There's good news and bad news in Flora's update. Obviously, the best news is that she is now safely in the arms of those who care about her and she is receiving the best in veterinary care. Flora is the dog who was found covered in wounds that were filled with perhaps thousands of maggots. And while maggots do help clean out wounds, when there are too many maggots on a dog (or any animal) they release toxins that can be deadly. Also, maggots may begin feeding on healthy tissue.
Flora's wounds were cleaned of all adult maggots and she was started on strong antibiotics and pain medication. One of the wounds was partially stitched and others had drains inserted to help rid her of the pus from the infection. However yesterday, the pressure from the infected fluids caused her stitches to open. The veterinarians also discovered that the drains were not draining off enough of the fluid so they were removed.
Her wounds were scrubbed and cleaned until all necrotic tissue was removed. They applied silver sulfadiazine to exposed areas to help the healing process. This will be done daily until all layers of diseased tissue are removed. Cultures were taken from the wound sites and results should be back soon so she can be started on specific antibiotics for the bacteria present there.
Flora’s eyes, which were oozing liquid, have cleared up. Trio Animal Foundation wrote about Flora's sweet personality:
Flora’s doctor said that when she was scrubbing Flora’s wounds, Flora leaned into her and was so affectionate and just seemed grateful. Flora will be on the highest dose of pain medication until this cycle is complete.
Since Flora has suffered this setback in her recovery, she will need to be hospitalized for another two weeks. Donations for Flora's care can be made on Trio's website. This organization is a wonderful one -- they take in animals with severe medical needs (burns, broken limbs, etc.) and they heal them.
Previous articles on Flora:
- New Update on Flora
- Update on maggot-covered
- Dog found covered in maggots (original article)
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