7 month female spayed and seems very unwell/unhappy.

[Rocksyluv]

Was wondering if anyone has any experience and could tell me how your puppy's did after the surgery ?

I am worried about our girl (lab), she had her surgery last Monday, so a week tomorrow and she is very unhappy. Lethargic, won't walk anywhere, sleeping for hours on end. and when she is not sleeping she is crying. When she sits down she is sitting in an awkward position and standing up or sitting down looks difficult for her. She is eating and drinking okay. The wound is very small, only 3 stitches and it looked like it is healing okay, but tonight we noticed it looked a bit swollen.

I spoke to the vet on Friday and she wasn't concerned, said some dogs are fine and others are out of sorts, she also said that maybe the body suit is bothering her, and we could take it off, but would need to make sure she does not lick the wound, so I have decided it is best to keep the body suit on her rather than be stressing about the wound getting infected. Stitches come out on Friday.

Any ideas, should I insist on the vet seeing her tomorrow?

Why did you get your 7 month old spayed?!

She should at least be 18 months!

Er, what? 7 months is fine.

OP - back to the vet. A different vet if possible. Some dogs are out of sorts, yes but she's clearly uncomfortable and if it's swollen there could be an issue.

This happened to one of my dogs and she needed emergency surgery. Err on the side of caution.

unless your dog needed to be spayed to save her life I would change vets simply because they willingly done this.

I'm not a vet but an assistant. Of course every practice is different but honestly I don't know any vet round our area who would spay/neuture a healthy 7 month old dog. Ours would refuse to do it. It's not right to perform those procedures until the dogs have fully grown and developed, emotionally physically and mentally. You've spayed your dog before her first season I presume? Poor thing

As for speaking to your vet about your concerns about a swollen wound yet they still haven't wanted to look at her speaks volumes as well.

No 7 months is NOT fine! They still have SO much growing to do which doesn't stop until 18 months to two years. By having your dog done before they've finished growing will stunt the growth. The body will stop releasing certain hormones due to being spayed - hormones that are needed to grow and develop the best they can.

Please do your research.

Would you take a girl to be sterilised before going through puberty? Of course you wouldn't. It's the same for the dog

Regardless of how old she Is, she definitely shouldn't be crying a week later. Get her back to a vets OP, she's clearly in pain

It doesn't sound like you have much experience of bitches, Raspberry.

Sparkling
I had mine done at 6 months, 2 different vets recommended it. Looking at the research online most suggest its best to have them spayed before they have their first season to reduce the risk of cancer.
Recently they has been some research done suggesting as you say its best to hold off till the dog has fully matured.
Honestly I have no idea if I've made the right choice, only time will tell.
But by me most vets actively encourage you to get them spayed early.

Both breeder and vet told us that either before the first heat, around 7 months old or allow her come into heat once and then get it done. We decided we didn't want her to suffer by going into heat, so decided to get it done now.

Took her back to the vet today and she checked out just fine thankfully, she managed to destroy the body suit last night and pull it off herself, She was all happy this morning and wagging her tail and almost smiling at us, totally back to normal, so we have left it off and the vet covered the wound with a sticky bandage, but not sure if that will stay on. We are trying to be vigilant, but not sure how it will work tonight when we go to bed.

Thanks for the responses