Aack! Puppy Opened Spay Incision....

[TrillumHunter]

She was spayed Monday. She was doing fine, but not doing well with the whole "stay calm, no playing" rule. She's five months old. I took her in, they stapled it and put a belly band on her. We were sent home we the instructions to keep her crated except for bathroom breaks for 7 to 10 days. REALLY? I don't think I can do this. We homeschool and there is no way we can work like this.

HELP!

I love my little puppy and don't want her to get hurt.

Any and all suggestions welcomed!!

[Nightingale8472]

Yes, they mean it. I know some puppies are really active, and some dogs just want to be with their people and don't do well in a crate if you're home (my dog's one of these. He does wonderfully crated when I'm not home, but if he's in a crate and I'm home and he can't get to me, you'd think he was being murdered with the way he howls about it), so if you can't keep her calm and quiet, you can ask your vet if it's possible to get some sedatives for her so she doesn't hurt herself, or you can board her at the vet's office so she can rest there. Or if you have a very understanding friend with a much less active life, maybe your friend could watch her for a bit.

BTW, if you haven't already, now's a great time to think about pet insurance! ASPCA has some great plans. I've got one for my cat and dog, and they've been awesome. I always seem to get back way more than I pay in premiums, but I'm one of those neurotic dog-moms that rushes the dog to the vet at every little thing. "OMG, he ate a set of headphones! VET!" Yeah, that one would've been about $900 without the insurance. I think it cost me about $200 out of pocket and the insurance covered the rest. After one of my cats ran up over $10K in unexpected vet bills, lesson learned, we'll never be without insurance. www.aspcapetinsurance.com Oh, yeah... VPI insurance totally sucks. Don't waste your money on them.

[tarnalberry]

I sympathize, but you absolutely need to keep her in the crate.

When Neo had his shoulder surgery (7 months old), he had to be kept crated for four to six weeks. NOTHING outside the crate for the first two weeks, outside of pottying (we even had him on leash as we took him from the crate through the house to outside). After that, it was gradually increasing twice-daily walks 5 minutes every week, and keeping him crated any other time. (I'm not suggesting she needs that - he was recovering from surgery on both shoulders!) He wasn't regularly out of his crate for two months (and that was faster than might have been ideal, but the healing was going fabulously).

Normally, Neo is a running, bouncing, crazy boy, so this was NOT easy. But it needs to be done. She can (and absolutely should) be able to stay in a crate by herself even if you're in the house. You may need to do more training on it, and she might not be thrilled about it, but it's something every dog should be able to do. (Neo is not a fan over staying in his crate, but he will. It helped dramatically when we got a wire mesh crate that had AMPLE space for him as he doesn't like things pressing down on his head or the darkness/closeness of the plastic vari-kennels.) And you may want to talk to your doctor about some sedation as well. We kept him lightly sedated for about four weeks - just enough to calm him, as it was simply FAR too risky to let him run around.

If she's whining/barking in the crate while you're home, that's a training issue that you need to work on. But it's doable, and you guys will get there.

Good luck to her on a speedy recovery.