Buried catgut sutures create multiple abscesses along suture line

My wife and I spent a few days in Homolovi Ruin State Park (Arizona) in early May. With our small motorhome already set up in the campground, we decided to walk to the Indian ruins, but they turned out to be much farther than we had originally guessed. On the way we stopped to eat a picnic lunch and flagged down a campground host to ask how much further the ruins were. Susan graciously offered us a ride because we were still some distance away. After walking around the ruins, she offered to take us back to the campground. On both trips we shared the vehicle with her young and friendly Blue Tick Healer mix that she had rescued almost a year earlier. It had been plagued with some serious health issues but looked fine now. Only two weeks before, Jenny had undergone an exploratory surgery. Her abdomen was still clean shaven. Down the center of her belly ugly fresh blisters (abscesses) covered the incision scar. 

I asked, “So where was the exploratory surgery performed? It looks like Jenny is reacting to whatever suture material they closed her abdomen with. The surgeon will have to open the blisters and pull out the reactive suture material. By now the muscle has healed, but the ‘buried’ suture needs to be removed before the blisters will disappear.” 

She explained that the surgery had been performed in Phoenix, and she didn’t know when they could get back. “Could you do it for me?”

We’d been on the road for about 10 days and hadn’t brought any veterinary supplies with us. I explained I had nothing with me and she anxiously responded, “I probably have most of what you’ll need. I have alcohol, gauze, and even a scalpel blade. What else might you need?”

“The only other thing would be a tweezers and sharp scissors.” Before she could respond, my wife answered. She had both.

We headed to Susan’s campsite, submerged all the instruments in rubbing alcohol and while Jenny lay comfortably on a blanket covered picnic table, I scrubbed up.

In less than 15 minutes, I had made a few painless incisions through the largest blisters and removed two large knots and a few inches of what appeared to be number one cat gut (a very large and reactive – meaning the body tries to reject it -  type of suture material).

The campground host’s eyes bugged out at what I had pulled from the wounds, and I explained, “I didn’t think vets were even using this type of suture material any longer. If you use the littlest size and keep the knots small, it might be fine, but with that size suture material and those huge knots, I’m not surprised we got this kind of reaction.”  

We finished the procedure without hearing a word from our patient. Susan couldn’t thank me enough, and I have to admit, I enjoyed every minute of it.