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Advice Requested! 5 Days Post Cropping How Much Scabbing/Dried Blood Is Normal?

3K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  DynamicDuo 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi All,

This is my first post (so excited to be part of the community!), and about my first American Bully who was cropped last Friday @ 11 Weeks, 6 Days. This would be the 5th full day post cropping. Here's the timeline thus far:

Friday, May 12th: Crop + Sutures/Stitches/Cup + Bandages + Inflatable Collar

Saturday, May 13th: Began antibiotics (cephalexin) 250mg cap twice daily (AM & PM), pain meds (tramadol) 25mg (1/2 50mg tab) twice daily (AM & PM), first bandage change + neopredef powder in the evening which did not go smoothly considering how strong he is but it got done after a couple tries.

Sunday, May 14th: Cephalexin + Tramadol twice (AM & PM). Second and last bandage change. This went better than the first in terms of process but when removing the bandage over the top bit of his ears he began to bleed enough in that same top fourth of his ear that it splattered as he shook his head. I got the bandage on and decided that I would just remove the bandages that night vs the next evening after reading up on so many people recommending not having the bandages on for longer than 24 hours out of fear that the blood would dry to the bandage and I'd just slow down the healing by having them ripped off by the bandage again. I waited about 1.5 hours to make sure the bleeding would stop and removed them (the bleeding did stop but there was a good amount of coagulated blood over the tops of his ears over the incision). I repowdered his ears with Neopredef powder and applied some neosporin as per vet recommendations.

Monday-Today: Cephalexin + Tramadol + Neopredef powder. Intermittent head shaking, feeble attempts at scratching but behavior, energy, appetite was all normal as he was adjusting to the cup/ears. However each day he'd manage to either rub up against something or scratch himself and restart the bleeding (nothing major that required me to intervene more than just powdering). I have not touched the ears (applied neosporin with a clean cotton pad and powdering by squeezing out of bottle 2-3x daily or as needed if he starts bleeding) and thus there has been a lot of dried blood accumulating over the tops of his ears. I can see the rest of his stitches below, but the ears at the tip are particularly gross I believe due to the first bleed he had during the second re-bandaging. No foul smell or colored discharge, the edges have dried and scabbed up for the most part (a couple little drops of blood popped up when I was holding him down to powder his ears this morning which I can understand and am not worried about), but I'm wondering if I should be cleaning his ears at all or be worried about all the dried blood (parts of the tips of his ears are very dark, near black from the scabbing/dried blood). His behavior and appetite/thirst has been normal, he hasn't been scratching or shaking much over the last two days and he's been a real trooper and a bundle of positivity overall.

Is this normal? I've seen a few picture of crops post cup/suture removal that look pretty clean, and WORLDS cleaner than my pups current situation as he still has his cup on. The general consensus as per what I've read has been to just leave the ears be and let them dry, scab and heal without being touched (though I'm still powdering with Neopredef and neosporin 2x a day.) I have a very strong feeling a lot of the grossness is just from that one, more significant bleed I mentioned earlier but just wanted you guys' inputs.

Any advice would be great and I'll be grabbing some pics in a bit!

Thank you so much in advance!

The crop was done by Dr. Koster of Millstone Animal Hospital in NJ.
 
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#2 ·
I can't help as far as the ear crops go as mine are floppy eared stooges but I believe that Indie gets all of her crops done at that same animal hospital. Even if it's not the same hospital she or others may be able to help more. I know she's been crazy busy lately, but if you send her a pm she'll get it and get back to you. I'm sure others can chime in as well!

Good luck and welcome. We love pics around here!

~Jess
 
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