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Woof Woof! This forum is a service for dog lovers seeking everyday advice and suggestions on health-related issues. Remember, however, that advice on a public forum simply can't be a substitue for proper medical attention. Only your vet can say assuredly what is best for your dog.
Hello everyone. My puppy Bisou just got spayed yesterday, and the vets office told me I had to keep her "calm" for the next 10 days. That includes no long walks (just short ones to go potty), and to keep her from running around too much. When we got home last night she didn't really sleep, but wasn't overly active either. This morning she woke up an hour early, and has been SO active all day. She gets "the zooms" and runs around like crazy, I can't calm her down, and I can't catch her. I usually walk her 45 mins- 1 our 15 mins a day, and I guess she is really missing the exercise.
She is also getting into everything, the breed are climbers by nature, and with all the excess energy, she has been trying to hop over her gates (we keep her gated in the kitchen area with us, as she isn't potty trained yet). I am really worried about this, because it can definitely tear her stitches as she is getting over.
The vet gave me sedation medication, and I just really hate having to use it. I guess my questions are: should I definitely wait to walk her the whole ten days? How do people feel about sedation, is it generally accepted? Any other advice would be great, and thanks in advance!
Honestly, I am not a fan of sedation, except in certain, extreme cases, and this is not one of them. Yes, it's a pain to keep your puppy calm after a spay/neuter, but it is possible. First off, she needs to be crated, or confined to a small area most of the time, in order to keep her from running around too much. She probably won't like it, but there are some things you can give her to keep her occupied. If you're keeping her in the kitchen now and it doesn't seem to be working, I think a crate is your best option. They really are lifesavers sometimes.
Frozen kongs are very popular around here. You can put anything from yogurt, cottage cheese, canned food, kibble, peanut butter, fruits, and veggies (or a mixture of them) in a kong and freeze it for a while, then let her have at it. Being frozen, it takes longer for a dog to get through. You can also get her some chews like bully sticks or deer antlers, to keep her mind busy and get rid of some excess energy.
Short training exercises are also great. You can refresh her memory on the basics like sit, stay, down, and so on. Of course, you want to keep the commands easy and not too physically straining. Those are great for 10 or 15 minutes of mental work.
Long walks are generally not a good idea because you don't want to put a strain on the incision. If you can keep her calm, a few short walks every day is fine.
I hope that helps! I know it's annoying when you're trying to do what's best for them, but I really don't think sedation is necessary just yet.
If she is jumping and running, you need to stop that some how. If you can not keep her leashed to you or in a crate, sedation would be your next step. It is extremely important to keep her calm and let her heal properly, or you will be in for even a longer recoup time.
A 10 min. walk an hour could help, but she really needs to heal.
When Fern got spayed, I was worried about her getting her belly wet since it was snowing badly that week. However, I still took her on little walks around the block just to get the gitters out. She did fine.
Puppies tend to recover from a surgery FAST, but your main concern would be not letting her open her incision, so keep checking it to see that it isn't red or oozy. Or open. That would be bad.
Also a great way to keep her occupied but not exerting herself would be training or mind stimulating games. Try hiding a treat and letting her find it or even play hide and seek.
Good luck! I'm glad to hear she bounced back so quickly. Aren't dogs amazing?
P.S. I would lay off the sedation unless she is really bothering the incision site. It's unnecessary, IMO.
Thank you all SO much for the great quick responses! I really do lean away from sedation like most of you seem to, that is why I asked. I like the suggestions about the kong, crating, and training. I guess I am just concerned about if that would take up enough of the day. I am definitely doing the training, she just graduated puppy class, and is moving onto intermediate so I try to do several short training sessions a day. Even if I do 4 that only takes about an hour. Bisou has suffered pretty bad from separation anxiety, and has hurt herself before when left alone, so I can really only do short periods in the crate because I don't want her to feel like being put in there means she will be in there for a long time. I am working on getting her up to more time, and she has been getting much better, but two to four hours a day total seems her limit now and when she gets out she is ready to PLAY.
Do you think there is some way to negotiate both of these problems? Which should I chose? I was thinking maybe I could do a combination, like giving 1/4 the recommended dose daily of sedation for the first day or two, just to take the edge off, and then working with the crating and training as you suggested? Again, thank you all so much for your help and advice, I really appreciate it!
Humm, I don't really like messing with dosages and stuff. I don't know if a fourth would really affect her. Personally, I would call my vet about that.
Maybe try everything without the pills first, then, if is isn't manageable, start with the lower dosages. Think outside the box too. What about those buster cubes?
Sorry I can't be more help. Puppies are so crazy... I let Fern's pup run around as much as he wanted but neuters are much less invasive and he wasn't terribly active.
I definitley would not give any sedation to her either. Rosie is not crated either and after her spay she was in pain the first night and on pain meds the next day she was a little quiet and sore but that evening she was back to her usual self. She doesn't jump so I didn't have to worry about that but the was up and down stairs as normal. There was no stopping her. She healed up really quickly (with internal stitches and glue). I hope that Bisou heals up as quickly.
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