What should pet owners expect after their pet has surgery at Paw Haven?
Hi everyone, it's Dr. Orange at Paw Haven. We wanted to take a moment to make a video on what to expect after your pet has surgery here at Paw Haven. In this video, we'll apply to most soft tissue surgeries. So this will be spays, neuters, mass removals, and the majority of our routine surgeries that we do here.
Will pets go home with pain medication after surgery?
Most animals will go home with pain medication after their procedure. There are some pain medications that we administer in the hospital that have a lasting effect, up to 72 hours in some cases. It really is dependent on the pet, but I would say 95% of cases you're going to go home with some sort of pain medication.
Will pets need sedatives after their operation?
Some pets will need sedatives after an operation, and that is just to keep them quiet and calm while they are healing to prevent any problems. That is a pretty normal thing. Most of our young dogs want to get back to playing and being crazy right away, and we really need them to be quiet at least for seven to ten days while their body is healing.
Are there any other medications pets might go home with?
There are some other medications that they may go home with, maybe antibiotics, maybe ear meds if there was something else going on, but for the most part, they will go home with pain meds, and that will be discussed in detail when you pick your pet up.
How might pets behave after anesthesia?
After anesthesia, some pets may appear completely normal and may just seem a little bit sleepy. There are some pets that will appear more agitated or anxious overnight. Usually, the results of that are gone by the next morning, so most pets have returned to normal by the morning. But if you feel like your pet is painful or you're really concerned, please don't hesitate to reach out to us, and we can help figure out which one of those it is.
What should pet owners do regarding feeding after surgery?
After surgery, most of the time our surgeries are done by early afternoon, so we try to really wait to offer food or water till the evening. You can offer your pet small amounts of water when you get home and into the evening, and if they handle that well, great. You can always offer a little bit of food and see how they handle that as well. If we're talking about things like foreign body surgeries or gastric surgeries, we may have different recommendations for you, but we would go over that in detail when you pick up your pet.
What should pet owners look for when checking their pet's incision?
When you pick up your pet from surgery, you will want to look at that incision to get a really good idea of what it looks like right after surgery. That way, you have a baseline. Things that we're watching for will be increased redness, swelling around the incision, if there's a foul odor coming from it, if it's opening. Those will be important things to let us know so we can address them quickly.
How can pet owners prevent their pets from interfering with their incision?
The other really important thing with incision monitoring is making sure that your pet is wearing either an e-collar (a cone) or a medical pet shirt. This way, your pet cannot get to their incision, and that way, they can't lick it and potentially cause further infection or opening of the wound.
How long should pets rest after surgery?
Generally, for most surgeries, we're going to have them rest for at least 10 to 14 days, and that way, the body or skin can heal completely before we start letting them run around like crazy.
What signs should pet owners watch for after surgery?
The things that we are going to want to watch out for post-surgery are going to be vomiting or diarrhea within 24 hours after surgery, lethargy 12-24 hours after surgery, if the incision is gaping or open, or if your pet is just maybe not returning to normal– not wanting to eat, there are things that we can help with. We want to make sure that they are getting better quickly and that there's not something else going on, and we want you to call us immediately if you notice any of these things happening to your pet or their incision!
If you still have other questions and you'd like to reach out to us, you can call us directly at (863) 281-4344, or you can email us at [email protected]. But please do reach out, and we'll get back to you as fast as we can. Don't forget to follow us on social media Facebook, Instagram
