# Dog's paw has swelled up after surgery



## Aydo (Nov 8, 2017)

Hi! new forum member here. 

OK, so about two weeks ago, my eight year old Jack Russell had surgery to remove a mast cell tumour from his leg. He had bandages and a leg sleeve to protect the wound, put on him by the vet. Yesterday, he had his stitches taken out, and the wound is healing nicely. After the vet appointment, we were given bandages and tape that were meant to stop him chewing at his leg. we put it on ourselves yesterday evening, and put his protective sleeve over it. Now this evening, his paw has swollen up to about twice the size. Could this be caused by the circulation being cut off? Did we maybe wrap it too tight? If that was the case, I would have thought his paw would have swollen earlier than 24 hours later. Are there any other explanations? The wound itself is fine, he is walking on his paw, and touching it doesn't seem to hurt him. We would take him to the vet but they're closed and he seems happy and untroubled. 

Thank you for any advice in advance.


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## lullabydream (Jun 25, 2013)

I would phone the out of hours vet for advice...

All vets have one in the UK. 

Swelling from too tight bandages or infections usually need checking but the vets on the other end of the phone will be able to tell you the best course of action to do now, whether that is to bring your dog in, or remove the bandage and wait for morning. You certainly need medical advise now.


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

Aydo said:


> Hi! new forum member here.
> 
> OK, so about two weeks ago, my eight year old Jack Russell had surgery to remove a mast cell tumour from his leg. He had bandages and a leg sleeve to protect the wound, put on him by the vet. Yesterday, he had his stitches taken out, and the wound is healing nicely. After the vet appointment, we were given bandages and tape that were meant to stop him chewing at his leg. we put it on ourselves yesterday evening, and put his protective sleeve over it. Now this evening, his paw has swollen up to about twice the size. Could this be caused by the circulation being cut off? Did we maybe wrap it too tight? If that was the case, I would have thought his paw would have swollen earlier than 24 hours later. Are there any other explanations? The wound itself is fine, he is walking on his paw, and touching it doesn't seem to hurt him. We would take him to the vet but they're closed and he seems happy and untroubled.
> 
> Thank you for any advice in advance.


Sounds like you have got the bandage too tight, when its too tight a swollen foot is a classic symptom. It will cause circulation problems that can be serious, You need to take the bandage off or loosen it. I would check in with your vet to see if he thinks it may need checking further, or if loosening the bandage will be enough.


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## Kelly butler (Sep 15, 2017)

Sled dog hotel said:


> Sounds like you have got the bandage too tight, when its too tight a swollen foot is a classic symptom. It will cause circulation problems that can be serious, You need to take the bandage off or loosen it. I would check in with your vet to see if he thinks it may need checking further, or if loosening the bandage will be enough.


This happened to me last week where I was given steroid cream to put on my dogs foot and I put a baby mitt on and tied it to what I thought wasn't too tight but through the night her foot had swelled to twice the size of the other, within 15 mins of taking it off the foot returned to normal. You could phone to check as others have said it wont mean you have to rush in but they may say slacken bandage and come in the morning. fingers crossed that's all it is


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## Aydo (Nov 8, 2017)

We took the bandage off as soon as we noticed it, and it went down within about five minutes. Thank you all for such prompt advice, we'll be taking him in for a check up asap.


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