Update on Stella's Wounds

Stella's wound is healing on the ends, but we are beginning to see separation of the middle of the wound again. What you cannot see in the photo is that there is a bit of scabbing that is building up under the opening in the middle. I am hoping this means the wound will still close once the scab fills in. One thing is sure, we have come a long way from where we started!

Stella’s Story

The first week of September this year Stella was attacked by a German Shepherd- Wolf hybrid dog that got into our backyard. That dog went on to attack two dogs and a person. The dog did extensive damage to Stella removing about three quarters of the skin from her back along with the feathers and a puncture wound to her abdomen that went unnoticed for a short time due to the feather that covered the area. After a few days the area developed an internal abscess that ruptured. When the abscess ruptured, it also ruptured part of her breast muscle and a portion of her abdominal wall over the part her thigh and breast.

The wound on her abdomen had to be cleaned 3 times a day for a few weeks and dressed with KY jelly, rolled gauze and vet wrap. As soon as the skin started to grow, we were able to have the wound partially sutured closed. She had a drain in place for a week and once it was removed, she began to feel a bit better. She has not eaten much on her own other than meal worms, watermelon and some grass, since the accident. I gavage (tube feed) her 3-4 x a day a mixture of nutritional supplements that are pricey due to the amount we use, baby oatmeal and corn meal.

Her back wound has closed and is 99% healed. She has even grown most of her feathers back! Her abdominal wound even has most of the feathers back too! The abdominal wound skin edges had closed and would no longer knit together. Thursday this week, she had an additional surgery to reopen the wound edges, stitch some of the subcutaneous layers together and close the entire wound. She has a drain in place. The entire wound was able to be stitched closed! Many people made donations to her care and have been following her story.

Here are the photos of her initial injury:

This photo is of the injury as soon as it happened and prior to cleaning.

This is another photo of the wound on her back before cleaning.

This is the wound after the initial cleaning with soap and water. The white bubbles are from the hydrogen peroxide rinse.

This is the wound on her back on about day 3. The bottom part of the wound was actually a big 

flap wound.

I sprayed the wound with Blu Kote to allow Stella some free time with a friend so she would not get lonely. 

This was the base of her tail, where there was a large

wound that went up into the base of her tail for about an

inch. The vet called this a pocket wound. This wound

healed pretty quickly after a few debridements.

This was two weeks after the injury. 

A few days later, I discovered a crusty area on Stella’s abdomen. When I turned her over, I

discovered a huge area covered in a paper like scab. This area was from where the abscess

ruptured in the abdomen and her abdominal wall.

The covering of this wound was very hard but quite thin.

I pulled the edge of the membrane back. The large circular area at the top of the photo is part

of her breast muscle that ruptured. At this point, I called every vet I could find, because my vet

was out of town. We were able to get an appointment for the next morning.

The vet debrided the abdominal wound. It was huge!

The back wound a few days after the vet's debridement

Tube feeding (gavage feeding)

Stella has not eaten anything on her own since the injury other than watermelon, grass, and

meal worms.

This is after Stella’s first surgery. The loop is a drain. As time went on, the edges of the wound

began to heal but did not mend together. Unfortunately, this means that the wound did not

heal as expected, and remained open, held together only by the stretched stitches.

Poor baby was sent home with a cone! 

A week after the first surgery and the drain was removed. 

Stella has really gotten used to being in the house! 

Her back healed most of the way! 

This is the progress on her abdominal wound with the second surgery on 11-6-14.  She has a drain and a lot of stitches! 

The vet believes Stella may need a third surgery if the wound does not stay closed this time,

though that surgery would be far less extensive. Stella continues to need tube feeding 3 to ­4

times a day. She is on a medication called Cisapride to help her crop empty. She has been on

two antibiotics since the abscess rupture. She is also on 2 nutritional supplements, pain

medication as needed and wound flushes.

She is such a special girl and very much loved! <3