Neuter coming up soon

[pammyd]

Few weeks time Ben will be getting neutered

He will be 7 months old

I have read all about why I should wait until he is older and finnished growing but he is a rescue and I have no choice - they booked him in and I have to go

 

Question is

As I have a bit of notice before the op is there anything I can do now to make healing easier on him?

I know in humans correct body weight and good diet and fairly fit do seem to help recovery

 

Of course I am feeding him the best I can - but he is not a great feeder will eat about 1/2 cup max kibble a day (although he is so cute that he seems to always be able to get lots of treats from people)

I am trying to be careful with the treats I give him and his fave are cooked meat - which I guess have to be better for him than processed rubbish

 

I think he gets plenty exercise - 3-4 times a day 20 min to 1hour a time (if his friends are out) mainly off lead trotting and playing with other dogs

 

 

Anything else I can do?? any foods I should add or exercises or anything

 

Sorry to bug I am just a worrier - he is my 1st dog and I feel so bad thay I am making my baby go for an operation (although I know its the right thing to do)

[bexie]

How is he with car trips and vet visits? Anything you can do to make the whole thing less stressful for him will help him and the vets. Is he comfortable going to the vet or does he stress out? Has he ever been there before? How is he with trips in general?

 

Is he crate trained so you can put him in a crate to help keep him from overdoing it? Does he let you examine his stomach and check out all his bits so you can easily check everything is healing well? How is he with people he doesn't know so well (like a vet) handling him?

 

If he is generally healthy, I'd worry more about the psychological issues and do what you can to make the procedure and recovery feel as much like routine for the fellow as possible.

 

I'm sure others with more experience with neutering pets can chime in in terms of what you ought to expect him to manage and what rest he'd need. The more things you can train him ahead of time, the less he has to learn when he isn't feeling so good. Especially things like "I am happy relaxing quitely in my crate and I'm not going to bark like a lunatic or try to dig my way out just because people put me here for an hour or two."

 

Also remember the advantages of mind games when tiring out a border collie. A mentally tired pup is a physically tired pup is a happy pup.

[pammyd]

He is good in the car and crate trained

He is fine with the vets (although it is a while since he has been there) and he is v submissive and pretty much lets you do anything you want to with him - but I will build it up a bit more mibby get other people to handle him a bit more

From what I am told when I am not there he really just sleeps or lies about waiting for me

Hopefully (fingers crossed) the psycological things should be OK - but thanks for the advice I haddnt really thought of it - so I will work on what I can

 

Making a list of the quiet tricks I would like to teach him - should be a good time to get that other paw!!

[Guest TheRuffMuttGang]

Just don't stress about it. A neuter is not really that big of a deal. There's not really much you can do to prepare for it except no food or water after 10pm the night prior to the surgery. Drop him off. Pick him up. Voila. The vet says not to let them be rowdy for like, 3 whole days, but yeah, that ain't happenin'. Here speutered dogs get the rest of their surgery day to recover and go out alone and then I turn them out with the rest of the dogs the following morning. I have not had any issues with speuters at all and in fact have only had to use an E-collar on one dog out of...a lot. I attribute this to actually allowing the dogs to exercise some and the dogs not having time to think about picking at their stitches. I am curious about what sort of psychological issues you may be talking about, bexie? Just like us humans, dogs don't remember actually having surgery. All they know is that they hurt when they leave the place. I've honestly never had a dog become aversive to the vet after a speuter. I always try to make it as easy as possible on every dog I take to the vet for any reason, not just speutering. I leave them in the car until it is my turn. I never let dogs sit and stress in the waiting room. Go to the room, get checked out, go back to the car, THEN come back and pay.

[bexie]

RuffMutt, I meant more like, "If your dog hates being handled or hates going to the vet"...

 

She mentioned it was a rescue so they scheduled the op, so I thought it was possible she might not know a whole lot about its vet experience, so it might be a good idea to do a dry run if she'd got the pup with all his shots taken care of and had never been to the vet with him. Also I dunno how much you need to keep tabs on the site and what the chances are of said dog not wanting his private areas inspected. I can imagine it would be an awful thing to try to teach him after the fact when it was bugging him.

 

Sorry, I'm probably half thinking of horses where you are standing there holding the slightly doped up youngster while his parts get squished, when it is useful that he's used to having strangers handling his bits. Especially because if he's uneasy and steps on you, it hurts. From experience, I can tell you it is a good thing for the vet to have an extra vet along when she accidentally sticks her finger with the local anesthesia while locating all the necessary parts. All this bit handling training is especially useful when horse is castrated in warm weather and gets a bit of an infection and needs lots of cleaning and fly treatment in said wound.

 

So pammyd, ignore me and listen to RuffMutt. She's got plenty of experience to know what she's talking about. I've had all of 0 dogs fixed in my memory, some cats spayed, and one horse castrated. Molly is so far a managed intact bitch.

[Guest TheRuffMuttGang]

I never said not to listen to bexie. But a neuter is a rather routine operation and not really such a big deal for dogs. For horses, okay...that's a different story.

 

I keep tabs on the site daily but you don't always have to have the dog rollover on their back for it. Bend over and look under the dog while it's sitting square to you. I also refuse to wait in line for 2 hrs (my vet is walk-in only) to have stitches removed so I've gotten really good at doing that all by myself. I can see where it might be a bit scary for someone having their first dog neutered but I'm just trying to say it's not a big deal really. They are back to their normal selves by the next morning.

[silhouettestable]

They are back to their normal selves by the next morning.

 

Ain't that the truth! Too much so! I'm currently trying to deal with keeping my pups both settled and not overdoing things after their surgeries. My vet keeps them overnight and when I picked them up the next day and took them out of the vet clinic Storm kept sitting down, looking a bit shell-shocked (like I don't know what just happened here, but I don't like it). Rain was her normal self. Got them home and gave everybody a new smoked bone and that was it, they forgot all about ever having been to the vets. We got one quiet day of laying around chewing bones. Now, a week later things are starting to get crazy with pent up energy. I sneak the 4 adult dogs out with me to do chores, but the pups have been just getting leash walks down to meet the school bus and time out in the backyard, where they're usually happy to lay around. If they get too active in the yard I call them inside and separate whoever's trying to do too much running/wrestling. I'll be really glad when all 6 dogs can be back to their normal routine of coming along for chores and running and playing. I'm sure that Storm's pretty much okay now after the neuter, but I still want Rain to be taking it easy after her spay.

[pammyd]

Thankyou both for the advice - its both v good

Basicaly I know I just need a slap and to tell myself that it is a v small op that the vet does every single day

 

But also I think it is good advice to make sure the actual trip to the vets and stay during the day is as stress free as poss - I haddnt even thought of that but I can see that if the whole getting your bits squashed by a stranger, left there by owner, knocked out then stuck in a crate with loads of yappy dogs while you feel sore

Could make a dog a nightmare for vet visits in the future

 

Thankfully (fingers crossed) it shouldnt be a problem for me - this is not my vet and he loves her cos she just hugged him and didnt have to do anything nasty to him at all

He is fine with letting people prod his bits (dont ask but the b/f had a poke?!?! - oh nothing dodgy here!!!)

 

He has been back there a couple of times and all the barking and stuff seems to sooth him - he just falls asleep - and the staff love him because he was such a tiny puppy when he came in so they make loads of fuss

 

Again thank you both - really taken the fear away that there is nothing much to worry about and he is pretty much as ready as he can be for the stay in the vets

[Guest TheRuffMuttGang]

He is fine with letting people prod his bits (dont ask but the b/f had a poke?!?! - oh nothing dodgy here!!!)

 

This is actually good, IMO. I poke and prod dogs (and especially puppies) everywhere from head to toe, including bits, just so they are used to it from the get-go. This way if anyone ever does accidentally poke them or, say, if the chiropractor gets his watchband stuck in testicle fur, the dogs are not too freaked out by the whole thing.

[Tassie]

Pretty much what the others have said, pammyd. A neuter is surgery done under a GA - so as with any surgery, there is a risk - but it is tiny, compared with the thousands of spay/neuters done all round the world every day.

 

A difference between the first boy I had done 17 years ago, and my current boy - done at 9 months 5 years ago - is that my vet routinely uses post-op pain meds, so the dogs feel fairly comfortable when they come home, adn seem to be bouncing back next day. Vets here don't keep them o'night, and don't routinely use elizabethan collars. I've had no problems with stitches - even when my 2 (boy and girl) escaped by squeezing through a small hole in the fence the day after their surgery, to go play with some kids on the street .

 

If you have any worries post surgery, be sure and check with your vet - but hopefully all will go very well.

 

 

at Debbie

or, say, if the chiropractor gets his watchband stuck in testicle fur, the dogs are not too freaked out by the whole thing.

. You do realize every bloke (Australian for man) on the Boards has his legs crossed and is squirming as he reads this.

[Guest TheRuffMuttGang]

Good. I got my point across.

[Bo Peep]

I was worried about Usher, too. I had so many questions. He left home one morning a stud and came home a cone head.

Next morning- he was back to normal although he had the car keys and leash and was ready to dine & dash. I still pampered him. BTW- keep the cone. Injuries come up.

[diane allen]

Two thoughts:

1) Ask your vet, or ask around everywhere else, and see if you can find a "different" e-collar. I used a "No Bite" - there are several versions of it out there - and it was great. It's basically like a cervical collar for people- just a long stiff thing that keeps their heads from turning around to bite at stitches. It goes through doorways, even dog doors, crate doors, etc. and they can even drink with it on. It might not work as well for front leg problems (stitches), but is great for the "back half" stuff.

2) Get Kongs! Several would be handy. Stuff with peanut butter, cream cheese, kibbles, etc. Freeze. Watch pup work work work to get the treats out! keeps 'em occupied for a nice long time.

 

It'll be fine!

 

diane