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What part of Border Collie don't they understand?


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I took Kipp in to get neutered today. When I picked him up tonight I was handed post-op care instructions that included "absolute rest (leash walks only, no jumping) for 2 weeks". I looked at the receptionist and said "umm, he's a 2 y/o Border Collie", and heard a snicker from someone else in the waiting room. The other gem of the day was when I was filling out pre-op paperwork. I paused at the post-op pain injection and said "I don't want him feeling too good and be ready to play tonight" the receptionist said something along the lines of, oh no, he'll be out of it tonight. Right. He's a little subdued, but would have been chasing Miss around outside if he wasn't on a leash.

 

Missy was rarin' to play ball a day and a half after she was spayed. Of course, I didn't play with her then, but she was more than willing...

 

Is this type of post-neuter instructions normal? It was just a normal, uncomplicated neuter. I have to take Missy in next week for her check-up, and I'll be asking my vet then why they said 2 weeks of quiet. It just seems a little extreme to me.

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I wouldn't think two weeks would be to long. It needs time to heal real good, otherwise it can get infected. That's never fun to have to go through.

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:rolleyes: I'm with you, Maralynn. I had my two neutered on the same day - at 7 and 9 months - so that it might be easier to keep them quiet. Yeah, right! :D As I've posted before, the very next day, they both sqeezed through a small hole in my fence (stitches and all) to go 100 metres down on to the street to play with some kids they had heard down there. Luckily, all ended well - the kids put leashed on them, and their Mom rang the # on the collars (engaged as I was on the computer) and then rang the vet's # which was also on their tags. So the first I knew of them being gone was the vet office ringing to tell me they were safe.

 

My vet doesn't give those absolute rest instructions - and they don't routinely use Elizabethan collars - only if the dog starts worrying at the stitches. It's just a general sort of "limit their activity a bit and keep an eye on the wound .. might be quiet the first night but shuold be normal after that."

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Toby was just neutered on the 9th. He had to have an abdominal incision because he was chriptorchid. His instructions were rest and outside on leash only until the stitches came out (10 days). It was the longest 10 days of my life!!! He also wore an e-collar because he is a licker. Good luck with keeping your guy quiet.

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Long ago though it was, I remember not being able to keep Speedy from jumping around after he was neutered. He was quite - for one evening. After that he was back to jumping up on the back of the sofa and tearing up and down the stairs. I did my best, but he was far from "leash walking only"!!

 

We were very lucky and he healed very nicely.

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When I had Ginger & Bree spayed I was given the whole "keep them quiet for 2 weeks" spiel. The evening I brought Ginger home she laid mad hairy chase to an opossum. Bree I managed to keep quiet for about 2 days.

 

When I had June spayed they started the "2 weeks" spiel, looked at me, looked at her, and amended it to "1 week". As it turned out, she moaned and groaned and laid around for a full two weeks of her own volition. You would have thought someone had run her over with a tractor trailer truck.

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The last time I neutered I had 2 same-age pups done at the same time. I was told leash walking only and to keep them quiet for 2 weeks (yeah, right!) They of course still wanted to run and wrestle with each other, plus with the 2 bigger dogs. My definition of "keep them quiet" without having them go totally stir-crazy, was to only let them out into the back yard instead of taking them out for chores where they could run around the field like crazy (plus get more mud, wet, dirt and possibly horse/chicken manure near their incision - not to mention that one of them likes to jump into the horse trough twice daily for a swim, which is a definite no-no with stitches). I'd try as much as possible to just let the pups out in the yard together without the other dogs, plus keep an eye on them and if they were getting too wild I'd distract them or call them into the house. I think it's almost impossible to keep some pups as quiet as they'd like you to, but if you do your best and keep an eye out for infection or any other problems they seem to come through just fine. Oh, something else I did to help keep everyone more settled down was I got them each a big new smoked bone so that they'd have something to take their thoughts off of licking or chewing at the incision.

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when i had tikki neutered i was told 10 days of rest. 'he will be groggy when he comes home etc etc'.

they had to sedate him before i picked him up, called me to come get him hours early. he then took all his stitches out. back in to get stitched up again came home early with a neck brace type collar 'that is phsychically impossible for the dog to remove......'

i came down next morning to find tikki on the sofa with no collar. he had gotten it off dragged it out the cat flap and peed and pooed on it! he left his stitches alone though :rolleyes:

after that i let him be, didnt play fetch and let him limit himself.

molly was a little easier, but she could be trusted not to run if she was off leash on the lanes so we went lane walkies. for her it seemed to be the restriction of the leash that made her crazy. she did get a little swelling around the incision but nothing too major and nothing like what she would have done if i hadnt walked her!

i am getting my 2 girls spayed on the same day in may.......... a mental terrier and a 2 year old bc........

 

wish me luck!

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well.... now I seem like a bad mommie.... but I let Wicket run and play after two days. before the day after we took a leash stroll

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So, I'm guessing tranquilizers of some sort are not the norm when a dog is on rest?

 

I just slipped Zag a micky in his rum and coke for 2 weeks! :rolleyes: J/K he was a pain in the arse for those 2 weeks. He even chomped thru his e-collar in his boredom. Hope was by far the hardest to control tho, the minute she got home she was rev'd up and ready to play!

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Kipp has wanted to act like his normal self today - couldn't figure out why I wouldn't let him loose to chase Missy on our walk this morning. So he spent a good deal of time in his crate. Right now he is whining because I just shut him back in. I was going to be a nice person and give him some freedom, but he decided to check out the counters, so back to the crate he went. He keeps giving me these looks that say "come on, when are we going to do something"

 

But, on the bright side, I think he's getting frustrated enough that I'll be able to teach him to "speak" during the next week or so.

 

And things could be worse. When my aunt picked up her 2 y/o Lab after being neutered, he was bouncy and straining on his leash to get across the room to her...

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I've only altered Labs and goldens, but in all cases they were from working bloodlines and were honest to goodness working dogs. There is no way I could keep one of these dogs quiet for two weeks and there was no reason to do so. I monitored their activity and generally nixed full tilt romping but because their surgeries were normal, that sort of gentle restraint was plenty good.

 

I can't imagine that a responsibly managed border collie, even a young hooligan, would need two weeks of house arrest if, as you say, the surgery was uneventful.

IMO of course.

Chris O

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What kind of stitch they used will matter. Buzz's were internal so it would have been impossible for him to catch them on something. My vet said 1 week of leash walks, and 2 weeks before he was allowed to wrestle with his doggy friends. You have to be careful of bruising and dirt.

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Although we got both our pups done at the same time(4mos) they were still wanting to get out and go by the second day!

 

So it was "forced" crate rest for both. Although our poor girl, Pepper rolled around the whole first night, moaning in pain, (they said she wouldn't need pain meds-HA!) they were both soon raring to Go Go Go!!

 

We had to give them lots of goodies to try and convince them that it was worth in their best interest to stay in there...lol.

 

And then, we had to take turns letting one spend time outside while the other stayed in their crate. Because they wanted to play together so badly!!

 

It was the longest, my hellacious 14 days of their life- and ours...lol. BC's don't know the words Slow Down!! :rolleyes:

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