postoperative period in dogs. Care

The recovery of a dog after surgery largely depends on the care of it, whether it be spaying or spinal surgery. Of course, in each case, the veterinarian will tell you in detail how to care for the pet, but there are also general rules that the dog breeder should know. Special postoperative care for dogs on average during 10-14 days, although with a serious intervention, the postoperative period rehabilitation can be extended up to 1-2 months.

Important rules for caring for a dog after surgery

First of all, you need to take care of the rest of the animal. Its corner should be dry, comfortable, warm, but not hot and without drafts.

What to feed your dog after surgery

An important general rule is that you need to feed your dog often, but in very small portions. She still has no appetite, and the body needs strength to recover, and there is no need to distract them by digesting food.
Immediately after the operation, the dog should not be fed or watered for several hours. This is especially important if the operation was performed in the abdominal cavity.
Also, food should be light and preferably liquid. it is better to soften in warm water or give special canned food of the diet line. It is better to keep the dog on this line for a month. It is better to return to the usual diet gradually, mixing the usual food with the medical one during the week.
With natural feeding, once, at the first postoperative meal, broth is given, and then semi-liquid porridge with minced meat, cottage cheese, kefir. Unless, of course, the veterinarian has given other recommendations.
The dog must have free access to fresh drinking water.

Photo: Caring for a dog after surgery

When will my dog have his first bowel movement after surgery? Many dogs will not have stools for the first 4 to 5 days after surgery.
Reasons that a dog will not have regular bowel movements after surgery include:
The dog was starving before surgery.
Dogs do not eat well during their stay in the hospital (overexposure)
Their appetite is often disturbed, at home, in the first days after the operation.
Feed easily digestible food that produces little stool
Pain medications that contain narcotic drugs (such as fentanyl and tramadol) - possible constipation
If the animal does not have a stool by day 5, vaseline oil or other laxatives may be needed. My pet has had surgery and is not eating yet. What can be done? Dogs
Most pets won't eat their normal dog food after surgery, especially if it's large chunks.
Example: prepare a diet with a 1:01 ratio of protein source to carbohydrate source. The source of protein can be any meat (example: chicken breast, turkey fillet) that is low in fat and can be cooked (drain all fat after the meat has been boiled). Carbohydrates: can be pasta, potatoes or white rice.
Try canned food, dog food; flavor enhancers, sprinkle with a very small amount of garlic powder or chicken or beef broth (chemical seasonings, to create flavor)
Try canned baby meats such as chicken, beef, turkey, or veal.
Try the Hills D diet available at most veterinary clinics
Hand feeding: put a small amount of food in your mouth so that your dog can taste it
The food should be warm, as the food will be more aromatic; stir food before feeding and check the temperature on the underside of the wrist, it should only be lukewarm.
Remember that most pets won't eat the first day or two after they get home from surgery.

cats
Offer (smelly) foods that contain a fishy smell, such as tuna or stinky cat food (you can pour juice from a tuna can into your cat's usual food)
Try Gerber meats for babies such as chicken, beef, turkey or veal
Hand feeding: Apply a small amount of food from your finger to your cat's mouth; you can use a syringe to pour soft food into your mouth, behind the canine, while you need to slightly raise your head up.
The food should be warm, as the food will be more aromatic; stir food before feeding and check the temperature on the underside of the wrist, it should only be lukewarm. Some cats only eat dry food, try pellets. Petting your cat often will help stimulate the appetite.
Remember that most pets won't eat the first day or two after they get home from surgery.
Appetite stimulants such as cyproheptadine may be helpful
If your cat refuses to eat anything for 7 days, a gastric or nasogastric tube should be inserted and fed to prevent serious liver problems (hepatic lipidosis) from developing. My pet is vomiting. What can be done? The first thing to understand is whether vomiting is a consequence of the use of drugs or is it after surgery. Regurgitation is the rapid movement of fluids or gases in the direction opposite to the normal one, which has arisen in a hollow muscular organ as a result of contraction of its wall.
The most common cause of regurgitation is a dysfunction of the gastrointestinal sphincters or separating septa (for example, heart valves), or with an antiperistaltic wave of contraction of the muscular wall of the organ. Regurgitation differs from reflux (passive flow of fluid into adjacent spaces) in that it is the result of active muscle contraction. Usually with regurgitation, the fluid will be brown in color.
Next, you should determine the cause of vomiting or regurgitation.
Causes and treatment of vomiting after surgery
Occasionally, some pets returning home from a hospital stay may drink excessive amounts of water at one time, and therefore may vomit, and if so, water should be limited to frequent small amounts.
Medications such as antibiotics, narcotic drugs, or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs often cause vomiting after surgery. In order to see which medication is causing the problem, the administration of each medication should be separated by 2 hours from each other. Usually, the pet may vomit or develop nausea (drooling and looking sick) within 1 hour after the medication is applied. It is possible that the pet is sensitive to these particular drugs. The antibiotic may in some cases be changed to another drug, or may be discontinued altogether.
Indigestion from anesthesia is a potential cause of vomiting and will resolve within a few days.
Often the cause of vomiting after surgery is internal organ failure. A blood test before and after surgery will confirm or disprove this hypothesis. If this is the reason for vomiting, it should not be ignored if it lasts more than 24 hours!
If your pet has had intestinal or stomach surgery, vomiting is always a concern, as it could mean that there is an infection in the abdominal organs that can cause peritonitis. Don't ignore this symptom! You need to see a doctor right away!
Symptomatic treatment of vomiting includes fasting from 12 to 24 hours and then introducing small amounts of soft food. If your pet hasn't vomited after this, you will gradually remove soft food from him and transfer him back to his usual feeding diet after 3 days. In order to reduce stomach acidity, Pepcid AC 0.5 mg/kg can be given by mouth twice a day for 5 days. Metoclopramide and Cerenia are good medicines for dogs and cats. You should always consult your veterinarian about the drug and regimen! Causes and treatment of regurgitation after surgery
The most common cause of spitting up is reflux, which is stomach acid entering the esophagus while your pet is under anesthesia. Acid fluid from the stomach can cause a chemical burn of the esophagus and lead to esophagitis in case of heartburn. This results in poor esophageal motility, so water and food will accumulate in this structure. In most cases, esophagitis resolves on its own, but if it does need to be treated, it can take two to three days.
If the esophagitis has a more serious effect on the esophagus, then one or more strictures (compression) may develop. Stricture is a narrowing or stenosis of the esophagus that prevents food from passing through the esophagus. Normal regurgitation can be in an animal once or twice a week! This problem should be brought to the attention of your pet's doctor. Treatment may include correcting the stricture with oxygen (minimally invasive procedures, this is done with an endoscope assistant). If esophageal stricture is a chronic problem, then surgery is necessary.
Symptomatic treatment of regurgitation that has caused esophagitis includes feeding soft foods, and administering a drug that has a coating effect on the mucous membrane (sucralfate-Sucralfate) and an acid inhibitor (omeprazole or another). Consult your veterinarian if regurgitation continues for more than a few days. How do I know if my dog is in pain after surgery? Signs of pain include:
The dog whines, may bite, the dog looks anxious, tragic expression, may suffocate, worries and cannot sleep, walks.
If abdominal surgery has been performed, the animal will not want to lie down on the incision, or will sit constantly despite being very tired.
The worst thing can be pain during the first 2 to 3 days after surgery. What can I do to control my dog's pain? Narcotic drugs that control pain: tramadol, butorphanol. Anti-inflammatory drugs used to control pain: rimadyl, previcox, trocoxil
If orthopedic surgery has been done, cold packs can be used.
A cold compress can be a bag of frozen peas, crushed ice in a special bag. A thin barrier should be placed between the skin and the cold pack. Cooling the operation site helps to numb the operated area. How do I know if my cat is in pain after surgery? In cats, compared to dogs, pain is more difficult to assess. Because the symptoms may be more subtle, and they usually don't make a sound when they're in pain.
Signs of pain in a cat may include:
can bite if you touch the site of the surgical field, growl, hiss. Does not want to eat, hides and does not want to be near the owner (remember that this can also be caused by the fact that the cat was just upset about leaving the house, going to the veterinary clinic, this is a kind of violence for her) What can be done to reduce pain at home for my cat? Not many painkillers are suitable for cats! In each case, you need to consult a doctor! For example, drugs such as ketofen, rimadil. Paracetamol will kill a cat as they do not have the necessary enzyme in their liver.
Anti-inflammatory drugs can be used, but the dose is much less than for dogs! Is it correct if the animal licks the incision, stitches after the operation? If the dog licks the stitches, the healing process may be delayed.
Licking can damage the sutures and cause the wound to open. It can become a serious habit that will be difficult to stop. Can cause infection as there are many bacteria in the mouth.
Dogs will tend to lick the incision site when the owner does not see it, such as at night. If the skin looks red or irritated the most common cause is licking the wound.
To stop your pet from licking you can try the following:
Elizabethan collar around the neck. A neck collar is the most effective means of combating licking, especially if the animal is left at home alone.
A post-operative blanket can be used to cover stitches or wounds on the chest or front of the abdomen. A bandage or sock can be used to close a wound on a limb, secure the top of the sock with tape across the body. Not a pleasant spray, deodorant, can also be applied to the bandage surface near the wound, and not a pleasant, pungent smell will prevent the animal from licking the wound.
In some cases, antipsychotics may be required.

What to do if the dog does not eat, how can you find out the true cause and not miss the symptoms of the disease? Below we will analyze all these issues, but we will immediately indicate that we will talk about a sharp refusal of food. A gradual decrease in appetite, leading to a complete refusal to eat, most often indicates a developing disease.

A very common scenario that causes true panic among owners is when the dog has stopped eating or has had an illness. The owner sees that the dog is on the mend, looks active and abruptly refuses to eat ... a really alarming sign. However, before you panic, make sure that the reasons for ignoring food are not related to your behavior.

While the pet is sick or recovers after the operation, the owner surrounds him with care, pampers, regrets. Dogs are very smart, they can build logical chains and draw conclusions. So, when you feel sorry for the dog and persuade him to eat a treat, he concludes that if you give up the usual porridge, you can get a treat. Of course, the pet needs to be pitied and supported, but moderation is important in everything.

Many owners fall into such a vicious circle when a ward develops a conditioned reflex (habit) to extort goodies through manipulation. We’ll make a reservation right away, if this has already happened to you and your ward, you need to solve the situation gradually. You yourself taught the dog this trick, so punishment and rudeness are inappropriate here. If you decide to overcome the situation with pressure, then in the future, the dog is unlikely to agree to be trained under your supervision.

Have you noticed that the dog does not eat well, are you sure that the pet was not sick and you did not spoil him, what is the reason? In any manual for the content of dogs there are recommendations for compiling a daily routine. Are you following these guidelines? If you do not understand what is at stake, answer the following questions:

Do you walk your dog at the same time?
Do you feed your dog at the same time?
How many treats do you feed your dog during a walk? More or less than half the weight of a normal serving of food?

If the answers to the first two questions are negative, and the third is positive, you are completely ignoring the recommendations for observing the daily routine. Let's look into it right away the question of treats. The daily food intake is calculated taking into account everything eaten. If the dog does not eat from the bowl, but gets a pound of cookies on a walk, he compensates for more than half of his daily food intake and this must be taken into account. You had a good walk with the dog in the evening, fed her sweets and she refused porridge - quite naturally.

Now oh walking and feeding schedule. The digestive system of a dog, without exaggeration, works by the clock. It takes about 6-8 hours to digest meat porridge, if the dog eats dry food, the time increases by about 2 hours. If you feed your dog in the evening, after a walk, and in the morning, after waking up, his digestive system starts up. Digested food residues move from the small intestine to the large intestine and the dog wants to go to the toilet. After the elimination of need, the small intestine is completely freed and ready to digest the morning meal.

If the schedule is violated, that is, if the dog has to endure or you feed him out of hours, the gastrointestinal tract may not be ready to digest a new portion of food. The body is designed so that the dog will not feel hungry as long as there is food in his stomach.. If the pet cannot go to the toilet, he will be worried about more tangible problems - intoxication and pain. Naturally, in such conditions, there can be no talk of a good appetite.

Read also: To keep skin and coat healthy

You may notice that a dog eats little if food is always available to him, no, this is not a paradox. All homemade animals tend to eat out of boredom, especially if they are at home without an owner. You, as a caring owner, leaving for work, leave treats or dry food for your pet in case the pet gets hungry. In fact, you are pushing the ward to constant snacking out of boredom, which fundamentally violates the recommendations for regimen feeding. Snacking, as well as constant access to food, negatively affects appetite, since the dog does not feel true hunger, he just eats when he wants to.

There is another reason that many owners miss. If the dog does not eat anything (we are talking about a male), perhaps he met or simply smelled a bitch during estrus. A hormonal surge can deprive a male of his appetite for several days and these are not the most tangible consequences. If your pet is not of breeding value, for the sake of maintaining his health and sanity, it is better to resort to castration at an early age. Note that a male is guaranteed not to respond to females if neutered during adolescence and prior to (spontaneous) mating.

There are also more banal reasons for refusing food, more precisely, not banal, but obvious. For example, the dog needs to feel confident and stable, so the bowl should be placed on a stand, and the feeding area should be covered with a non-slip mat. A bowl that is too deep or too high can feel intimidating or uncomfortable. Some, especially dogs rescued from the street, may afraid to eat in the presence of humans or other animals. It passes, but at first you need to show understanding. There are a lot of similar examples and they are all obvious if you watch a pet.

Adult dogs can go hungry for several days without good reason, arrange the so-called fasting days. If the pet remains alert, drinks water and willingly walks, you should not worry. For a puppy, a fast is harmless if it lasts up to 12 hours; for an adult dog, this period ranges from 24 to 48 hours, and sometimes longer. Hunger is really dangerous in some diseases, for example, diabetes, in which case the dog should be under the supervision of a veterinarian.

How to increase your dog's appetite

A dog's refusal to eat may be due to poor appetite or the development of an illness. If your pet is lethargic, whining, won't drink water, vomits, or she's losing weight fast or lying down, you can skip this section. This is not a matter of reluctance, but of discomfort that prevents the pet from eating. A clear sign of poor health is the refusal to walk, even if earlier the pet was not too happy to walk, the complete disregard for the street speaks of apathy. The first thing to do is to take the pet outside in your arms. If the dog is standing still or lying down immediately, you should immediately consult a doctor.

Refusal of food does not affect the mood of the pet, is he cheerful and happy to go for a walk? In this case, you need to try several methods to improve your appetite. Start by skipping one feeding, such as the morning one. In the evening, offer your pet the usual portion of the usual food. If the treat is eaten with pleasure, the reason is a violation of the feeding schedule. We talked about this above, the dog has a poor appetite, because he really does not feel hunger.

The second method is not to skip feeding, but cut the portion in half. If the dog ate the offered food, behaved normally all day and licked the bowl again in the evening, the reason is overfeeding. Carefully check yourself if you are not exceeding the daily feeding rate for your pet. Take into account all the snacks, treats, follow the dog, it may be begging for treats from other family members.

Read also: How to wean a dog to pick up from the floor or the ground: useful tips for correcting pet behavior

One important nuance: before accusing a dog of overeating, make sure that you feed it well. The reluctance to eat the entire portion offered may be due to the fact that dog doesn't like the taste of food, for example, a dog does not eat porridge because it is stale. The second option is an allergy, a pet may refuse food that harms him. You may not realize that porridge causes a pet to experience abdominal pain or bloating, but the fact remains that the dog feels discomfort. If the dog does not eat dry food, there are several possible reasons:

Abrupt change in diet- you have always fed your pet natural food, but decided to transfer it to drying in one day. The dog is likely to refuse food, because for her the food looks inedible, unusual, not appetizing. Dry food does not have the aroma of natural food, and this is a very weighty argument. If the dog has always been fed a natural diet, the refusal of dry food may be due to the fact that the gastrointestinal tract is not able to digest the granules. In any case, the transition to a new type of feeding should be carried out gradually.

Poor feed quality- cheap drying is made on the basis of beans, soy or corn. All these products are useless for the dog, so they do not cause a clear appetite. Manufacturers of cheap feeds go to the trick, flavoring their products with flavorings and flavor enhancers. This does not make the food more useful ... quite the opposite, but this condition allows you to force a hungry dog to eat pellets.

chewing problems- we are not talking about diseases of the oral cavity, but rather about the conventions that you missed. It is difficult for puppies to chew on the pellets because their teeth are a little loose. Older dogs may refuse drying due to thinning of the enamel and discomfort when chewing hard food.

Active walks help increase appetite. Naturally, the dog does not need to be exhausted to the point of exhaustion, but if you have not paid attention to active loads, it is worth a try. All dogs love to play, the type of activity and motivation may vary, meaning you will need to find an approach.

Even older dogs, which, it would seem, are not interested in anything, are happy to accompany their owners on leisurely, but long walks. Your pet may not play with a ball, but he will enjoy the search tasks. With a properly selected load, the dog returns home tired and hungry. Usually the pet drinks, eats and goes to rest. After that, it is advisable to take the dog for a short walk to empty the intestines and bladder. Just like people, it is bad for dogs to tolerate.

Dogs are distinguished by their constancy in tastes, but it happens that they get bored with the taste of familiar food. There are several ways to check this assumption and make sure that the refusal to eat is connected with it in several ways:

Offer the dog frozen or boiled meat (without porridge). If the treat is eaten willingly, the dog is tired of porridge, or it has a protein deficiency.

Replace cereals with buckwheat, and if you feed buckwheat, then in rice. In the first case, the food will have a more attractive smell. In the second, if the dog is tired of buckwheat, rice will be more readily accepted, since it is neutral.

Add stewed vegetables to the porridge - grate the vegetables on the track and simmer with plenty of water. You should end up with a small stew or sauce. Season everything with a little oil and add to the porridge. Vegetables give the porridge a seductive aroma and enhance the taste of meat (if its ratio is sufficient).

To the question of the Dog, 14 years old, they had an operation, they removed the uterus (the question is inside) asked by the author reed The best answer is that my dog (she is 13 years old) had the same operation a month ago. for about a week she was in the same condition, and now she is already younger. became more active than before the operation, and began to eat .. no I began to EAT, here))

Answer from Fork[guru]
Not worth it. The innervation of the abdominal wall and the OBP of the dog is much less than that of a person, it really does not hurt.
That he doesn’t eat or drink - it’s hard to get out of anesthesia, this happens, again, with everyone, and with people too. But then it will pass.
Your task is to monitor the temperature. It will be low - warm the dog, it will rise - urgently to the clinic.

Answer from Undersalt[guru]
Of course, the age is already such that everything goes smoothly ...
of course, it is necessary to anesthetize - in the first days after the operation, what other pains do animals experience
consult about the same ketonal

Answer from chevron[guru]
If the dog is not worried - obviously, it does not hurt. It's just that these animals have a different threshold of pain sensitivity, different from humans. If your dog lies and is passive after the operation, it is more likely from postoperative weakness, blood loss. Surround her with care, give more fluids, follow the doctor's recommendations. If the temperature has risen or dropped, if something is worrying you, contact him. When pain occurs, dogs are prescribed various groups of analgesics (mostly as a person).

Answer from Maria Grafova[guru]
Has the anesthesia gone? Mine only suffered for one day. And for three days they did not jump high. And then they forgot to think about the seams.

Answer from Volk[guru]
Animal care after surgery.
This section talks about the problems of post-operative care for a dog, especially if the owners, for some reason, were not instructed in detail by the attending physician and found themselves in a helpless state. The recommendations do not affect the doctor's prescriptions regarding the peculiarities of nursing a particular animal, the frequency of dressings and the administration of antibiotics. they carry more general information about the principles of care in the postoperative period.
General recommendations
1. On the first day after the operation period, it is necessary
SLEEPING DOG
lay on the floor on a mat and cover warmly,
moisten the mucous membrane of the mouth with water every half an hour,
turn every hour from side to side,
o in the first two hours, apply a heating pad with ice to the surgical wound;
A WALKING DOG
o do not restrict movement; if you want to walk, supporting a towel under the stomach for better stability and stimulation of defecation and urination,
one feed! Give water and sweet coffee to drink to restore blood circulation.
note: wetting of the dressing with blood, staining of the gums, SNK, urination should be monitored.
2. From the beginning of the second day, the owner of the dog must:
o prevent licking of the seams (if necessary) with the help of protective devices;
feed the dog in the amount of one third of the usual daily diet, in small portions; on the third day - two thirds of the diet; then the usual diet;
o Comb the hair with a massage brush 2 times a day for 15 minutes;
do enemas in the absence of bowel movements every two days.
3. On the tenth day:
Remove stitches at the vet.
Private recommendations
1. If the bandage is excessively wet with blood (a blood stain with a diameter of more than 10 cm), put a heating pad with ice on the site of the surgical field, press the bleeding site firmly with your fingers for 15 minutes, make a pressure bandage, tightly tamponating the bleeding site with cotton balls under the bandage.
2. If the dog is trembling, it must be warmly covered.
3. When lying down for more than an hour, there is a danger of developing pneumonia, in order to avoid which they pat their ribs with their palms.
4. If there are pale gums, SNK: 2-3 seconds, slow awakening time, no urination, circulatory insufficiency, give the dog inside warm sweet coffee, actively comb the coat with a massage brush.
5. In case of agitation, anxiety, shortness of breath, frequent movements (signs of pain), an intramuscular injection of 1-2 ampoules of Relanium mixed in a syringe with 1-2 ampoules of analgin should be administered.

dog after surgery

Normal dog recovery after surgery directly depends on how carefully the owner looks after her. The veterinarian will instruct the owner in detail how to care for him and what you need to know, but there are also general rules for caring for a sick animal.

The dog after the operation recovers in about 14 days, although there are cases when the rehabilitation period is delayed up to 60 days.

A special place is occupied by the observance of rest for the animal. It is necessary to take care of a comfortable, favorable, warm, but not stuffy place:

To recover, the animal must experience a minimum of stress and rest more. During the operation, the pet experienced a stressful state, so it can be aggressive.
First day dog after surgerynot maybe there is and long walks.
Mandatory to wear blanket for dogs after surgery so that she does not touch the seams.
Stitches in a dog after surgery require special care, so suture treatment after surgerydog without fail, it is carried out with a local antiseptic solution once a day. After the wound has been treated, an antiseptic ointment is applied.
All medicines are given strictly according to the instructions prescribed doctor, to dog felt comfortable.
Pain relief for dogs after surgery give exactly according to the scheme, since a disturbed schedule for taking medications can have a negative effect on the recovery process.

Postoperative nutrition for the animal

The dog owner wonders how same feed your dog after surgery? We offer the following:

Feeding should be done little by little so as not to burden the body, since a lot of energy is spent on digesting food.
After the operation, the dog does not eat or drink for several hours. This is especially true for operations performed on the peritoneum.
There is no need to fear that dog won't go to the toilet after surgery. This is natural, because she does not eat anything. And to eliminate constipation, you must adhere to a diet. It is better to give dietary food, which is sold in special canned food. Hard food softens in warm water. This type of food is observed for about 30 days. It is better to return to the normal rhythm of nutrition gradually. To do this, the usual food is gradually mixed into the diet.
In the postoperative period, it is preferable to give the dog broths, cottage cheese, kefir and cereals.
There must be fresh drinking water near the dog.
About negative reactions to food in the form of vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, the owner must inform the attending veterinarian.

What is the feature of the protective structure?

The collar for the dog after the operation serves as a kind of limiter or barrier in protective therapy. The technique helps to protect the dog from causing various kinds of damage to itself, does not allow itself to be bitten or scratched. This increases the likelihood of rapid wound healing. These devices are prescribed by veterinarians in case of surgery, as well as in other incidents.

Pets do not like to visit clinics, so collars make it possible to visit doctors less often. The wound heals faster, the risk of infection is reduced, and the dog does not come into contact with the drugs that treat the skin.

The device has the form of a cone, which is cut off at the top. A material can be anything that holds a shape. The positive point is that an animal with such a device calmly eats food. Try to get the dog used to this thing, and then he will stop worrying and will better perceive it.

What complications can occur after the operation?

The dog after the operation needs quality care because it is more susceptible to complications that may arise against this background. Among other things, you can’t always force a dog to rest in order to allow a wound to heal normally. This is due to the fact that you cannot explain to her how to behave after the operation, namely:

If the dog is not stopped in time, then it can damage the wound and this will lead to the resorption of the sutures.
Allergies can also occur in dogs. The owner does not always know the reaction of the dog's body to one or another type of drug.
Edema after surgery in a dog may occur due to excess fluid that has accumulated near the wound. The swelling will cause the stitches to open and the wound will be vulnerable to infection.
Bloody discharge from the wound in the first days after the operation should be a cause for concern.
If the sutures dissolve earlier or were incorrectly applied, a hernia may form.