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Comment by Nicole, Stanley and STELLA! on October 8, 2009 at 9:28pm

Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions. They are a wake up call for how carefully I need to watch her, especially right after surgery. I think I'm going to try to keep her in her crate as much as possible the first day or two and then move her to the playpen.

I drop her off tomorrow morning before work. I'm already nervous! Hopefully, teaching will distract me from thinking about it too much, and by my last class she'll be done. I don't pick her up until Saturday morning! Right now she's chewing on a toy angrily because she didn't get dinner since she had to fast before her surgery. I taught a late class today, so her last meal was at 2:00. I know that's no big deal, but Stella has a healthy appetite, let's just say. :) When I came home she was searching for food in every corner of the house.

Well, hopefully, the next time I'll post it will be over and she will be recovering!

Comment by Beth on October 7, 2009 at 7:51pm

Congrats on the graduation. Sounds like you did well. Jack wouldn't do a longer stay til he was over a year old; he was too easily distracted.

We all worry when our dogs have surgery. A spay is a bit rougher than a neuter. Some of it depends on your vet's techniques, too. Our vet uses internal stitches and external glue, at least for neuters, and does not send home with collars unless the dog starts chewing. Will Stella stay in a pen or crate? Keeping them quiet is tough, and if she has an upset tummy from the anesthesia she may not be able to handle any fancy chews even if she likes them. But most of them come through just fine. My cat had her stitches swell like crazy, but she was leaping around like a mad cat and they still have yet to explain to me how to follow "Keep her quiet" instructions with a kitten!

If the vet allows, I would definitely take Stella for lots of short walks to keep her from being bored; she's less likely to want to frap that way. Good luck, and let us know how she does!

Comment by Simon & Anne on October 7, 2009 at 11:46am

Nellie got spayed a while back, and it was not a big deal at all. We dropped her off at 8 am, and pick her up at about 4:30 p.m. That night was the rough part. She threw up several times. But the next day she was back to her normal crazy self. The stiches came out in a week. We weren't given a cone, and she didn't bother her stiches at all. It suprised me how easy this was to deal with.

Comment by Molly Przybelinski on October 7, 2009 at 9:54am

I'm sure Stella will be OK. I just dropped off Scarlet last night. I actually think she's in right now "under the knife". I cried when we left her there! (This is my first dog...oh boy!) The vet said she'd be fine. All we need to do is pet her a lot to make her happy, he told us. I miss her!

Comment by Bev Levy on October 7, 2009 at 7:58am

I was able to stay home with mine when they were spayed so only needed the cone a night for a few days. If you can not get her to settle, I recommend a leash for a while. That way you can stop the frapping for the first few days. They can pull the stitches out and much like small children they would rather play than worry about their health! Hope everything goes well for you. I am always nervous when they have surgery so I understand how you feel.

Comment by Amanda on October 7, 2009 at 7:35am

I had to leave Dax overnight when he was neutered, and I was a WRECK all day. I was there when they opened the next morning! The little guy was just as hyper as ever, though he looked at me like I betrayed him for leaving him there overnight. He's pretty good about just being calm if we kind of ignore him and don't play with him. I hated to do it, but if you try to pet him? Nope, he goes straight for a toy and wants to play. The vet told me to give him a benadryl if he wouldn't calm down, but I didn't really want to do that, and I didn't end up having to. I never had to crate him, I just had to keep him calm and not jumping on and off of furniture.

As for the cone, he never had to wear one. I was home with him all day the first day, so I figured I would just watch him to see if he would mess with it and if he did, I would go buy one for him, but he never did. Never even touched it, so I guess we were lucky. It really all depends on the dog, like I said, he wasn't interested in messing with it at all, it healed perfectly, and all was well. Stella might be a completely different story though, just keep her occupied with bones and things like that. Good luck!

Comment by Potus on October 7, 2009 at 5:04am

We only had to drop Potus off for the day- when we got to the vet we could hear him crying, apparently he'd been doing it all day LOUDLY because he missed us, when he saw us he was back to his happy self. Potus was pretty fine after he was neutered. He didn't have a cone but a spray that we could put AROUND but not ON his incision to stop him licking/biting it. They said to keep him confined and we have a puppy pen/fence, so his was in that, but he was actually pretty fine just confined to the kitchen. He even jumped up steps and ran around (wasn't supposed to but did it before we could stop him) and his incision held. Just try to keep her confined to a room, or in a pen and don't encourage any robust playing. As Jacki said it depends on the dog.

Comment by Jane Christensen on October 6, 2009 at 10:09pm

Steps aren't good either for the 1st few days. Let your vet know how active she is also. I had a dog once that her incision started tearing...and I took her in and they did to vet wrap her middle but I think they stitch inside with dissolving stitches and then glue the outside so it's pretty tough...I would thinks lots of chews and like Michelle said kennel and the floor are good! I'm sure she'll get lots of treats but by the time you pick her up the day after she'll be over the worst! Good luck to both of you!!!!

Comment by Jacki, Nutmeg & Cinnamon on October 6, 2009 at 10:01pm

When I got Nutmeg spayed, I was a freakin mess! I, of course left her ovenight. When I went to pick her up, I was crying to see her. She was just fine! The vet gives me the "cone", and tells me to keep it on her for 10 TEN days. Yeah, right! NOT! She was miserable in 6 hours. I went to the pet store and bought her the "donut", an inflatable collar. She did much better with that. She wore it while I monitored her for 2 days. I made the mistake of leaving her alone on the third day with the donut on. She found a way to get out of it, and ate it. I came back to a deflated donut, and some velcro all over the kitchen. I gave up, and left her to her own...BIG BIG mistake. She wasn't interested in the incision until she was able to actually get to it. She wound up opening it after 4 days, and got infected. Back to the vet...and back on the nasty collar. She wore it for 3 more days. Guess it depens on the dog. Just sayin'

Comment by Michelle on October 6, 2009 at 9:53pm

Our female had a litter of puppies (while they were staying with the breeders, we were on vacation) she refused to deliver---she is a little stuborn---so she had a c-section and they spayed at that time. The puppies were a mere 2 days old when we brought them home. Miss Priss was so ready to come home she jumped in our suv before we could stop her. She was fine ---but beware Stella might not be a sore as you think and therefore she might overdo..Keep her kenneled or sit in the floor with her and pet her...PS lots of cookies and love help to. Good luck Stella!!!^-^