# Spaying Experience



## nick (Dec 18, 2010)

Molly will be spayed tomorrow. I would like to know if anyone has recent experience....how do the get along after surgery? Vet told us to keep her quiet for 10 days....I don't think that will happen....also no up/down stairs. Any advice?


----------



## jld640 (Sep 29, 2010)

Savannah was spayed February 18th at just under 7 months old. She had 12 days to be calm before the vet would remove her stitches. The vet defined calm as no running, no jumping, no rolling, and no walks (we could go around our cul-de-sac after 4 days). She woke up fine from the surgery and came home with me that night. She took a longer nap than usual that evening, but otherwise, was unfazed. After the 12 days, her stitches were removed and, again, unfazed. Here are a few things to consider…
1) Practice taking her out of the car the day before the surgery so you know how you will lift her when she is not helping. It took me a few tries to lift the crate smoothly out of the car with a 40 pound dog in it, but that was ultimately easier for me than leaning all the way in to get my hand under her hindquarters to lift.
2) Some people have told me that their dogs were sort of out of it for 3 days afterward. Savannah was raring to go the next morning. Be ready for either case. While some on this forum may disagree with me, I opted to ask the vet for sedatives. For us, they were invaluable.
3) Savannah was on her leash for the next 12 days anytime she was out of her crate. Even if she was napping, she was leashed. Predictably, the puppy crazies happened with increasing frequency over those 12 days even though I kept her sedated. 
4) I brought as much work home with me as possible so she would be out of her crate as much as possible.
5)	I made multiple trays of peanut butter ice cubes (ice cubes with a dot of peanut butter that can be stuffed into a Kong) to keep her busy. For variety, at the bottom of the Kong under the ice cube I would put a dot of meat or cheese or a small piece of frozen broccoli. As many times as possible, a full Kong went with her into her crate. Toys are good things, but she became bored with them after a while. In retrospect, I would have tried rotating them in and out of her sight so she had a ‘new’ one to play with every few hours. If you try it, let me know how it goes.
6)	I kept reminding myself that no matter how much Savannah wanted to run or jump, if she pulled her stitches out, we would have to do the whole 12 days again. Trust me when I say that I had the countdown going from day 1.
7)	When her restrictions were lifted, it took her a week or so to get back into her routine. Predictably, her leash manners had deteriorated and it took more than a few off-leash runs to expend the energy and frustration that had accumulated over 12 days.
I hope everything goes smoothly for Molly and for you!


----------



## nick (Dec 18, 2010)

jld640.....thanks for your note. In our case Molly will spend overnight in the vets clinic and I will definitely ask for something to keep her calm. Thanks again for taking the time.....


----------



## nick (Dec 18, 2010)

a foot note......what about stitches....did she try to pull them out?


----------



## sarahaf (Aug 17, 2009)

As far as stitches: don't do what we did, keep the cone on--even if you think your dog hates it. We didn't, and I am so thankful Rosie didn't get her stitches out. We were home with her, constant supervision. But I've heard horror stories about dogs opening their sutures unbelievably fast--fortunately, none where the situation was life-threatening, but in the best case scenario, if they rip out their stitches, the dog has to go right back into surgery and you start over with the healing process. 

As far as activity--we were just warned against running and jumping, but Rosie was allowed up and down stairs. But I would go with your vet's recommendation, of course. They did keep her inpatient the first night. Once they sent her home on day 2, she didn't keep very quiet, but she healed okay.


----------



## JillandDan (Sep 8, 2010)

Holley was spayed December 30th and was 6 months old. I dropped her off at the vet that morning and around dinner time we went to pick her up. She was very out of it still. The vet gave us instructions to try to get her to have some water and see if she holds it down. If she did after an hour then we could feed her and give her pain meds. That ended up not happening. Holley didn't want water until 11:30 that night. Then after an hour, she didn't want her food. We felt so bad that she had to go her first night with no pain meds but they gave her stuff in her iv before we picked her up. The next morning she was raring to go and we had to restrain her. Calm is not a word Vs understand. We carried her up and down the steps (live on 2nd floor apt) whenever she had to go to the bathroom and then it was back in her crate for the first couple days. After that we kept her on a leash in the apt to keep her from running, jumping, etc. We were worried because she was starting obedience class 12 days after surgery so we couldn't have any mishaps. We kept the comfy cone on her for about 10 days and then monitored her. Her stitches didn't need to be removed though. They dissolved. She healed wonderfully and we made it through.
Good luck and best wishes for a speedy recovery.


----------



## nick (Dec 18, 2010)

I appeciate those responses. I will not see Molly until Wednesday (tomorrow). I'll post a note after I get her home and see how she is doing.


----------



## nick (Dec 18, 2010)

Molly came home like she went in.....wild as a buck....pulling on her leash and rearing to go. Tranquilizers and pain pills had no affect. All she wanted to do was play. We have had her on a short leash all day...no running, romping...she slept an hour in her crate but that's it. She has internal disolvable stitches with the outside glued and she hasn't touched it at all. We'll see what tomorrow brings.


----------



## JillandDan (Sep 8, 2010)

Glad to hear all is well with Molly. Good luck with keeping her calm. We were told to use Benadryl to keep Holley calm but it had no effect at all. It just took alot of vigilance on our part and alot of frustration on Holley. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.


----------



## nick (Dec 18, 2010)

Molly is totally different today....I guess the drugs are catching up. She has been happy on her couch all day...moslty sleeping....thank goodness. She eats fairly well and walks outside...otherwise she is content to lay on the couch. Four more days and we will probably see a remarkable change.


----------

