A Word About Licking

Here’s the team (from left Dr. Welch, Jenn Tapp and Rachel Petit) getting their game faces on for a big surgery day.

Yup. Licking. Another subject that we talk about every day (although probably not in the context that you might be thinking). Most common post surgical complication - infected incisions. Why? - licking. When your cat or dog licks at the incision the surgical glue on the outside will disolve and all the nasty bacteria from their mouths will get in and cause an infection. If you are curious how it might look, we have pictures in our lobby. Best way to prevent a post surgical incision infection - a cone collar (officially called an “elizabethan collar more commonly referred to as the "cone of shame”).

Most cats and dogs will want to lick their incisions (for a variety of reasons). The cone won’t help unless you make your pet wear it for at least at week. And, yes it is highly likely that your pet will pitch a small fit when you put it on but if you give it an hour or so they will get used to it. Just remember when your two year old had that temper tantrun (that you ignored) on the floor of the grocery store when you wouldn’t buy the ginormous lollipop.

The good news from our patients is that unlike other places, we send all of our folks home with an email address which reaches me, Jacqui and our Medical Director pretty much 24/7 so if there is an issue we can be back in touch pretty immediately.

Next week we have 120 surgeries scheduled - more surgeries in one week than we had the first month we opened. Should be exciting.