Removing Stitches

In This Post we explained that little Amy, our Jersey heifer, had to go to the veterinarian in Lake Charles to have a horn surgically removed.  We thought we were successful removing her horns with Horn Removal Paste when she was only a couple weeks old, but one of the horn buds evidently was not killed and it grew back.  It was too large to use a horn disbudding iron, so the vet in Lake Charles took care of it for us for about $113 bucks.  Ouch!  Note to self:  It is easier and cheaper to do things right the first time.

Well, her stitches were to come out after a couple of weeks, but there was no way I was going to take her back to Lake Charles.  Certainly this is a job that I can do, right?  I tied Amy's head real tight to the center dividing wall in the stall.  She knew something was up...

Snitches get stitches?

The veterinarian put a number of stitches on both sides of her head where he surgically removed Amy's horn buds.  The stitches he used weren't your typical "cat-gut" stitches that dissolve.  These were made of a non-dissolvable string that looked and felt like very thick dental floss.

Amy's stitches

I can't say that I've ever removed stitches before, but it can't be too hard, right?  I used some toenail clippers and clipped the knot on the end.  It must still be a little tender as Amy started thrashing around a bit.  I was by myself so I kind of put her in a head-lock and snipped away at every knot that I could see in the row of stitches.

A new use for toenail clippers

Once the knots were cut off, I pulled and the stitches came out pretty easily.  I checked real closely to ensure that I was getting all of them out.  I don't think it is a major problem, but I wanted to get them all out, nonetheless.

Pulling out the stitches after the knots were snipped off

Once I was done with one side, I went to the next.  It wasn't a bad job at all and I would've been done earlier had the 'patient' been more patient and stayed still.  All in all the veterinarian did a good job of closing up a couple very large gashes - about 5 inches on either side, I would estimate.  I think it will heal up perfectly.

Amy's Frankenstein impression

Here are a handful of stitches I removed from Amy's head.  We saved a little bit by doing it ourselves and also saved the time and gas money by doing it at home.

Stitches from one side of Amy's head

I was a little surprised that there was no blood as I had to tug a little bit on one side to get some of the stitches out.  All in all, it reinforced the lesson to me to make sure that the job is done right the first time. When Daisy and Rosie's calves come in March 2015, we're going to be sure to put enough de-horning paste so that the horn bud dies. I don't want to have to re-do the process.  One positive though - I learned that stitch removal is a piece of cake.