bruising, excessive swelling, reopening of the incision or missing sutures. If you observe any of these, you will need to schedule a prompt examination by your veterinarian.

Seromas are sanguineous fluid filled pockets that appear as swelling at the incision area, and they are caused by activity. When your veterinarian recommends an activity restriction for your pet during recovery, he or she means it. Running, jumping or roughhousing results in a seroma. Hemorrhagic bleeding can present if the incision reopens or if internal bleeding occurs. If your dog or cat was spayed in a low cost facility, the available suture material used may be inadequate for your particularly active pet. The result is row of breaking sutures and an incision that reopens. If dissolvable sutures are used to close your pet’s incision, keep in mind that they can dissolve away prematurely. Any case of an incision that reopens before it has healed is a veterinary emergency that requires immediate treatment.

What does neutering a dog mean?

Before explaining whether it is normal for a dog to bleed after being spayed, we recommend understanding what exactly dog spaying means. In order to do this, we need to understand the difference between sterilization of male dog and female dogs[1].

Although there are several techniques for sterilizing a dog, we will refer to the two most common types:

Male dog sterilization: castration of a male dog is a simpler intervention than that of a bitch. This is because a male dog’s genitals are found outside the body. A veterinarian will make an incision at the base of the penis, through which they extract the testicles. This incision is usually closed again with a couple of visible or non-visible stitches, which are later removed.

Female dog sterilization: spaying a female dog is done through an incision in the abdomen. A veterinarian will extract the ovaries and uterus, normally arranged in the form of a Y shape. The different layers are sutured both internally externally. The incision can also be closed with staples.

In the cases of both castration and spaying the wound needs to be protected. After-care of spaying and castration both require keeping the wound covered, making sure that the dog does not lick, scratch or bite the wound. To avoid this, your veterinarian can give provide your dog with an E-collar. For more, take a look at our article on how to stop a dog scratching a wound.

In addition, it is important to keep your dog’s wound clean while it heals. A professional will be able to administer the appropriate cleaning medication and disinfectant.

If your dog has been ‘fixed’, but is bleeding after the procedure it is understandable you will be worried. However, there are different complications which can affect a dog after surgical sterilization. This is why it is important to monitor the animal closely after the procedure. However, there are certain behaviors and symptoms which might be relatively normal after sterilization.

Dog crying after anaesthesia: when the dog eventually comes round from the anaesthesia, it is common for some to cry or whimper a little. They are likely disorientated by the anaesthesia and the stitches will cause further discomfort. Another issue is that they may be hungry, although we shouldnt feed them too much too soon.

Dog heavy panting after surgery: another sign of discomfort is that the dog is panting heavily after being spayed or neutered. This is also due to the often traumatic experience of the surgery and why veterinarians will usually prescribe pain medication to manage these symptoms.

Dog disorientated after surgery: since the dog has been given certain drugs, when they regain consciousness it is understandable they will be a little confused.

Dog drooling after anaesthesia: drooling after being given anaesthetic is a natural reaction to loss of muscles control.

The above aide effects of sterilization surgery are considered normal up to several hours after the surgery. However, if they continue into the next day, you should call the veterinary clinic to discuss the symptoms as they may be a sign of complications.

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The sterilization of a dog is an issue that worries many caregivers. You might already know about the advantages of this surgical procedure. While minimal, canine sterilization also has associated risks. We shouldnt ignore symptoms of the possible negative effects of spaying, castration or other forms of sterilization. Some symptoms are more noticeable than others. If your dog is bleeding after spay, a major concern is internal bleeding. However, there are several reasons your dog may be bleeding from their spay incision.

Although bleeding after dog sterilization is relatively rare, a dog that has recently been spayed/castrated can experience bloody discharge or bruising. For this reason, at AnimalWised we will be discussing why your dog is bleeding after being spayed or neutered. You may also be interested in: