Winter White had an operation

[Lucy30120]

My little winter White Kim had an operation four days ago for impacted pouch/abscess. She has recovered really well, and is eating and drinking as normal. The only problem is where the wound had a little stitch (dissolvable) she has obviously scratched it a lot whilst it's healing. It was just a little scab originally, but is now big and hanging off, and the skin underneath is really red. And will need to scab over again.
She saw the vet today, who was happy with her progress (the scab wasn't so bad then) but does anyone have advice on the best thing to put on it to help with the healing process? For now I am just using cotton wool and some warm water.
Advice welcome thanks in advance

[racinghamster]

Hi Lucy, I wouldn`t advise putting any creams or lotions on it as these can sometimes attract the hamster to the area even more or can be ingested. What you are doing with the warm water and wetted cotton ball is fine. The only safe thing I can recommend for gently cleaning the area is saline. You make saline by boiling the kettle. Add one TEAspoonful of table salt, to one PINT of boiled water. Allow the water to cool down and the salt to melt in the water. Once the saline is cool, you can place this into a small bottle or container and re-use it, or you can make up fresh. Try and sterilise any bottle before putting the saline into it if you can.

If the vet was happy with her, just keep an eye on the red area and clean it when required.

Did the vet give you a reason for her pouch being impacted? Was it something she ate that lodged itself? Hope she`s fine in a few days time. x