My puppy's spay stitches are scabbing. Is a small gap normal?
Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 5 months and 28 days old | 7.2 lbs
My puppy was spayed on Monday & her stitches are starting to scab over slightly. There's no sign of infection *knock on wood* but I wanted to be sure that the scabbing is normal? It almost looks like there's a little gap at the top but I'm pretty sure it's just a black scab and not actually open We ended up taking her to get her cone readjusted and the vet tech glanced at it & said she should be fine but it wasn't a good enough look. She's very active I try to stop her but it's tough
2 Answers
Most Helpful Answer
Published on July 29th, 2017
Hello there! Scabbing over the stitches is pretty normal, however a gap at the top might be a stitch from under the skin poking out. The stitches that go into the muscle layer after a spay are absorbable, but sometimes the body treats them like any other foreign substance (think splinters) and tries to reject them before they get a chance to absorb (which can take 90-200 days). If you truly see a hole in her incision line, I recommend bringing her back to the vet to see if a subcutaneous stitch needs to be removed. This would not likely require anesthesia, but it's not something that you should do at home. Good luck, and I hope that Snowball continues to do well! :)
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Related Answers from Veterinarians
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Published on October 22nd, 2017
That wound looks absolutely fine ! I see what you mean about the stitches but the important is that the wound is coming together nicely ! There are some subcutaneous stitches which are holding the wound together, the ones that you see are the skin ones and they are sometimes loose in case the wound becomes swollen. Nothing to worry about.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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