What to do for your dog after neutering? Advice/Suggestions

Blogger50

Hi Guys,

Just looking for some information/advice. We have a four month old female GSD. I have rambled on endlessly about her here in the past .

We are planning on having her neutered at six months. We have an amazing vet who spent ages advising us on the pros/cons etc however, I am looking for information on what exactly will happen on the day.

What I am most interested in is will she be back home the same day and how long will she have her stitches in?

I am with her 99.99% of the time so the thought of leaving her in the vets overnight or even for a few hours is killing me - silly I know but there you go!

Also is there anything you would recommend we do to make her comfortable etc once she comes home. I would appreciate all information/advice.

Oh heres a little pic of her on Christmas morning (Sorry I dont know how to make the photo appear in the post, only the link).

Thanks for reading!

Dublin141

Ah, she's beautiful. My dog was in the vets for a couple of hours only. When she came back she was a little groggy but not as bad as I expected. I basically let her sit beside me on the sofa for a couple of days and didn't let anyone near her. She was a little bit grumpy but that's only because she was a bit sore and probably feeling a little vulnerable. I could keep an eye on her and let her get some rest. She slept a lot but when we brought her outside we had to be careful because she kept trying to run around as normal. She didn't eat much for a few days (the vet told us not to give her the usual amount of food for at least a day) but after that she was back to normal. Just make sure she doesn't mess at her stitches too much or you'll end up having to take her back to the vet.

Evolute

Just be careful about her being outside don't bring her out on walks for a few days and get a dog cone to stop her licking the wounds.
Mostly dogs take it in their stride some dogs go a bit funny for a while but normally come out of it in atleast a week

sunshinegirl

My dog was groggy after but in good form to see me,she spent the day in the vets and we took her home at the end of the day. She didnt eat that night,she drank some water.
The next morning I then had to give her anti-biotics but she threw up when i gave her them with a bit of food,Thats to be expected. So just left fresh water,small bowl of dry food and left her rest then tried in the afternoon to give her more which was fine. She was fine and back to her normal self after 3 or 4 days. Though i didnt walk her just left her around the garden.

mymo

My pup was spayed 2 weeks before christmas.
The vet took her in at 8am, and spayed her in the morning. I picked her up about 3pm and she was up and around but a little drowsy. She's only small so it was easy to get her home in the car. I was told not to let her jump around or go up and down stairs, and keep her away from the wound.
She was very sleepy and just had a drink of water no food that evening, but by morning she was eating a little(vet said to give a little cooked chicken or something she liked to get her to eat), I had to watch too see if she pooped normally the first time.
She had long acting antibiotics and pain killers and a blue spay on her belly, she didn't go near the wound and after a day or 2 was back to pretty much normal. I was worried about her jumping onto chairs and wrestling with my other dog(he was very gentle for over a week) but its hard to stop her. I put a baby gate on the stairs, so she didn't get up and down.
Appart from the lack of hair on her belly, she showed no sign of being ill or sore. They're pretty tough little buggers, the only thing I had to do was not walk her for a week or so, she howled when I took the other dog out, so ended up bringing her out and walking up and down the street, just to get out.

I was worried too about leaving her in the vets as shes always with our other dog or us, but she's crate trained and he put her in a crate in the surgery and left the door open so his secretary could keep an eye on her. There wasn't a peep out of her apparently.

votejohn

Your dogs amazing looking, I hope you got loads of pics of her in the snow!!!


I got Bella (6mth old husky) spayed a few days before christmas.

I dropped her in at about 10am and picked her up at about 4 or 5.

When she came home she slept all night, got up and had a drink and a bit to eat, then back to bed.

Then, next morning all back to normal!!!!! She was completely herself and the vet put some sort of glue or something over the stitches so she didnt go at them at all at all.

She went back two days later for a 2 minute check up, all good.

Then, a week after the initial op she went back to get the stitches out. she was awake for this but she didnt even seem to notice anything was happening.

I know your not in Cork, but I couldnt be happier with the job Bellas vet did, all healed up perfectly now!


All you can do is try and keep your pup quiet while the stitches are in. I doubt that your vet would want to keep her in overnight, and when shes in there she'll just sleep, and be too out of it to wonder where you are.

Blogger50

Hi Guys,

Thanks for much for the replies and info so far. I swear, I would be lost without this forum!

I just want to make sure I do the right things for her when she comes home. Thankfully I am home all the time so can keep a good eye on her. Shes a house dog so loves her home comforts! :pac:

Thanks for your lovely comment Votejohn! Yes, we got loads of snow here and I took TONS of photos of her. She loved it sticking her face in it! We have fantastic local woods here and they were amazing.

Unfortunately a couple of weeks ago I was loading photos onto the laptop and left the USB cable on the floor beside said doggie and within five minutes it was in two halves :eek: In fairness to her its the one and only thing that she has chewed that she wasnt supposed to (so far!).
Just waiting on new cable to arrive now!

I am going to ask my vet about the glue solution that your vet used!

Cheers for all the help again guys.

B

jrd_old

mymo wrote: »

I was worried about her jumping onto chairs and wrestling with my other dog(he was very gentle for over a week) but its hard to stop her.

Sorry for hijacking your thread, but I have a 5 month year old female and am wondering when I should get her neutered... And am worried about what to do afterwards as I have a 3yr old male and they tend to wrestle a lot..

They are generally left together for about 5 hours a day, should I check her into a kennels for a week when shes recovering to prevent her injuring herself?

star-pants

jrd wrote: »

Sorry for hijacking your thread, but I have a 5 month year old female and am wondering when I should get her neutered... And am worried about what to do afterwards as I have a 3yr old male and they tend to wrestle a lot..

They are generally left together for about 5 hours a day, should I check her into a kennels for a week when shes recovering to prevent her injuring herself?

Well I had my female pup done at 5 &half months or so but you can ask your vet to be sure.
Do you have a crate you could put her in maybe? I don't think putting her in kennels would be fair at all, she'll need hugs and home comforts.

votejohn

jrd wrote: »

Sorry for hijacking your thread, but I have a 5 month year old female and am wondering when I should get her neutered... And am worried about what to do afterwards as I have a 3yr old male and they tend to wrestle a lot..

They are generally left together for about 5 hours a day, should I check her into a kennels for a week when shes recovering to prevent her injuring herself?

If anything I would say sent the male to the kennels, but def dont leave them together unsupervised. Burst stitches is not uncommon, and could cause a bit of damage!

Theres a variety of different thoughts on what age to get your dog neutered, but I got bella done at almost 6 months before her first heat as I believe that getting them done that early strongly decreases the likelihood of your dog getting mammary cancer.



Blogger50 Im not sure exactly what the glue was, but it is Conor Goold, at Goold's veterinary clinic in Mahon, Cork that treated her, so if you want to give him a call and ask him.

Also, the stitches on the outer layer were really well done, there were no bits of stitching sticking out that she could pull at.

cucoigcrice

Hi Blogger50, the advice wegive to owners: it is a day procedure and the dog will go home that evening. Generally the vet will remove the uterus and ovaries but this depends on each vet. Sutures can be under the skin but alot of vets will use suture material that will required removing from the skin this takes place 7-10days post op. This doesnt hurt put can tickle. When you get your dog home give it a little scramble egg something very light on the stomach and a little water. Just keep her from jumping until sutures are removed. Generally we dont give painkillers as they dont need it.

Hope that is of some help feel free to ask any ?:)

mymo

jrd wrote: »

Sorry for hijacking your thread, but I have a 5 month year old female and am wondering when I should get her neutered... And am worried about what to do afterwards as I have a 3yr old male and they tend to wrestle a lot..

They are generally left together for about 5 hours a day, should I check her into a kennels for a week when shes recovering to prevent her injuring herself?

I would definitely find out about it soon, my pup was just gone 5 months when she came into heat, and was in heat nearly 6 weeks(went to vet 3 times,even he said it was unusually long) and the vet spayed her 2 weeks after.
I did consider putting the boy into kennels but, just separated them in the end if I had to leave them alone. He was very good, very gentle and so sweet with her even though he's only a big pup himself. He even waited at the door for her to go in or out before him:D(although that didn't last long!
I'm lucky in a way that I'm home a lot at the mo, and being christmas hols meant she wasn't alone much.

Also she had stitches out after 10 days(Vet said 10-14 days 'cos of second dog and the risk of pulling the wound), but a small hole opened up few days after when she was leaping around. Very small but had to keep it clean and keep her from leaping about for a few more days. It closed again in days and is all fine now.

Blogger50

Thanks again guys, all of this information is really helping to ease my mind! Votejohn, I will be at the vets this weekend for a weigh in and worm tablet so will ask about the glue then, cheers!

cucoigcrice- Will definitely have to keep an eye on the jumping, sometimes I think shes a kangaroo!

Jrd - Not a problem, the more the merrier in the thread! I was advised by our vet that if we were going ahead that we should have it done at six months. Thats why were doing it then.

Again, thanks everyone, I am currently making a little list of all your food tips and such so I have them to hand when the time comes!

Just one question, does the vet not automatically put the cone on or is that up to you and depend on the dog? Probably a silly question

star-pants

Blogger50 wrote: »

Just one question, does the vet not automatically put the cone on or is that up to you and depend on the dog? Probably a silly question

Not a silly question.
They don't automatically put one on, both my two females were done without a cone. Only reason we got a cone for the first one was because she got her dew claw removed and was going crazy at it so had to bring her in and get it rebandanged & get a cone.

Other advice given sounds spot on. Try not to let her jump or go up/down steps too big for her. Keep the play down for the first while anyway. And watch if she's licking her wound. My two had a bit of a lick but that was fine they weren't going at it or pulling. She'll probably not be her normal self the day you get her back, ours took til the next day to get back to themselves, and they'll be sore obviously. My little one would yelp if she managed to move herself in a way to catch/pull the stitches so just keep a close eye.

votejohn

another tip.

Bellas vet doesnt give out cones because the way he operates, the dogs dont go at the wound.

But if your vet does use cones, try and get one off him a week or so before the op to get her used to the cone before the op, so post surgery there wont be too much confusion!

Paul91

We had Roxy neutered on Thursday - no cone - apparantly he folded the skin when he stitched so she can't get to the stitchs, anyhew she's doing great and only winced/whined twice - she went back in Sat for check up and all was well.

Blogger50

Thanks Paul, that makes me feel a bit better about the whole thing. We had our girl at the vet on Saturday for a worm tablet and weight check. Shes now 12.8 kilos, she was 6.4 when we got her