After major surgery, your pet needs to be well taken care of to help avoid complications. It will be easier to make sure your pet recovers safely and comfortably if you follow the guidelines listed below.
After surgery, some animals are active while others are quieter for a while. In either case, it’s crucial to restrict your pet’s movement for the first 7 to 10 days after surgery because vigorous activity like running, jumping, or playing could impede the healing process and even cause the incision to swell or open. To help keep your pet from being too active:
Put your cat in a quiet, enclosed space, like a bathroom, laundry room, or kitchen, to help them feel safe and at ease while limiting their activity. This offers them a secure hiding place where you can easily keep an eye on their recovery. Don’t forget to supply fresh food, water, and a litter box.
Within 24 hours following surgery, your pet’s appetite should gradually return. When you first bring your pet home, feed them a half-size meal, and then their regular evening meal. Puppies and kittens might eat more frequently throughout the day. Water should always be available.
Don’t alter your pets’ diet at this time, and refrain from feeding them processed foods, leftovers from the table, milk, or any other “people food.” ” Changes in their diet could hide post-surgical complications. Lethargy (lasting for more than 24 hours after surgery), diarrhea, or vomiting are not typical patient reactions to surgery, and you should contact us right away if these happen. Then, we can determine whether your pet needs to have a medical professional examine it.
If your pet wears an Elizabethan collar, keep it on while you feed them unless you can watch them. If you do remove it for feeding, put it back in place as soon as your pet is done.
Internal sutures in dogs and female cats give the tissue strength as it heals, but they disintegrate after roughly four months. Additionally, skin has been covered in surgical glue to seal the incision against bacterial penetration. Unless otherwise stated, your pet does not have external sutures, and male cats do not have any sutures. Your pet will need to return in 10 days to have any skin sutures or staples removed if you are informed that they are present.
During the 10-day healing period, avoid bathing your pet and refrain from applying topical ointments to the incision site because the surgical glue there will dissolve too quickly if it gets wet. Pets must be kept indoors, where they can remain cozy, clean, and dry. Dogs can, however, be led outside to relieve themselves.
Distract your pet with treats or use an Elizabethan collar to stop them from licking the wound, which could lead to infection.
The abdomen of female dogs and cats has a mid-line incision. Male cats and dogs both have an incision on each side of the scrotum, and male dogs have an incision on the scrotum. Check these incision sites at least twice daily. When we release your pet, what you see is what we consider normal.
In females, there shouldn’t be any drainage, discharge, or odor, and there shouldn’t be much redness or swelling. Small amounts of drainage or discharge in male dogs may last for up to three days. Male cats may appear to still have testicles, but this is common, and the swelling should gradually go down throughout the healing process. If there are any lumps or bruises, they ought to get smaller and less noticeable during the healing process.
Keep your pet from licking or chewing at the incision. The incision could become infected or open as a result of licking, necessitating expensive follow-up visits to a veterinary clinic. If your pet is licking, we advise you to get in touch with us at (855) 434-9285 or [email protected] to set up a time to come back and pick up a free Elizabethan collar. This will make it impossible for your pet to access the area. Additionally, you can get one of these collars from the pet store or veterinarian’s office of your choice. If, while wearing an Elizabethan collar, your pet is still able to lick the surgical site, select a larger collar or call us at (855) 434-9285 for more help.
Our veterinarians use a multi-modal pain management protocol, which means that various painkillers are given prior to, during, and following surgery. After returning home, if your pet seems to be in pain, please call our clinic at the following number:
If your pet needs to be examined, our staff will be able to determine that. Do not administer human medications to your pet; doing so is risky and potentially fatal.
Keep neutered males away from un-spayed females. For up to 30 days following spay/neuter surgery, neutered males can cause an unspayed female to become pregnant. Keep spayed females away from unneutered males for seven days. The smell of animals returning from the veterinarian’s office may differ from that of other animals in the home. Be prepared to separate your pets for a few days after surgery as this could lead to them fighting.
Although spaying and neutering are both extremely safe procedures, complications can still happen during surgery. The minimal swelling and redness at the surgical site should go away in a few days, but if they last longer than that, please get in touch with us. Additionally, if you see any of the following, you should get in touch with us right away:
The ASPCA Spay/Neuter Alliance will take care of any complications following surgery. We may schedule a visit for your pet at our Asheville facility or make arrangements for them to visit a consulting veterinary clinic near you, depending on your location and the time of day. Please schedule an appointment by calling (855) 434-9285 as soon as you have a reason to be concerned. We are not liable for complications brought on by failure to adhere to post-operative instructions or by contagious illnesses for which the animal was not adequately immunized. Any illnesses or injuries that are not a direct result of surgery must be treated by your regular veterinarian.
Always check your pet’s urine for blood; in female animals during the first 24 hours following surgery, a small amount may be present. Please contact us or your regular veterinarian if this persists or happens at other times as your pet may have a bladder infection unrelated to surgery.
During your recovery, please give us a call at the following number if you have any queries or worries specifically related to the procedure:
You must get in touch with us first before arranging for your pet to receive any post-surgical veterinary care.
Discover how you can help your pet recover quickly and easily from a spay or neuter procedure.
Two weeks is a general rule of thumb
Typically, you should wait two weeks after a spay procedure before allowing your dog to play as she pleases. However, depending on how quickly your dog recovers from the surgery, this could last longer or shorter. The two week period falls during which the dog’s skin must have the stitches or staples removed.
My dog was too active after spay surgery (personal story)
Our dog was just like this. As a young puppy with boundless energy, she was spayed at 7 months old. If anything, she was too active and insisted on playing, going for walks, and exercising every waking moment, just like most puppies, I’m sure.
When she underwent surgery, I inquired with our veterinarian about how soon a dog can resume play. She would return to her prior levels of exercise a little more slowly than she would prefer, that’s what we were told.
Here is a summary of the professional responses I received at the time, along with the results of my own online research.
Why do dogs cry after being spayed?
For dogs who have undergone spaying, some degree of pain is typical in the moments after the procedure. Don’t be alarmed if your dog whimpers or whines after being spayed; some dogs can tolerate pain better than others. It’s perfectly normal for dogs to whine after being spayed.
FAQ
Can my dog still play after being spayed?
In either case, it’s crucial to restrict your pet’s movement for the first 7 to 10 days after the procedure because vigorous activity like running, jumping, or playing could impede the healing process and even cause the incision to swell or open.
How soon after spaying can a dog exercise?
Typically, we would advise keeping your dog off-leash for 24 to 48 hours following surgery and restricting exercise to short walks in the garden. Short lead walks after that are then recommended until they are seen for their post-op check.
Can my dog run 2 weeks after spay?
However, keep in mind that by 2 weeks their wound may only be 10% as strong as before, so we would still urge caution. Most practices advise that by 2 weeks post-surgery they can walk as normal. To be safe, it might be best to wait until a month after surgery before letting them run around.
Can my dog play 5 days after spay?
Can my dog play after getting spayed? Dogs should not run or play for about 10 days after getting spayed. The majority of the time, the dog will have recovered enough to resume its previous levels of physical activity.