# scratching at stitches



## mom2molly (Jan 3, 2011)

ugh i dont know what to do for poor molly...shes not licking at her stitches but she is trying to scratch them from time to time! and the E-collar wont stop that...im so worried shes going to snag one and rip herself open or something. i cant call her vet until after i get home from work this afternoon

any suggestions what i could do until i get home?? she will be in her kennel when im at work.


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

A tee shirt?


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## mom2molly (Jan 3, 2011)

i tried that and it was too big...i dont have any really small shirts...and im not sure if i can actually cover the stitches or not...if i knew for sure i could then i would just take a piece of cloth and wrap her with vet tape that we have,...i suppose i could try putting a pair of my sons socks on her paws and using vet tape to secure them so if she scratched her claws wouldnt catch on the stitches??


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Yeah, you can wrap her tummy with vet wrap. It won't hurt anything. She might take it off sometime during the day, though. Just for peace of mind--even if she does pop a stitch or 2, at this point she probably is healed enough so that it wouldn't be a huge problem. I have a kitty who chewed her stitches out 3 days after being spayed, and she was fine. I kept a real close eye on it to make sure she didn't open up, but evidently the edges had already bonded at that point. And it's been nearly a week for Molly, right? Of course, it was tougher for her than for a young kitten, but even so, the risk of her ripping herself open is pretty slim.

ETA: I went back and looked. . .she was spayed on the 9th? So only 4 days now. Yeah, I guess it's still soon enough that popping a stitch would be a bad thing. Like I said, vet wrap will work, or an Ace bandage. You can also get a kid's t-shirt or a baby onesie to keep her from scratching at the incision. It does get itchy when it starts to heal, so the scratching will probably get worse in the next few days.


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## RedyreRottweilers (Dec 17, 2006)

Tights or panty hose, the support kind. Cut the leg off, cut holes for her legs, and slip it on her. It will keep the incision covered.


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## mom2molly (Jan 3, 2011)

well i ended up putting Molly in her kennel and praying she wouldn't hurt herself while i was at work. Got home and she was fine PHEW!


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## spotted nikes (Feb 7, 2008)

You can apply Cortisone cream in he shaved area of her abdomen, avoiding the incision. (Don't put it on the incision). It will help relieve the itchy/prickly feeling that shaved hair growing back causes. It'll help immensely.

Dog boots on the back legs can help.


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## doggiecrossing (Jan 13, 2011)

A t-shirt worked for us. Our foster dog got around the e-collars, so we tied a tied a t-shirt on on his back end. Since your dog is small try a childs t-shirt, a friend, relative or neighbor may have an old one or pick one up at a thrift store.


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