Well, here we are, we're scheduled for a 5:30 appt. tomorrow evening to have Sugi and Oliver's stainless steel sutures removed, and just as I was feeding everyone, I happened to notice that Sugi's site had re-opened a little and it looked like there was some greenish pus. Not good. That is usually the sign of infection.

We called the vet, but we got an answering machine, so, for better or worse, we cleaned the area with a drop or two of 3% hydrogen peroxide (that's what we do if we get a cut or something), and then we placed a little bit of Neosporin right on the site. We happened to have just a little Torbutrol left over, so we gave him .2 cc of that. Sugi hated this whole process, but it had to be done until we heard from our vet.

We placed Sugi in a pouch, just to calm him and keep him still, and then - like five minutes later - the vet called. Great! At first, I had called my local vet since he was only about 10 minutes away, just in case we needed to take Sugi in for immediate attention, or if we needed a phone consult with the vet who performed the neutering. My local vet recommended a Betadine flush (said the hydrogen peroxide would certainly burn the infection out, but it would make the site slower to heal than the Betadine), and he said the .2 cc of the Torbutrol should help keep him calm. There was no bleeding, nothing like that, just a site that didn't look so nice (I thought, at first, that it was scabbing over), and, to be honest, I have seen worse when our Reese suffered a nasty mating wound, and thankfully, Sugi's site was not that deep.

Then, within just minutues, the vet who performed the procedure called, too! Yeah! I explained what we had done, and she said we shouldn't use anymore hydrogen peroxide, and she explained that had there been no sign of infection perhaps he could have been glued (as opposed to additional stitches). But, the infection had to be cleared so having him glued back together was not an option. She would have seen him that night, but there were no vet tech's available to help with the anesthesia, and I can tell you, from firsthand experience, that these little guys really take the anesthesia (and an extra pair of hands). Gliders "come to" pretty quickly and are ready to spring into action.

So, I am staying up with Sugi tonight, and I am keeping a very close watch on him. Actually, he has been pretty cool about everything. I would have never even known there were a problem, but that I had just had him out. Right now, he seems to be ok. He's back in his cage so that he can eat his dinner, and at midnight, he gets another shot of Torbutrol, and he then goes back into his pouch so that I will know if there is a problem. He sees our vet tomorrow morning, and I'll post an update once I have more information.