My lab got spayed today. She keeps puking. That plus other advice and reassurance please.

[ernesttheBavarian]

She was spayed this morning. Hasn't eaten at all (not bothered about that) but hasn't drank anything, despite having puked up at least half a dozen times :( Should I be worried?(she has managed to chew up a bag handle so some of our baby is still there

Also, she hasn't tried to lick her wound but she does keep licking her front leg where the canula was. There is still tape around the leg. Should I take it off?

I haven't put the cone on her yet. psyching myself up for it. Am considering sleeping on sofa. Am I being too soft?

She just looks so miserable and feels a bit hot, but then I am a bit of a helicopter parent when any of my babies get poorly

Can anyone give me the idiots guide to post-spay care pls. When will she be ok again?

[daisydotandgertie]

Phone the vet. I have never had a post spay bitch vomit, let alone so many times. OOH cover is free and much easier to sort out a problem how than it would be later in the night.

I would also remove the tape on her leg - can't think of a reason for it to be there, and I would def sleep with her tonight.

[psyandsoc]

Take the tape off think should have been removed before she came home. See how she goes overnight-if shes no better in the morning and vomiting phone the vets for dog rehydrate. As long as wound is ok and not hot and stitches in tact just let her rest. Vets give analgesia post op then some allow a little bit of pain to stop pets over doing things on recovery. I know you don't fancy putting on collar but unless you are sure she won't pull at sutures i wouldn't risk it.

[MewlingQuim]

Your vet should have made sure the dog was eating and drinking before letting her go home, but she is not drinking now I would still call the vet. Puking would worry me too. She may be dehydrated by now and need intravenous fluids.

Hope your dog is better soon

Mine is going in to be spayed tomorrow.....

[ernesttheBavarian]

I had to pop back in to the vet cos her assistant forgot to give me the collar. I mentioned then that she had vomitted and she didn't seem concerned, just said def not to feed her. But she has since vomitted 3 or 4 more times (it's pure bile poor thing) and still not drunk a thing. I will sleep on the sofa by her then.

She is now wearing her cooler. tried to take her out of a wee. She refused to budge then took a few steps but the cone kept scraping the floor (she is the ultimate definition of hang dog expression, understandably).

How is she supposed to do anything with that thing on? She can't possibly wee or poo without a 10 minute detailed sniff of the area, and she can't sniff and snuffle with that on, she can't walk. I don't even see how she can eat and drink with it on???

how long will she be wearing it? It was such a fiddly arsed job getting it on I can't see me taking it on and off every 5 minutes.

When will have my happy little pup back

[ernesttheBavarian]

forgot to say, good luck for tomorrow mewling.

does it matter her licking the bloody leg?

[daisydotandgertie]

Please ring the OOH vet. Just to talk through how she is and get some qualified advice. Our advice is not a substitute for that. It doesn't cost anything to ring and all vets I have ever met would rather you rang for a chat instead of letting a dog suffer.

I don't use collars for my dogs - they are awful things. There are alternatives which are worth googling.

[daisydotandgertie]

Vomiting once or twice is pretty normal, but more than that warrants a chat with the vet.

[ErrolTheDragon]

I'd take the cone off unless you have to leave her unsupervised - take her out again without it for a sniff round and hopefully wee (though if she's not been drinking she may not need to I suppose) and a chance to drink.

[Aked]

^^ What Daisydot says. It isn't normal for a dog to be vomiting post spay.

With regards to the collar, mine wore a Pet Shirt post spay, I love them and think I should be on commission the amount I recommend them at my practice :) (I'm not, and am not on commission for anything lest we digress into that old chestnut)

I presume the tape is not covering a cannula still? If it is, don't take it out yourself but again call your vet. If it is just a pressure bandage, it can come off now.

Please call your vet. I am a VN, and mine was spayed two weeks ago. If I brought her home and she vomited several times I'd have taken her straight back in.

[Blackpuddingbertha]

We put Berthadog in a tshirt and gathered up the excess into a hair bobble at her back. Covered her tummy just fine, a collar would have freaked her out. She was given an anti-sickness injection because she was vomiting but the vet picked that up before she was allowed home. I'd ring the vet.

DH also slept with her in the lounge the first night. I think that's fairly standard soft concerned dog owner behaviour.

[ARightOldPickle]

Hope she is feeling better this morning. Our pup was done last Thursday but had a very uneventful first night - she was out for the count, but no sickness either. She was also sent home with the plaster on her leg and we were told we could take it off later in the evening if necessary which we did. She's licked and nibbled it a bit but hasn't made it sore or anything.

We've used those cones on other dogs and I hate them so before her op I sent for an inflatable collar from the internet and she has taken to it just fine. It wouldn't work for all ops as she can just about reach her back end but it has stopped her getting to her tummy and the wound is looking really great now, an impressive piece of stitching.

The thing that really bothered her was the plaster over her wound - she wouldn't walk with it on! We had to carry her out for a wee the next morning and I was really worried, a quick call to the vet and they suggested taking the plaster off (that was fun!) and within minutes she was running round as though nothing had happened. And from that point on our chief worry has been trying to keep her from doing anything stupid. She's a high energy breed and short lead walks are just not doing it. We're trying to do lots of training with her to keep her mentally stimulated and are living for her final check up on Sunday when we can hopefully get back to normal!

Hoping your girl is doing OK now, but do call the vet if you are at all concerned.

[ernesttheBavarian]

Thanks everyone. She was sick again twice in the night and still not drunk anything :(

I of course have taken her back to the vet and she has had IV fluids and anti-pukeing med and IV pain killers.

Poor baby. She's sleeping now, and I hope she'll turn a corner and start eating and drinking this afternoon.

Oh, I took the plaster off last night and her leg seems fine under it, no blood or anything.

I am definitely going to try and stop by pet shop and buy a different collar. She is wearing it, I think she feels too shit to complain too much right now but crashes into everything when she tries to move. I've had to push all the furniture away. Thing is, it was so fiddly to get on, and I can see it will be just as bad to get off, and I reckon once it's off she'll hate it even more putting it back on. Anyway, I'll check out pet shop this morning.

Thanks everyone. It was really helpful to know it wasn't at all normal to puke. I am soft but hate being a fussy neurotic so tend to leave things too long, also for me, so good she's been back to vet. Thanks for holding my hand!

[RosieAndCharlie]

Like Blackpuddingbertha we didn't buy anything special for our lab post spaying, just used an old t-shirt and a hair band to gather up the excess. Seemed to work really well.

Hope she is on the mend soon.

[tabulahrasa]

Why is it fiddly to take on and off?

I always (so far numpty dog has needed it 4 times for fairly long periods of time in the 2 years he's been alive) just thread his collar through it and to take it on and off, just undo the buckle and leave the rest of the collar through it, then it's just a case of opening or closing the buckle and slipping it on or off.

Also if she's not attempting to do anything to the wound, it's fine to leave it off while you're there and just put it on when you can't make sure she's leaving it alone...though I find they usually get a bit worse for trying to lick it as it starts to knit and gets a bit itchy.

Hopefully she's just had a bit of a reaction to a drug they've used and she'll carry on getting better as it gets it out of her system.

[EvenBetter]

Ours got spayed a month ago, she's now completely healed. She was running off the lead again 10 days after the operation, the wound looked so sore and ragged, but within a few days she was fine, still mopey and not energetic, but fine.

I wouldn't bother with the cone at all unless you're leaving her by herself. What's the point of it? You can see when she's getting interested in the wound and stop her, so the cone is unnessecery. She probably won't notice it until the stitches start to get itchy after about a week.

[ernesttheBavarian]

the collar doesn't just slip through it. I have to undo all these hard plastic sort of arrow head flaps which are really difficult to slot into and back out of the slots. It's just borderline impossible.

I got n old t-shirt as per suggestions. put her back legs through the arms, tied it with a hair band and she's got it off in 2 minutes.

Am I just totally inept or is there a fail-safe t-shirt method?

[tabulahrasa]

Once it's in the cone though, I don't take it back out again is what I mean, just undo the buckle of the collar and leave it in the plastic bits, then you're only fastening and unfastening the collar buckle to make it loose enough to pull on and off.

He doesn't tend to be going anywhere if he needs a cone anyway because it usually means he's just been operated on so he can be in the house and garden with no collar on.

I can't help you with tshirts, I've never had a dog that wouldn't try to rip them off.

[Dinnaeknowshitfromclay]

Vet nurse here too and vomiting post spay is not normal and can make them feel utterly dehydrated and awful. They can dehydrate clinically quite quickly too so a drip is needed sooner rather than later.
The leg licking thing is often a displacement activity that they do no wonder what part hurts. Sore eye, lick the paw, anal glands driving them mad, lick the paw etc. Hope she's doing OK but I would be worried if a client told me a patient had vomited post spay.

[coffeeinbed]

No, you put the front legs through the sleeves and the head through as well.
Hope she's better.

[ernesttheBavarian]

Thanks donna, she had IV fluid and meds at vet this morning. She seems a lot better. Still not seen her drink but she has not eaten a bit, thank goodness. Just trying to work out what to do. Carry on with monster cone or try alternative. the t-shirt lasted 2 minutes.

I'd just been introducing her to a crate and she actually slept in it one night and was delighted and not she can't go in the crate with that thing on.

[coffeeinbed]

I haven't used a lampshade once tbh, and we've had a few ops.

[daisydotandgertie]

Please listen to what people are saying here.

Your dog should have gone to the vet last night. Not this morning. She will have felt absolutely awful overnight.

You don't need to make her wear the cone all the time. Just when you are not with her.

Google alternatives to a cone, there are many which are more comfortable. Even an inflatable travel pillow will work if it has to.

[tabulahrasa]

Mine removed his own stitches after thankfully minor surgery...while still at the vet, he was supposed to stay another night, but they asked me to come and get him as he'd done that and trashed his kennel

He also once chewed a hole in his own leg...we think there was possibly a little scratch or something that we hadn't noticed, but the first we knew was waking up to a holey dog... And it took two weeks before he'd stop trying to get at it through the cone.

So yeah, he wears one for everything, lol.

They get used to them, you might need to squash the cone down a bit to get in and out of the crate, but my dog manages ...though actually he just kind of barges into everything and I think his record is destroying 3 cones in a week.

He's um, a character my dog when I've owned more normal dogs, they've hardly worn them tbh as you could just go ahah leave a couple of times and then they'd stop trying.

[Aked]

This is what I had for my bitch post spay. I put it on overnight and whenever I left her alone until 10 days post op. They can't wee with them on though, so it needs to come off for that too!

Inflatable buster collars are another option - ask your vet.

[Blackpuddingbertha]

Yes, front legs and head through the tshirt, just as we'd wear it. Hope she's doing a bit better this evening.