Get creative...

***This post may not be for the faint of heart, those with weak stomachs or low gag reflexes.*** Don't say I didn't warn you...

Kat seems to have some swelling in his sheath area and his scrotum. The other night it was so swollen the skin was rather tight on it and he has started to develop a small lump of fluid under his belly. He is walking funny and that's putting it mildly, but he's getting turned out at night when time allows and worked, but the other night he was three legged lame. He did not want to use his right hind leg at all. He shuffled and hopped at the trot and there was no cantering at all. I was also worried that he is unable to pee. He kept stretching out like he has to go, but that was it.

So yesterday found me at the dollar store looking for something to flush the incision with to help ensure there is no infection going on in there. He's on antibiotics, but still you never know. I needed something to flush it with, but more importantly, I needed a way to get it up inside there. For less than $3 I bought a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, a package of straws- the flexible bendy kind and a package of those red and yellow bottles for ketchup and mustard for picnics. I grabbed a bucket of water and my stash of wash rags and got to work.

I rinsed and gently scrubbed the incision area, not wanting to hurt him. Instead little man was quite happy to have me scrubbing away the scabs and stood there still as could be with his nose in the air making faces that were clearly saying "Damn that feels good". The little perv! I gently scrubbed the scabs away and got my bottle of peroxide out.

It was either diluted peroxide or saline solution (salt water) to flush it out so I went with the peroxide. I figured if there is any infection going on in there, the peroxide would help take care of it. While the ketchup/mustard bottles have the small tip for squirting the rinse up in there, there's only so much that will go UP and OUT of the bottle. This is where the straws come in handy. The tip of the bottle fits in the straw. The part where the straw bends, allows the tip of the bottle to be aimed down, while the short part of the straw can be inserted up into the incision and allows things to be flushed out.

Kat stood like a champ as I squirted a little bit of the solution thru the straw to help ease the end of it up inside him. I was able to get it up in there, flushing out both sides and boy was he was a happy camper! The swelling has already diminished some, but I will be flushing it out some more to make sure it's all cleaned out and able to heal as it should. This is all followed up with a slather of nitrofurazone or fura-zone and some fly spray. Of course it's also back to work or him too. He has to keep moving to keep the swelling down, keep things opened up and draining. Poor kid. I feel bad for him, but we'll get thru this, like everything else. He's such a little trooper.