my 7 year old lab had surgery just over two weeks ago to remove a HUGE, 6 lb, lipoma (tumor) on his back. as was almost expected he developed many seromas (swelling/fluid pockets under the skin) in the days following his surgery. the swellings usually came and went within the span of a day if not hours. however, a week ago he developed a particularly large seroma (at least 4 inch diameter) which has not improved at all over the week. tomorrow i go to the vet who will remove the stitches and wants to discuss putting a drain in for the swelling. what i've read on it, the drain doesn't have a great success rate and is best avoided. does anyone know anything about this? is his seroma so big that it is unlikely to be reabsorbable on its own? (my dog is a really big guy, very trim/athletic while still nearly hitting the 100 lb mark) will removing the stitches somehow make it more likely for the seroma to heal? how long can i wait to put in the drain? what risk is there in waiting? can it become fibrous? and, mostly, is there ANYTHING i can do to encourage his body to heal this swelling on its own? anything homeopathic? i already feed him all stages Canidae and he gets brewers yeast, garlic, echinacea,
Glucosamine and chondroitin to boot. thanks so much!