what to expect after spade surgery?

Hi

Waffles just went in for her spade surgery this morning. It all went well the vet called me and said that the operation went great but my question is wha tdo I expect afterwards? I know Im suppose to keep her calm but what else do I do or more importantly what do I not let her do? Any info is greatly appreciated thanks!

Jon Chang

Hey Jon,

More than likely, Waffles will be very tired and a bit disorientated when she gets home and will probably just want to sleep. She'll bounce back remarkably quickly, the difficulty will be trying to stop her jumping a lot lest she rips her stitches and trying to keep her from eating them.

I can only speak to you from my own experience, Cleo likes being curled up on the sofa so to help her heal, I used to pick her up and put her on the sofa so she didn't have to jump up. Although she felt very sorry for herself for the first few days, she quickly came around and was soon running around with her cone like it had always been there.

I hope everything goes well and have no doubt that more expereinced people will chime in with better advice. All I can say is take your cue from Waffles. She'll let you know what she can and can't do. Please keep us posted on how it goes.

I think all u should do is keep her calm,dont let her jump up on anything, keep her stitches dry little amounts of food. The most important lots of :hug: and love.

Sally got spayed recently and when we collected her from the vets she was very wobbly on her feet and really sleepy. When we got her home we put her in her bed in the lounge with water nearby and fed her a light meal. She slept most of the first evening. The next day she seemed back to normal. We just tried to keep her calm and stopped her jumping up or running upstairs. We also just took her on light walks on her lead. After 10 days her stitches were taken out and we've had no problems. We've found she seems more hungry since being spayed so have to watch she doesn't get overweight.
I'm sure Waffles will be ok. Good luck :hug:

Also you might consider buying a baby onesie (babygro) -- those one piece baby shirts that snap at the crotch -- I get them at second hand stores for next to nothing. You can cut a hole for the dog's tail. It will keep her from getting at her stitches after she is spayed and is a lot more comfortable for a dog than wearing a cone. You can unsnap and roll up like a t-shirt when taking her out for her pottying. I ue them for about three days after the spay or nueter. That said, with plenty of dogs I never have used either for after spaying or neutering. They lick at their stitches but I haven;t had any problems with dogs pulling them out. But some do! So see what your vet says. Not all bother with the collars.

Your vet will give you instructions but in general, only a tiny meal or two the day you take her home, keep the stitches clean (don't let her get in any mud puddles for example!) and only short walks of 10 minutes or so for the next 10 days to two weeks til her stitches come out. No walks in tall grass or anything that could affect the stitches.

Usually the only issue you will have is trying to keep them from being too manic the day or two after as they shouldn't be allowed to go tearing around the house etc. They are usually back to norml the second day after they sleep off the anaesthetic.

As far as Scout was concerned, she had just been away on an overnite adventure. No one would have guessed that she had surgery the day before. Most girls bounce back quickly.

It is kind of difficult keeping them quiet and trying to keep them from jumping is interesting, but must be done. Little Waffles will bouce back in a day or so, you'll be pleasantly surprised. Scout wasn't given any pain medicine for when she got home and did marvelously.