Hello everyone, my puppy is going to be spayed tomorrow and luckily she's oblivious while I'm nervous enough for both of us. I wanted to find out from other people's experiences what the recovery period is likely to be like. I know every dog is different, but still... She's six months old, and sleeps in our bed, which she has done for about two months now, with no accidents (knock on wood!). I've read that incontinence in common the night or two after the surgery - has this been your experience? Clearly she can't jump up on to the bed. I'm wondering if I should just sleep on the floor with her? Or put a low table next to the bed to act as a step up? Aside from kongs and chews, what other activities or games have you used to successfully keep your pups entertained while they can't run about?
Willow had a pretty bad recovery after her spay. She was out of sorts for well over a week. It's absolutely not the norm, but she wasn't in the mood to do anything except lay about. She wasn't incontinent in the slightest. Before the spay, she wasn't allowed up on the sofa. while she was recovering, she looked so pitiful that I succumbed. I helped her up and that was it - claimed as her own. You're right, though, most people have a tough job keeping their dogs occupied and quiet. There's a thread on things to do with dogs on restricted exercise here: https://thelabradorforum.com/threads/things-to-do-for-dogs-on-restricted-exercise.10654/
My little rescue girl is being spayed next month , so I`m facing the same anxieties ! My last girl recovered well , I did stay with her for the first couple of nights , on the sofa , and we did lift her up and down steps or onto the sofa for a few days . The tough job is keeping them calm , calm did I just say calm ? I took her for lots of very short on lead walks after the first few days , to help to tire her out, but didn't allow any normal exercise for at least ten days, it soon goes , so I keep reminding myself ! Good luck x p.s. we had no incontinence problems either x
Belle was fine next day. We allowed slow walking up and down stairs - she was never a stair runner anyway - and we had a week of lead walks (- or was it lead walks until stitches removed?), that was the most frustrating bit. She was lifted in and out of the car. She wasn't allowed on the sofa or the bed so that wasn't a problem. She didn't bother her stitches at all. No incontinence. Try and keep busy while she's in, to help keep you sane (I know it won't work though )
Oh @CherryBiscuit our Harley is also going in tomorrow. I keep rubbing her tummy, and she loves her tummy rubs so much, and I think that by Wednesday afternoon her tummy will be different. DH keeps reassuring me that she will be fine, it is minimally invasive and she is a strong, healthy girl. I don't believe much will change with her nature but I may be wrong. Eeeeekkkk, it is horrible to think she has to go in tomorrow.
I have had 3 bitches spayed with no problems. I find they regulate themselves initially. Usually very sleepy and quiet that first night..then slowly perk up again. None of them bothered with their stitches...I did buy a cute t shirt for Meg...it was really soft. I think she liked it..covered her tummy well. No incontience and totally back to normal activities after about 2 weeks....
I just checked with the vet practice now, and not only can't Harls have even a treat after 22h00 tonight, she won't eat all day and is only allowed 1/4 of her supper tomorrow. She is going to be the hungriest lab ever.
Just wanted to say good luck to you both for the ops tomorrow.Only having a boy I can't help with any advice re spay recovery but he's always bounced back from GA very well.He would have been a stitch worrier though if we hadn't supervised him closely after his tail dock ...he wasn't allowed in bed with us then so I did sleep with him on the floor as he could negotiate round his cone x
Good luck to you both for tomorrow - again only having a boy now, and a rescue bitch years ago who had already been spayed I can't help. Let us know how you get on x
Good luck to you both. Poppy had the laparoscopic spay, and was certainly back to normal about a week after the operation, though she did seem a bit down for some of that time. I slept with her, and she didn't even need to wear the body shirt or collar, as the stitches did not seem to worry her at all. She is happier now than she was before, definitely livelier and more playful. We didn't have any issues with incontinence - however, she was a little constipated for a while. I am sure this was due to the anesthetic. Are you ready for a pretty gross Labrador story? Of course you are... Daughter and her OH were staying with us, and a couple of nights after the spay Poppy turned up at their bedroom door, wanting to be let in. They allowed her up on the bed with them. In the middle of the night they suddenly found a sort of crumbly biscuit in the bed, and started accusing each other of having a secret night-time snack... Only of course it wasn't a crumbly biscuit, it was a crumbly Poppy Poop!!! (This will forever be remembered as The Night Sean Found a Crumbly Snack In The Bed... Luckily he has a good sense of humour and still loves us all!!!)
I've had Molly spayed and also a bitch back in the 80s. Neither had any problems -no incontinence and weren't prescribed pain killers. Molly was a bit whiney for a couple of hours after I brought her home but once she'd had her dinner she just settled down to sleep. I think lead walking for a week or ten days was a bit of a nuisance, but Molly was nearly two so probably easier than with a puppy. You're bound to worry while your dog is being operated on but hope all goes smoothly for those of you about to have it done.
Quinn was spayed at 6 months...first night was a bit rough. I slept beside her on the floor outside her crate (she usually slept with us, but I think wanted the security of her crate for a few nights) and she had a couple accidents while coming off the anesthetic over night (she tried to get to the door, but was disoriented and had the cone on). She had diarrhea for a few days afterwards, which was likely due to stress, so was on a bland diet once she was able to eat again. She was off/lethargic for about a week. I took the week off work and she didn't wear her cone and didn't seem bothered by the stitches. We took her for drives and picnics while she wasn't able to do much walking. We carried her in/out of car and up steps etc to be extra careful. Once she was off the pain meds, she was back to her old self in no time.
I have the Thursday, Friday, weekend and Monday off so if Harley needs anything I will be there. I fret with anyone of the family going into hospital. I was such a pain with DH's last procedure they let me wait outside the surgery doors and the surgeon felt the need to hug me. DH just wanted food when he came out and didn't divulge any interesting info.
'DH just wanted food and didn't divulge any info' I imagine Harley will be the same! Also, isn't Harley having a laproscopic spay? So her recovery should be speedier and less painful? Hope all is OK.
She might have a little accident the first night if she is still quite dopey from the anaesthetic. Indie was completely out of it when we picked her up, the vet said she was slower to come round than normal. She fell asleep standing up with her cone face down on the pavement as we were trying to get her in the house! And that night she wet herself. The following morning she was sick, again just from the anaesthetic. She only started drinking and eating the following evening. But then she decided she felt fine and we had our work cut out trying to prevent her from jumping all over the place and damaging her stitches! She was a terrible chewer back then and attacked and destroyed three cones whilst they were on her head. I think indie was on the psycho end of normal though So anyway I probably wouldn't have Harley in the bed the first night that she is coming round from the anaesthetic as she might not control her bladder or be awake enough to move if you accidentally knock her tummy in the night. But you can probably judge how 'with it' she seems, it sounds like a lot of dogs bounce back within hours! And on the upside, even though we had quite a difficult spay and quite a while of restricted exercise (various infections of her spay scar) because of this we discovered scentwork and really strengthened basic training stuff like 'leave it' and stays. I also taught her to retrieve different household objects during that time too which was fun. So the point of this disjointed ramble was, it is unlikely that you will have all the problems we did but even if you do, it will all turn out right in the end and once it's over you will be relieved that it is all done and dusted
Good luck @Harley Quinn, hope everything goes smoothly. I've just found out they are pushing Biscuit's procedure off until Tuesday so I get to agonize for another week! Probably better - we've got public holidays here on Thursday and Monday so at least I'll be able to give her my full attention while she recovers next week with the kids back at school.
Tilly's spay at 6 or 7 months (10+ years ago) was completely unremarkable, other than coming into the house and jumping over the Sofa. She had no problems, and I don't recall how much we restricted her. Cooper's spay was a bit more of a problem, because she vomited stomach contents into her esophagus during surgery. She was 16+ months and 80#. Because she dislikes being restrained, the doc had some problems getting her sedated initially, and she lost more blood than usually during the surgery, probably because it was longer than expected. She also came into the house and jumped over the sofa. She had a slew of meds after surgery, antibiotics, painkillers, sedatives and something to coat her throat because of the vomiting. The vet used dissolving sutures so she would not have to sedate Cooper to remove them. She had a little inflammation around the incision for several days after the surgery, but the Vet was not concerned about it. The sedatives made her really dopey, and we cut way back on the dose. We did not use all the pain killers, because she did not seem to be in any real discomfort. We never did have to use an Elizabethan collar and she only licked the incision a few times. She was back to full form in about 10 days. I believe we kept both dogs from using the stairs to the back yard for a couple of days, but honestly I don't recall for sure.
Xena's spay at 6 months was a non-event. She was dopey and very unsettled the evening we brought her home, but she had a good night (no incontinence) and she seemed back to normal by late morning the next day (24 hours post-spay). She got a very gentle walk that evening (36 hours) and then 2 gentle lead walks a day for the next 2.5 weeks. I thought I'd be able to give her off lead time when her stitches came out, but the vet recommended restricted exercise for an extra week because "in a very small number of cases the internal stitches can tear and then you're stuck with another surgery and even more down time, it's not worth it". So I listened to his advice. It was fine, it really allowed me to focus on her loose leash walking. I thought she'd go mad on leash walks but she was fine.
I've not had any problems with the four bitches I've had spayed over the years, except for ensuring they're calm and sensisble for a while afterwards! Wispa and Tuppence didn't lick the wound at all and so didn't need to wear a buster collar. I made sure that they had plenty of crate rest and did lots of on lead short walks, keeping them on lead in the garden too. A week or two seems ages with a lively lab, but it will soon pass. I hope all goes well for Biscuit and Harley.
Thanks for all the good wishes. Harley's operation went well. It was awful leaving her at the vet and walking away but I am really glad it is over now. We fetched her at about 16:30 yesterday evening and she recognized us and wagged her tail and gave us a few licks but all in all was pretty groggy. When we got home she wasn't keen on any food and had a few laps of water throughout the evening. She was able to wee and poo without issues and asked to go out but she did vomit outside when she went out for a wee. We read up that it is a common side effect so we comforted her but there was nothing much we could do. She slept peacefully in her pen for the whole night and this morning we had a tail wagging, face licking, shoe bringing little girl back. She is subdued, she doesn't run she only walks but she is comfy enough to move around freely (under our watchful eyes as both DH and I are home). She had a few mouthfuls of her normal kibble this morning but nothing more so I made her a Kong stuffed with her kibble and Hills I/D tinned food. It is her normal Kong stuffing and she loved it so she wanted to go lay in the sun and eat it. DH kept an eye on her and she finished that and then had a chewy. So I will keep giving her Kongs throughout the day. I am just so incredibly relieved that everything went well and that so far she hasn't fussed with the stitches. Some more good news is that we requested some blood work to be done on her for kidney function etc and that all came back A-OK. And we had her hips and elbows x-rayed. I have posted about how she did not come from a good home and we know that 7 months is early to have her x-rayed and they can't give her a score but it does just help us have a baseline and if there are any issues now we can do what we can. Great news is that Harley, at this age, had really good hips and elbows. We saw the x-rays and the vet spoke us through what to look for and it was good. We will have her re-X-rayed at about 18 months of age but we are so relieved she has a clean bill of health at this age. And for the cherry on top the vet was so complimentary about her, he just said she is such a lovely dog, really confident and very loving. He has seen her since she was about 3 months old and he has watched her grow and he told us when she just little that she is a special pup. He probably says that about all the dogs but I really don't mind, it was such an emotional day. I had my first patient pass away at work, in my career, and we had Harley in at the vet so to hear such nice, kind words really made everything a little better.
