# How long do stitches stay in?



## hbowen87

So when we got Star she had stitches from her spaying. The wound was already almost entirely healed at that time. 

We've asked our vet to look at them and she said they were the disolvable kind that will just fall out. She looked again two weeks later when we went back for her last puppy shot, same thing.

It's now been over two months since her spaying surgery according to Star's records. They seem to bother her off and on, more on than off lately, and it's getting kind of swollen and pink from all her picking at them (we try to stop her but can't while she's crated).

How long are dissolvable stitches normally in? Am I overreacting to being surprised they're still here as intact as ever two months later? Should I take her to the vet if she keeps picking at them?


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## Binkalette

They don't sound like the disolvable kind to me.. Zoey had regular stitches, but when I myself had disolvable stitches, they were gone with in two weeks.


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## CoverTune

Hmm.. Corona's stitches stayed in for about 6 weeks before the eventually dissolved/fell out. The knots were the last to go.


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## Binkalette

Oh, I wonder if they make them to last different amounts of time? I suppose they could.. I don't know why they would want them to last six weeks for a spay though? Zoey got her regular stitches taken out after 10 days.. but she had laser surgery so, I don't know if that makes healing time different.


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## animalcraker

Typicaly disolvable stitches should only last about 10-14 days. Regular stitches are remove 10-14 days post op. Sometime however for one reason or another the dissolvable one just don't dissolve, when that happens we just remove them the same as we would for regular sutures. You need to take you girl back to the vet and have those stitches removed. It should be just a simple thing they can take her straight to the back for without an appointment.


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## hbowen87

animalcraker said:


> Typicaly disolvable stitches should only last about 10-14 days. Regular stitches are remove 10-14 days post op. Sometime however for one reason or another the dissolvable one just don't dissolve, when that happens we just remove them the same as we would for regular sutures. You need to take you girl back to the vet and have those stitches removed. It should be just a simple thing they can take her straight to the back for without an appointment.


That's what I figured, I was just in there for her shot last week and vet barely looked at them and said it was fine, but this week she's really picking at them and they're not coming apart at all. I just looked at them and she's getting scabs all around them from her picking. I guess I'll have to ask for a different vet or _make_ her look at them for real when we take her in this week to get weighed for heart worm medication dosage.


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## Nes

I remember her outer stitches came off very quickly but Madison still had some funny bumps 6 - 8 MONTHS after her spay (inner stitches)? The vet never seemed concerned about it and we moved shortly after so never got it checked out properly. She's fine now.


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## hbowen87

Nes said:


> I remember her outer stitches came off very quickly but Madison still had some funny bumps 6 - 8 MONTHS after her spay (inner stitches)? The vet never seemed concerned about it and we moved shortly after so never got it checked out properly. She's fine now.


Yeah that's what happened to another puppy I know, outside stitches are gone but bumps inside. I wouldn't be worried if it weren'tfor the fact the outside are completely intact and she's really bothered by them.


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## Nes

It was so long ago I'm really stretching to remember, we did get some swelling and redness after the stitches came out. Polysporin & hot-compresses are always my go-to home remedies. 

It might be time for a second opinion, it's strange that the vet isn't at least humouring your concerns


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## Willowy

If your dog will sit still, you can snip them with small blunt-ended scissors and pull them out with tweezers. I do it all the time, even with cats. I've also heard that hydrogen peroxide will dissolve dissolvable sutures, but I've never tried it.


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## bella and lolas dad

10 to 14 days but some can stay in up to 21 days


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## tgrsnpr

My spayed pom has inner stitches. The outer stitches were removed and now its hardly visible but when you move your finger where the stitches were you can feel bumps.


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## hbowen87

Well I was going to take her to the vet today and ask them to pull them out since she was really picking at them and wouldn't let me touch them, but in the time it took me to get ready she ripped them out this morning. Silly dog, if she'd just been a little more patient she wouldn't have two holes and big swollen raw areas all the way around them on her belly now, I need to get her weighed anyway, guess I'll be asking what they recommend I put on the icky looking places she chewed her stomach away...


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## tgrsnpr

Ouch! You should used a cone so that she couldn't reach the area.


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## hbowen87

Yeah, I even asked the vet about that last week when she started picking at them...and she said I didn't need to the stitches would come out on their own. Yeah they did...after she chewed the skin away...I'm not so sure I like this new vet...


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## animalcraker

Personally I'd be looking for a new vet as well.


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