How can I know if my dog developed a seroma?
It is pretty hard to miss a seroma, especially if the incision was on the dog’s belly, where the coat is absent. Some owners might miss it if the incision is made somewhere where the coat grows. However, most dog owners will notice a little bump on their dog’s incision, which is when they’ll call their vet and tell them what happened. It is a good idea to learn seroma symptoms, so you can notice them and react as soon as possible.
As we said, it is pretty hard to miss seromas, but it can happen. Since this is considered a surgical complication, it will come with some symptoms. The most common seroma symptoms in dogs are;
If the dog develops a non-surgical seroma, the symptoms will be more connected to the area it has affected. For example, a brain seroma might cause seizures or coma, and shoulder seroma might affect the dog’s movement. Plus, the bump should feel soft and squishy, unlike skin cancers that usually appear hard.
Your vet will diagnose a surgical seroma pretty quickly. If the seroma appeared on an incision site, there is little doubt about what it is. Most vets will immediately notice the issue. In most cases, an ultrasound is all that’s necessary to confirm the diagnosis. In complicated cases, vets can order magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography.
A seroma’s danger will depend on the type of seroma and the place where it appeared. Most surgical seromas will resolve on their own after a couple of weeks. Non-surgical seromas can be pretty dangerous, especially if they develop on the brain or close to the spinal cord.
In most cases, seromas don’t require veterinary attention. Mind you, it is best for the vet to look at the dog, but they might decide not to do anything. Most seromas get reabsorbed by the body in 10 – 20 days. However, some cases might need treatment, and your vet might decide to do one of these things;
If there are any questions or concerns directly related to the surgery during the recovery period, please call (616) 455-8220 #2 during normal office hours, Monday-Friday from 8am-4pm. PLEASE NOTE: C-SNIP does not have medical staff available after 4pm or all day Saturday-Sunday. Please be proactive if you have any post-op concerns. If you think your concern cannot wait, please contact your own vet or call Animal Emergency Hospital at (616) 361-9911, at your own cost.
Seromas in Dogs: All You Need to Know
In this article we will be covering the following information:
Its important to monitor your puppys surgical incision daily for presence of seromas.
What are seromas in dogs? A seroma is a serous fluid accumulation that generally occurs at the incision site after surgery. The term “serous” indicates a specific type of fluid composed of blood plasma and inflammatory cells.
Seromas develop due to the dog’s movements post-surgery as well as the body’s reaction to the sutures used for closing the surgical incision.
Unless there are some significant complications, seromas do not require special veterinary attention and tend to resolve on their own over the course of several weeks.
However, their resolutions are quicker and smoother if medical intervention is performed. Treatment is also warranted in case of non-surgical seromas causing systemic issues.
For better understanding, canine seromas can be classified into two major groups:
In this article, we will be mostly discussing surgical seromas.
Seromas develop at incision sites and the accumulation of fluid is generally localized between the skin and subcutaneous tissue. However, on rarer occasions, fluid accumulation can occur between two layers of muscle.
Surgical seromas can occur on every incision line regardless of its location, but statistically speaking they tend to be more common on surgeries involving the ventral midline, or in simpler terms, the central part of the dog’s belly.