Random questions

[sdlaura]

Feel free to add yours

My dog is being spayed tomorrow - any tips? How long did it take your dog to recover?

[waverly]

I think for us it was difficult to keep our high energy dog quiet and resting but we did the best we could. The vet let us know how long before walks. I can’t remember now how long it was maybe a week or two. After we were cleared for walks then we considered her pretty much healed although it did take longer for the incision. We didn’t have to go back as long as she was healing Ok which she was.

[mae0111]

My dog was super aggressive going after his stitches. He was really sneaky and turned himself into a pretzel trying to get at them. Same thing happened when he had to have a couple of large cysts removed from his back hip area. We tried the inflatable donut thing, we tried PJs/suits... nothing worked but the big goofy cone.

BUT... other dogs are not as aggressive with the stitches, so a suit or the donut might be fine. We gave him cone breaks (replaced with donut) if we were sitting with him and could stop him immediately from getting at the stitches.

We were also not afraid to use the meds that they gave us to keep him calm. He would get agitated in the evenings, so we would give him a pain pill, and then he'd be all high and get nervous about that, so he'd just want to snuggle with us.

[dglvrk2]

@sdlsura, you have a smaller dog, right? I was a veterinary assistant for a summer In college, nearly 30 years ago. If my memory serves me correctly, the smaller, younger dogs recovered pretty quickly. The biggest challenges were preventing them from licking their stitches and overexerting themselves.

I would keep him in his cone for at least 48 hours. Will you be home with him for the first few days? If someone can monitor him and take him out when he seems energetic for a supervised walks, that would likely be really helpful

[erbear]

My dog could pull that cone off easily. We rigged an old t-shirt for her and that worked much better. We put laundry baskets on the couch to keep her off them and tried to be in the room as much as possible.

[librarychica]

My dog is in a cone now because she had a broken tooth with multiple roots that needed removed. She can’t paw at where they made a skin flap or they’ll need to start all over.

Even with the soft cone she hates it with the power of 1000 suns.

It was years ago, but I feel like all my (smallish, 25/30 lb) dogs have bounced back from spaying pretty quick. The biggest challenge is keeping them from messing with their stitches and bounding up the stairs. We’d mostly just keep her with one of us, same as we are doing now, and cone and/or crate her if we had to leave her alone.

[librarychica]

My question: once my dog has recovered from surgery it will be my turn. It’s the summer of delayed medical stuff. The nurse recommended I find some easy on/off shirts with zippers or other easy on/off clothing as I won’t be able to comfortably lift my arms for 6+ weeks. Any recs?

[waverly]

librarychica, I got these bras www.amazon.com/gp/product/B081YSGKGF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1. I got them in the XL so even though I went smaller, I was swollen at first so I was larger at first. I was probabably a D or DD with the swelling and am now a C, and they are slightly loose on me now.

As far as shirts I honestly don't remember having a huge problem past the first week. Maybe I wore some of my light weight zip up hoodies (February in the midwest). Bras were kind of my first hurdle because I had to bring them to my post opp appointment, and I also needed a surgical wedge pillow because I wasn't sleeping in a recliner.

[librarychica]

Thanks waverly! That’s helpful.

[waverly]

Jun 19, 2024 10:20:11 GMT -5 librarychica said:

Thanks waverly ! That’s helpful.

I did raise my arms over my head more than other people on the message boards.  I didn't do it all the time and avoided it generally speaking, but it wasn't the end of the world if I occasionally raised my arms per the surgeon. And I tried not to fully extend or anything. The first week was really the main time, and I even avoided driving then because of turning the wheel. 

[186momx]

librarychica, do you have the button up SPH overshirts for kayaking? Those would work well.

Has anyone used a doggy chiropractor or doggy acupuncture? My senior dog got spooked by fireworks and tried crawling under the bed and got stuck and now her hip is really stuck.

[186momx]

Has anyone bought a mattress from Costco?

[sdlaura]

Thanks for all the spaying feedback! Yes she is small - 17 lbs ish now. That makes me happy that smaller dogs usually recover quickly. I do need to put a gate at the bottom of our stairs (currently we have one at the top). We have a half door on our kitchen and can easily keep her in there. Yes, we’ll be home the next few days. I’ll be flying for work tomorrow but DH will be here, then we’ll all be around Friday-Sunday.

librarychica I bought some inexpensive button up shirts and robes on Amazon for my surgery in March. But most of the time I just wore my binder thing and a zip up sweatshirt. If you’ll have drains, I find it easy to just safety pin it to the binder or inside of the sweatshirt.

[186momx]

Well I called the vet and got a 4pm appointment on Monday. I can always cancel if she works it out on her own. They said she would need full x-rays and a bunch of other stuff possible. I reminded them she is 15 and gets a monthly Librela shot. The vet that does the shot is the wife of our normal vet and I 100% like the husband over the wife but the husband doesn't do any alternative medicine procedures.

[sdlaura]

Well, this is really random - we just realized that DS1's open heart surgery when he was a baby was exactly 10 years ago today.

Puppy dog is home and seems pretty OK, just sad about her cone

[sdlaura]

I'm starting to wonder if my dog even realizes she had surgery? She was a little out of it when she first came home, I assume from the anesthesia, but she doesn't seem to have much interest in her stitches and is as energetic as usual. I think we got lucky.

[k3am]

sdlaura, it took our dog a while to realize it, but it only lasted like a day before he was back to normal. We had to keep him hopped up on drugs to keep him calm.

Depending on how long your dog's snout is and how flexible, we found that for most stuff, we can put our dog in a towel cone - wrap a towel around his neck and secure it with a belt. It's so much nicer than having to listen to the cone make noise, him having difficulty getting water, etc.

[k3am]

Jun 19, 2024 13:17:36 GMT -5 186momx said:

Has anyone bought a mattress from Costco?

We bought an XL twin from Costco. It is one of the most comfortable beds in the house. 

[mommyatty]

sdlaura- you have a Westie or similar, right? If so, you can also take a pool noodle, cut it into 2 inch donuts, and thread the dog’s collar through the donuts. That should keep her from messing with her stitches. As they start to heal, they’re going to itch. That’s when you’ll need to worry about her chewing them. Like this: www.mkclinton.com/2020/05/how-to-make-simple-comfy-e-collar-for.html?m=1

[sdlaura]

We have a Scottie. I ended up getting her a soft donut that looks like a donut on Amazon. The thing is - I think she could still reach the stitches if she wanted to… and just doesn’t seem interested 🤷‍♀️ but like you said mommyatty she may become interested in them at some point. So we’ll keep the donut on when we aren’t with her.

[dglvrk2]

We are starting allergy desensitization drops for DD1 in a few weeks. This therapy takes 4-5 years. By the time she finishes high school, in theory, she'll be desensitized to her allergies.

She's totally on board and taking the drops daily won't be an issue.

Has anyone had experience with these? Anything you wish you'd known?

[waverly]

If my swimsuit that is over 5 years old is loose now at the bottom that means the elastic is shot right? I probably need to trash it after this trip.

[dglvrk2]

Jun 23, 2024 7:46:10 GMT -5 waverly said:

If my swimsuit that is over 5 years old is loose now at the bottom that means the elastic is shot right? I probably need to trash it after this trip.

Yup

[mommyatty]

dglvrk2, the drops are exactly the same as allergy shots. If they told you she will be done with allergies in 4 years, they’re lying. Very few people ever get to the point that they never need treatment again. It lessens your body’s reaction, but 1) less does not equal no reaction, and 2) most people go back for more shots/drops throughout their lives.

[k3am]

Jun 24, 2024 6:55:32 GMT -5 mommyatty said:

dglvrk2 , the drops are exactly the same as allergy shots. If they told you she will be done with allergies in 4 years, they’re lying. Very few people ever get to the point that they never need treatment again. It lessens your body’s reaction, but 1) less does not equal no reaction, and 2) most people go back for more shots/drops throughout their lives.

This is what they told us for DS as well. We ended up not doing it - he's allergic to so many things that the drops weren't an option and we didn't want to do shots. 

We're doing allergy shots for the dog. It's pretty incredible. We haven't had an ear infection since we started, all his skin bumps are gone, and he's significantly less scratchy. We will be doing it for the rest of his life - but will likely be able to stretch out the frequency as time goes by. (We started once every 4 days, we're currently at every 7, and will eventually be at 14-21 days). 100% recommend. 

[macmars45]

Jun 22, 2024 14:41:53 GMT -5 dglvrk2 said:

We are starting allergy desensitization drops for DD1 in a few weeks. This therapy takes 4-5 years. By the time she finishes high school, in theory, she'll be desensitized to her allergies.

She's totally on board and taking the drops daily won't be an issue.

Has anyone had experience with these? Anything you wish you'd known?

Drops? Do they have a taste?

If autistic DS(8) didn't have allergic reactions to cats that would be amazing because we are cat people (including DS). However, regular shots are a no go. Maybe drops would be an option...

[mommyatty]

@macmars45, they don’t have them for cat dander yet. There are only like 5 allergens that are covered/FDA approved.

[dglvrk2]

@macmars45, they are, apparently, really sweet and go under the tongue.

I was under the impression that cat dander was part of DD's cocktail. I'll look into this.

[mommyatty]

A random funny: www.facebook.com/share/r/Tetkot8nZjWtonJ3/?mibextid=UalRPS

I believe we have all been there.

[waverly]

Our friends that are now more like acquaintances keep inviting us to their toddler birthday party. It’s the only time we hear from them all year basically. I get it’s easier to invite people to parties than plan something separate. But aren’t birthday parties for family or friends with kids that are the same age? Invite your friends that have toddlers type thing- not people who have teenagers who you rarely talk to?