PLEASE READ THIS PAPER THOROUGHLY 

The following is a highlighted list of important information for the 7days immediately after your pet’s surgery. Please read it carefully, preferably BEFORE leaving with your pet In case you have any questions for the staff. 

Your pet (especially the females) just received a major surgery. If a human had this procedure, they would be on bed rest for several days. Please note your pet is an amazing trooper!  

• Please give them 24-72hrs to return to normal behavior. This includes normal eating, drinking, and going to the restroom as well as playing. The younger the pet, the quicker the recovery. 

• Look at the incision at LEAST once daily and apply over the counter triple antibiotic as instructed. This gives you a much more immediate idea if something is abnormal. 

MALES: 

• PRACTICE TOUGH LOVE: Males are prone to lick themselves even when they are not “wounded”. This pretty much guarantees licking (and the trauma it causes) after the fact.  If you are given an ecollar for your pet, PLEASE DO NOT TAKE IT OFF FOR ANY REASON for at least 5 days. This is essential. Your pet is sneaky and will do trauma to themselves the moment you aren’t looking or have gone to sleep. They can and will get used to the ecollar and eat, sleep and drink successfully with it. Please let our staff know or come by the clinic ASAP if the dog keeps getting his collar off or can get around it. Yes they hate it, but it’s for their own good and it’s a very short time period. If you are not required to purchase one, consider buying one anyways just in case. There is nothing more frustrating than finding out at 8pm that your dog is a licker and you are empty handed.  

• Should your pet get to his incision and open it, chances are good it is not an emergency. Unless there is a substantial amount of blood, please wait until 8:30am the next morning to send us a message. An ER trip should not be necessary for a male. There are exceptions but they are few and far between. 

FEMALES: 

• Please keep your female calm for at least 5days. This IS a major abdominal surgery. There are significant vessels that have been tied off in her belly. Care should be taken to keep her from doing damage to herself or getting too active (running, jumping, playing, roughhousing). Remember, a human would be on bedrest.  

• DO NOT expose her to any intact male dogs for at least 2wks after surgery. ESPECIALLY if she was in heat. They can cause significant damage if they try to breed her. If she was in heat at the time of surgery, expect her to continue to have “bloody” discharge as she will still be in heat (blood is from the vaginal vault and not the uterus). Any large mass of blood or clotting being passed from the vulva should get a recheck as it is not normal and may be an indication of something serious.   

•  Expect firm swelling around the incision if the female is an active one. Soft swelling that you can push back in and out could spell trouble, so please contact us for a recheck. 

Emergency information: 

We are always available after hours by facebook messenger. If the staff do not feel that the issue requires emergency care, they will send a text to advise bringing the pet in for a recheck the next day during the hours of 8:30am-6pm at the clinic we are at that day. There is no exam fee, only fees to cover medications or treatments.  

If a trip to the ER is necessary, we recommend the ER at Fredericksburg Rd. They are familiar with our protocols and our veterinarians and would be easiest to transfer back and forth with if that is necessary. PLEASE NOTE: ALL FEES INCURRED AT AN OUTSIDE Emergency Room ARE THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY of the OWNER. Complications do happen infrequently, even in human medicine, but we are proud of our very low complication rates and strive to perform high quality medicine and customer service. 

If there is: 

*large amounts of blood                                   *seems in distress (cannot get comfortable, paces,  

*grey, white, or blue gums                                  excessive panting) 

*cold body temperatures                                   *or anything is protruding from an incision on a  

female  

*your pet is nonresponsive or has seizures      

 

AT ANY TIME YOU FEEL YOUR ANIMAL MAY BE IN DANGER, PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO TAKE THEM TO AN EMERGENCY VETERINARIAN IF OUR FACILITY IS CLOSED.