Dog Surgery Stress

Jellytotsx

Have a beautiful 1 year black lab called Apollo.

Title says it all really, found lumps on his chest that came up in the space of a few days, he had surgery to remove them and thankfully the results came back clear. Turned out the lumps came from damage to his hair follicles.

He had his stitches out yesterday and the vet said there was some fluid as he wasn't kept quiet enough for the 12 days, queue today and around an inch of his scar has reopened. Called the vet and He has to go back to the vet tomorrow to have it stitched again.

Feeling guilty, upset and all of the other emotions! Any advice on how to keep him quiet? He goes to the farmyard during the day and then home in the evenings, short of shutting him away in a pen for the day we don't know what to do. He gets anxious and agitated when we put him away (we did this the 2 days after his initial surgey) as he is used to have an acre to Potter around everyday.

Thanks for any advice in advance :-)

VonVix

Brain games. Scent work. Those really tire a dog out! You don't always have to work the body to tire a dog out, working the mind can be just as effective. I would avoid putting a bowl of food down, have him do activities for his food. Also glad the lumps turned out to be nothing too serious!

Lots of examples can be found on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=scent+games+for+dogs
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=crate+rest+games

Jellytotsx

VonVix wrote: »

Brain games. Scent work. Those really tire a dog out! You don't always have to work the body to tire a dog out, working the mind can be just as effective. I would avoid putting a bowl of food down, have him do activities for his food. Also glad the lumps turned out to be nothing too serious!

Lots of examples can be found on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=scent+games+for+dogs
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=crate+rest+games

Thanks VonVix, those videos are brilliant. Luckily I will be home with me fully for the next 3 days so I will work with him on those then. He has the kong wobbler and K9 connectables which he loves but he is just too smart, has them figured out in no time!

The lumps were something called fibroadnexal hamartomas, the main words I heard were benign and nothing to worry about. Scary stuff when your fur baby is only 1!

tk123

Jellytotsx wrote: »

Feeling guilty, upset and all of the other emotions! Any advice on how to keep him quiet? He goes to the farmyard during the day and then home in the evenings, short of shutting him away in a pen for the day we don't know what to do. He gets anxious and agitated when we put him away (we did this the 2 days after his initial surgey) as he is used to have an acre to Potter around everyday.

Thanks for any advice in advance :-)

You need to restrict him for his own good - no pottering, no running no jumping etc. Use up his enegry as VonVix has suggested but really that's about it - you need to be tough. My boy was so stressed this time around (his third operation) that I had to work from home every afternoon for weeks to keep him from stressing out too much

CeilingFly

Unfortunately you do need to shut him away in a pen for a couple of days. Same for me next week, I'm having minor surgery and told I'll have to keep still for 3-4 days, not go out, not move much or I might have recovery issues

Other half is dreading it!

VonVix

Jellytotsx wrote: »

Thanks VonVix, those videos are brilliant. Luckily I will be home with me fully for the next 3 days so I will work with him on those then. He has the kong wobbler and K9 connectables which he loves but he is just too smart, has them figured out in no time!

The lumps were something called fibroadnexal hamartomas, the main words I heard were benign and nothing to worry about. Scary stuff when your fur baby is only 1!

I do lots of brain games/indoor small space training with my (young, active) GSD on rainy days (he hates the rain, it gets in his ears!) and we could be doing it for 10-20 minutes then when he's done he'll walk away and curl up in the corner.

Jellytotsx

VonVix wrote: »

I do lots of brain games/indoor small space training with my (young, active) GSD on rainy days (he hates the rain, it gets in his ears!) and we could be doing it for 10-20 minutes then when he's done he'll walk away and curl up in the corner.

Ah thanks guys for all your comments, I know I'll just have to do it, we will have to reinforce his pen he nearly chewed through it last time. Other half is ok about it, I'm a wreck! His family have another 4 dogs so he is used to it. At least one of us has a level head when it comes to the dog!

CeilingFly

Vet should be able to give the dog something to keep him drowsy. - If its tablet form crush it up, mix with tiny bit of water and use a syringe to jet it to back of mouth.

Don't worry, he'll still love you!

tk123

CeilingFly wrote: »

Unfortunately you do need to shut him away in a pen for a couple of days. Same for me next week, I'm having minor surgery and told I'll have to keep still for 3-4 days, not go out, not move much or I might have recovery issues

Other half is dreading it!

:eek::eek::eek: I have visions of you in a crate!!! :pac::pac:

kylith

Frozen wet food in a kong should keep him busy for a while.

CeilingFly

tk123 wrote: »

:eek::eek::eek: I have visions of you in a crate!!! :pac::pac:

keep those thoughts for the post 9pm watershed!

aonb

If the dog gets stressed in a pen, then set the room up so that he is still part of the family, but just restricted to an extent - with a cobbled together barrier of some sort. After my dogs cruciate replacement, we just divided off part of the family room. Put his bed in there, and an armchair. One of us would sit in that chair to read/use PC etc.

Go to the butcher and get a nice big raw bone. Get several! Bones will keep him busy for ages. We would do the brain training stuff with our boys too. Put a bit of kibble in a little box, seriously taped up, he has to tear it apart to get at the kibble. Teach him heaps of new tricks. Kong filled with frozen yoghourt or peanut butter. Put a radio on when hes alone/restricted. Get some seriously strong chews.

ALso worth asking the vet for some sort of calmer. Ive used one from Nutriscience - Kalmaid - just to take the edge off when we travelled abroad with one of our dogs who was recuperating from surgery. Liquid form, its like a gravy, squirt into his food.

dont feel bad - why would you - your dog is lucky enough to have someone who loves him and takes such good care of him.