Hi Sue,
Sounds awful you’d stressing if & when it could happen again…
I found this post (Below) on the net so I copy & paste it..
I hope it helps, the vet recommends doing an Ultra scan but I would be doing an Ultra Scan every 3 months to be 100% sure another Intestinal Adhesions is not forming… Depending on how good the Vet is with using an Ultra scan machine, they can see if a dog has thickening of the bowel thru an Ultra Scan, I had an Ultra Scan done on my boy 2 yrs ago when I thought he had Pancreatitis & the vet ended up looking at his bowel as well to see if he had thickening of the bowel, so Ultra Scan will be able to see if any adhesions starting up again..
Here’s the post I found
**Poster- Has anyone dealt with intestinal adhesions in dogs I have
Resolved Question:
Has anyone dealt with intestinal adhesions in dogs???? I have a 3yr old dog who got spayed on 04/15/2010 and then formed an enormous intestinal adhesion,(almost died) had surgery to remove it and im horrified thinking that she might be getting another on (i think I feel a lump) does anyone have any ideas? or have ever dealt with this??? please only respond if it is something you are knowledgeable about. Thanks
Submitted: 7 years ago.
Category: Dog Veterinary
**Vet- Hi there!
Intestinal adhesions are simply internal scars that the your dog’s body forms after surgery. Just like humans, each dog forms scar tissue differently and there is no way to control it.
Occasionally, intestinal adhesions can rarely cause intestinal entrapments, leading to an intestinal obstruction which requires surgery. Your vet hopefully did a good clean up of the adhesion when it was removed and flushed the abdomen well which is the only “treatment” that is thought to potentially help prevent adhesions again but there is no guarantee since some animals are just super-scar formers. There has also been some research using povoiodine solutions but this has not been used in a clinical setting and the results are not conclusive.
As I said, intestinal adhesion formation is rare but does happen and unfortunately there are no way for you or your veterinarian to prevent it. I work in a specialty/referral hospital where the ER doctors and surgeons do A LOT of surgeries and the good news is that I haven’t heard of it happening more than once to a patient. If your concerned that it may happening again, you can have your veterinarian evaluate Lily and potentially have an abdominal ultrasound which is a non-invasive way to look inside the abdomen and see what is going on. Even if an adhesions forms, as long it doesn’t entrap the bowel, it does not need to be removed and most dogs will reabsorb/break down the adhesion over time.
I hope this helps!
Dr J Veterinarian
