Surgery
Post surgical care whether it is for a minor surgery or major surgery is crucial for your dog’s recovery! For the first few days, rest and relaxation and keeping any and all stress away is the best medicine! Your dog for those first few days will be sore and they will require no physical stimulation. You will need to be observant and patient before you begin physical stimulation. Aside from following the advice from your veterinarian, your dog will let you know when they are ready and start out slow!
A major issue when your dog comes home, is curbing their desire to lick or biting at their incision areas and stitches. This can lead to infection, and that is the last thing you want! You will need to watch over your dog and for the times when you are not able to, have someone else to watch over them. Any type of device that will hender your dog from licking or biting at their wounds, bandages, and stitches is a great help! You may need some elevated dog bowls for your larger dog.
No matter where the site of the surgery wounds are, you want to prevent your dog from hurting themselves! For example, you can wrap a towel around the dog’s abdomen and fasten it with safety pins, slip a small sock onto the wound area (such as the dog’s feet) and tape it up to avoid injury, or you may even invest into an Elizabethan collar to prevent his face and head from bumping into objects. You may also want to view some of these dog dresses for your little cute doggie after the vet visit. Also be sure to get some dog shampoo for your dog as well.
Before you leave the hospital or vet’s office he or she will give you a follow up visit possibly for removing stitches. This is practically a painless procedure that does not take very long and may cause a little irritation, but it will go away in a few days. Make sure you keep up with your post op visits to your vet! Ask any questions you may have and always if an issue arises before hand, don’t wait until the appointment to get in contact with your veterinarian!