Neutering - how long to recover?

I am getting a new male puppy in September. His name is Jolly. He was born June 15th. I can't take any time off of work in December (work rules), so I will have to schedule the surgery for January.

When I am at work, Jolly will be staying with my groomer. She has 7 Yorkies and he will have many play buddies. I will be dropping him off at her house on my way to work and picking him up on my way home.

Jolly will be between 6 1/2 to 7 months old at the beginning of January. The last dog I had neutered was Pippin and that was 2 1/2 years ago now and my memory isn't very good.

After neutering, when would it be safe to start taking him back to daycare?
I was thinking of taking off from work to help Jolly with his recovery. I want to be his nurse. What can I expect post-surgery? How long will he need his Mommy, before he will be OK back with the Yorkies while I am at work?

my memory of zack's neutering is pretty fresh. he never showed any sign of any pain or tenderness, except the first day, he was really out of it from the effects of the anaesthesia for 12 hours, mostly sleeping, unsteady on his feet, so i wasn't sure if he was having any pain or if it was just being weak or dizzy from the drugs. After he came out of the stupor, he acted happy and playful though maybe a little quieter than usual that first night, but again, could've been the anaesthia effects or pain, couldn't tell.

The next day he acted completely normal and never showed any sign that he felt any pain. He had self dissolving stitches. His wound looked, well, like a fresh wound, for about a day and a half. Soon, it looked like a healing wound. His vet said he was fine to go back to the dog park at the end of that first week. He was neutered on a Saturday. I talked to her around the end of the week, and she said he could go back to the dog park on that coming Saturday. And the play gets pretty rough at the dog park, they maul each other and run like crazy, roll in mud, etc. The stitches dissolved and there was no post-neutering follow up vet visit.

The vet asked me to keep a cone collar on his head to keep him from licking the wound while it healed, for five days. she also wanted me to give him pain medication even if he didn't seem to be in pain. I think i gave it to him once, per those instructions. He wore the collar. He seemed to enjoy wearing it so that wasn't a problem. I worked that week, although i think i did stay home Monday and Tuesday, or just Monday, while the wound still looked red and fresh.

from what i've heard from other people on this forum, it's not a big deal, dogs are back to normal the next day and sometimes the same day.

i was very pleased with the self dissolving stitches.

When Geordie was neutered he was 6 months old. I took a day off work the following day to keep an eye on him. As I remember he had an easy recovery, just had to tell him to not lick there.

Whenever my dogs undergo anesthesia, I try to schedule it for a Thursday, then I take Friday off to stay home and monitor them for anything abnormal, plus they have the 2-day weekend to recover further.

You might not want to let your baby run loose with the Yorkies until healing is complete. They might be a little too interested in what happened to him, and they are terriers after all. He would need at least a few more days to rest and heal - maybe put him in an xpen at her house?

Thanks Judy for filling me in on what it was like post-op. It sounds like I won't have to take many days off work for his recovery.

Cathy Moon - the idea of surgery on Thurs. and then I take of Fri. is a really good idea, why hadn't I ever thought of that :sl*p: I love long weekends. Also, the X-Pen idea at the groomer's is also a great idea. I don't have one, but I wonder if she does? I'll have to chat with her about that.

That is a good idea: having the surgery on a Thursday. I have found they are pretty much back to normal by the next day but like to be able to watch them to make sure they aren't biting at stitches. The males tend to do really well. They just can;t be back at long walks for about 10 days. I would think he'd be fine back at daycare after 4-5 says or so, as the wounds will be knitting well by then. The incisions for males are pretty small.