Speying

[CatTerrier]

My bitch is due to be speyed very shortly, she's having it done via keyhole surgery but I just wondered what to expect afterwards.

Is there anything I should buy for afterwards?

How long should I expect recovery to be? I will obviously ask the vet but I won't be able to until collection as DH is dropping her off.

Soft bland food for dinner that night.

Your vet will give you advise (and probably dispense) some pain relief, and you'll need a cone or babygrow to stop her bothering stitches. Again, the vet should provide this.

She won't be doing stairs for a few days, so you'll have to sleep downstairs with her. For me, this means dragging a matress down the stairs, which the dog ends up sleeping on, whilst I'm on the dog bed beside it.

In my experience, they're a bit limp that night, then charging around like a loon ignoring all medical advice from the followign morning. But I have a particularly dickheadish robust breed.

Don't worry - they bounce back remarkably quickly. She will be fine.

Mine had a keyhole spay recently. The vet said recovery would only take a day or two, and they were right - mine was off on a cross-country run with DH 48 hours later!

She was groggy the afternoon we bought her home, and a bit tired and disgruntled the day after. Three days later, you genuinely wouldn't have known she'd had anything done.

She had two incisions on her belly, both less than an inch long. She didn't bother them at all, so didn't need a cone or suit (though we had borrowed a suit from a friend just in case).

The vet said to feed her as normal after the surgery. She had pain killers, which I crushed in a pestle and morter and hid in some yoghurt on her licky mat.

Pre surgery our vet said to feed her as normal the evening before, then a light meal at about 9pm. Then nothing but water afterwards (so no breakfast on the day).

She is home and recovering well, although very quiet. Vets have provided a body suit which is adorable, if somewhat degrading 🤣

They also found a cyst on one of her ovaries so I'm even happier we had her speyed as she'd had no symptoms that anything was wrong.

She is being a model patient so far, I expect this all to change tomorrow (48h post op).