Dog Being Given A Stoma

[piperspal]

Just after some advice at the moment. As some of you know, we have a now about 20 week old Rotti pup who has had ongoing issues with a lump on his neck. Long story short, the lump has come up again after stronger antibiotics and anti-inflams, and I did my passive agreesive thing at the vets and they went in to have a look at it today via surgery. So far they have taken fluids from it 3 times, each time the histology has been different. The first time it read like an abcess, and responded to treatment, then it read like a salivary cyst and was drained. 3rd time it looks like an abcess again. The vets have just rung me, and they want to take a less invasive approach and give him a stoma to allow the lump to drain itself constantly and are hoping this will, over a period of a couple of months, allow whatever it is to drain out and hopefully fix the issue.

So, aside from keeping it clean 2x daily and using a warm compress on his neck to help it drain, any other tips for making sure it doesnt become manky? I know with horses we used to rub vasaline around the edge of the hole to stop gunk sticking to the skin and making it easier to clean, and he wont be able to lick it where its located, so I will do this anyway. I dont think i will be able to bandage it at all, as he will just tear it off for something to do. Any other pearls of wisdom from anyone who had had something similar?

TIA

Edited December 31, 2012 by piperspal