My puppy was spayed last Friday, and seemed to be feeling perfectly fine within 24 hours. I’ve been trying to keep her fairly quiet for the past week, and her incision seems to be healing fine (dissolvable sutures) and she’s hasn’t been on any drugs since Tuesday. I’d like to send her back to her puppy play group next week, so she’d be on day 11 post-spay. She does play hard (and really needs the outlet!), so I don’t want to her to re-injure anything, and everything I’ve seen was she would be fully healed 10-14 days after. Should I err on the side of caution and give her the full 2 weeks, or set her free, lol? I’ve never had a female and been through a spay procedure, so I’m a bit mystified.
Personally I’d give her the full 2 weeks and even then have her take it easy. Spaying according to what I’ve read is a pretty serious operation and not to be taken lightly.
I’ve had at least one dog burst out her stitches from too early exuberance. Another got infected from playing/rolling in sand/dirt.
Better safe than sorry, IMO.
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Our puppy was spayed last month, and the veterinarian emphasized keeping her very quiet for two full weeks, which we did. In her case, this meant that she was never off leash outside (and kept on a shorter one than normally), and either crated (with interactive toys to keep her occupied), in our laps, or seated quietly next to us on the couch.
No rowdy games, no playing fetch, no jumping up, no nothing, just some obedience work after the first week (sit, down, stay, wait, etc.). This was necessary as she is an athletic, high energy pup who is either going 110mph, or sacked out on the couch – there’s no middle ground with her.
We were warned to keep her abdomen clean and dry (she’s pretty low to the ground). I made her a fleece tube with shoulder straps (basically, a canine tank top) that velcroed closed down the middle of the back. She wore it every time she went outside, to keep her out of the wet grass, as it rained heavily during her recovery.
When she was cleared for resuming activity, we started with quiet walks, gradually increased the distance (she’s an avid walker), then transitioned to her usual fun and games.
I thought of what a woman’s post-hysterectomy recovery would be like, and figured a couple low key weeks didn’t sound so bad.
Best wishes for your puppy to do as well.
My experience has always been that it is about impossible to keep them " quiet " after the first day!
My pup was spayed 3 weeks ago and day 2 she was a ball of fire going full tilt. She healed up just fine, thankfully and I took her stitches out myself on day 10.
If you can keep her somewhat quiet for 2 weeks then go for it, but we have had no problems on the ones who were anything but quiet. I just monitor their incision site very closely.
I think I’d hold off on sending her to a play group for the full two weeks. That said, she’s most likely fine by now. Having two dogs at home and an energetic puppy, I mostly gave up after one week with everything looking good. That’s when I started letting her in the yard off a leash (but in a fence) and allowed a little play with my 10 year old dog. That’s all still more controlled than the chaos of a play group.
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Yes, I’ve decided to play it safe and try to spend another week keeping her reasonably quiet and work her brain instead. Thanks for your input!
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