puppy just got spayed

ene

so molly my 6 month old westie was spayed this morning and i wanted to know what to expect in regards to her feeling better and what care do i need to provide to her now and in the next few days?

my immediate concern is walking and feeding her, when should i do these?

thanks

andreac

To be honest, your dog will prob tell you when shes ready for both, although some can be too keen to get going again so you need to keep them quiet.

I would offer her a small meal later, but more than likely she wont be in the form to eat.
Same goes for walking, i wouldnt walk her tonight and just let her out in the garden for a gentle wander around tomorrow. You can play it by ear and see how she is over the next few days. Some dogs are a lot sorer and in more pain than others so just see how she is herself.

Try not to worry if shes not up for her food straight away, they usually dont be in the form for anything after an anaesthetic.
Just make sure shes comformtable and has plenty of water.

Toulouse

You will be given an aftercare sheet with her when you collect her.

Just keep her warm and quiet tonight. Lift her in and out of the car, up on down off the sofa etc. Give her a light meal of boiled chicken and rice and access to water as you'll find she'll be thirsty.

No strenuous exercise for 7 days and keep her on the lead when you bring her out to the toilet.

Take a look at the stiches when you pick her up and check them twice a day for any changes. Then after 10 days the stitches will come out and things will be back to normal.

Oh and always have her cone on if you can't supervise to stop her getting at her stitches.

mymo

My vet suggested a little scrambled egg for the first meal after the op, and he also said to watch and make sure she pooped in the first 24hrs. (it took almost 24hrs, she went just as I was ready to call him:rolleyes:)
It really depends on the dog though, some seem fine after a couple of days, but still need to be kept from jumping about. Above advise is good, one thing is she may be cold(mine shivered even sitting by the rad, but it was snowing at the time) so keep her warm.

Sigma Force

Keep her warm and don't feed her too much at first, let her sleep as much of it off as possible, as said no jumping up and down etc. she'll let you know herself when she's ready for walks, short little walks will be fine once she's over the first day or two. Have never been given an after care sheet for any neutering/spaying but I wish more vets would it helps but owners minds at ease.

ene

i was given a aftercare sheet but it didn't say much, i have her home now and she is pretty out of it. she seems to hate me, i think she knows i caused this pain!

ene

also i was never given a cone....

mymo

I have never been given a cone for any animal, my current vet (of 8yrs) says they cause more distress, so unless an animal is at the stitches a lot he won't give one.
Just keep an eye on her, she may lick them a little after a few days, but generally they are sore if they are at them so they leave them alone.
She doesn't hate you, she's sore and the anesthetic makes them feel ill, she'll be a bit sorry for herself tomorrow but you should see a big improvement in 24-48 hrs. Try to get her to drink, but don't worry if she doesn't tonight.
They often don't eat for a while after and just sleep so don't worry.

ene

thanks so much for the replies i feel a lot better now, she is just sleeping at the moment i will try to get her to drink before i go to bed!

toadfly

I've had four dogs neutered in the last 2 years by two different vets and never got a care sheet or a cone. Had to gO back to get a cone for first dog she just wouldn't leave the stitches alone.

Got one dog done last Thursday, she was very sore that night but by Friday evening she was much improved and back to normal by Sunday.

She did get sick on Thursday and went off her food but she was drinking and going toilet so I wasn't too worried.

Kali_Kalika

Your vet should fully go over the post-op care with you when you collect her. So that should fully cover all information and many of the other posts are valid.

I can only comment on my experience of having my girl spayed via key-hole surgery in May. Due to the incredibly tiny incision (1 stitch!) the recovery time wasn't long or extreme. The hardest part was keeping her quiet and not jumping and running and swimming - she felt fine and kept giving me looks of "C'mon! I'm fine LET ME PLAY! PLEASE!"

She was still quite groggy when I picked her up. Lifted her in and out of the jeep to comply with the no jumping rule - she was happy to be picked up as she was really groggy and not really with it or walking overly stable. She slept the whole way home (one of the few times she's actually slept in the car!) and pretty much came into the house, looked around like she'd never been there, had a few sips of her water and crawled into her bed. There wasn't a peep out of her for the whole night - she just wanted to sleep it all off. She'd wake occasionally and try and shift around in her bed and I think she'd feel the incision site then cos she'd look at her shaved belly like "ehh, what happened here?! Where's my belly fur and why do I hurt" and then just go back asleep. The next day - she was 200% back to her normal self - you'd never know she'd been in for surgery the previous day! The vet advised no swimming or running or jumping and only short, slow walks around the block. So I took her for about 5 trips around the block on the first day after the surgery. She's a border collie cross, so she likes/needs to be busy and wasn't impressed with the slow walking - but I insisted so she kept at it - the compromise was in letting her stop and sniff everything she wanted for as long as she wanted. I also started teaching her "finding games" - hiding toys/food and friends around the place and getting her to find them. Not overly strenuous for the body but kept the mind busy for sure.

Pretty much - let her determine when she wants to eat and how much. My girl didn't want anything to eat the day of her surgery and only had a few licks of water here and there, more at my encouragement than out of desire. My vet did suggest eggs as well - so made a few extra scrambled eggs for her breakfast the next day and she wolfed them down, thought it was all her doggy birthdays come at once! As I've said - my only "problem" in the post surgery week was keeping her quiet and not running or jumping. She felt completely fine and acted completely normal - she couldn't understand why there werent any fun or games or trips to the park! By the end of the week she was getting demented with the boredom of walking around the different blocks of the estate, and I was getting a bit bored with it as well. So I took her to the park, kept her on leash and we walked around there for a change of scenery and scent! That got us through the weekend and finally the tuesday arrived and the stitches were out and she was given full clearance again for swimming, running and jumping. And due to the key hole surgery she had you cant even find the incision site - her belly fur is now almost fully grown back in and you wouldn't know she'd been under the knife at all!

Hope your girl did well with her surgery and will be back to her fun loving self really soon!