Pet Sterilization
Post Operative Care Instructions
Your pet’s care after surgery is important to
your pet’s health.
Please follow these instructions to avoid
serious injury, even death, to your pet.
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Especially with male dogs, use an
Elizabethan collar until your animal’s incision has completely healed.
This should be
approximately 7-9 days.
-
Anesthesia interferes with an animal’s
ability to regulate body temperature.
Keep your pet confined to a small area (i.e. the bathroom with the
toilet lid DOWN or your laundry room) where it is warm and quiet for 1.5
days. Do not put your pet on a bed
or other high place. Separate your
pet from young children and other pets.
Keeping your pet in its own carrier is a great idea for the pet’s
safety.
-
DO NOT give aspirin, Tylenol or other
pain relievers to your pet.
These medications can be deadly to pets!
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Generally, anesthesia will upset your
pet’s stomach.
You can offer your pet something to eat or
drink when you return home, but do not be surprised if your pet does not do
either. Please do not offer
your pet a full portion of food. Do not be surprised if your pet vomits
before or after eating.
-
Anesthesia may wear off slowly,
so your pet may appear drugged this evening but will become progressively
more active and alert with time.
Pets may growl, claw at invisible objects and act strangely for up to 24
hours. They do best in quiet,
dark places such as the bathroom (with the toilet lid DOWN) or the laundry
room, but good monitoring should occur.
-
All newly sterilized pets need time and
rest to heal.
Please restrict your pet’s activity as much as possible over the next
week. This means no wrestling with
children or other pets. Running and
jumping should be minimized as much as possible.
As female animals heal and their sutures dissolve, a small bubble may
appear at the surgery site.
-
Do not allow your pet to get wet or have
a bath until the stitches the wound has healed.
If bathing is required, consult your personal veterinarian and
minimize the amount of water at the surgical site.
-
Monitor the surgical site daily
for signs of bleeding or infection, i.e. weeping or oozing wounds,
puffiness, bubble like masses under the skin, etc.
For the first five days, the main concern is to restrict the pet’s
licking of the incision. Licking can
damage the incision itself.
-
Your pet has buried sutures (and male
cats do not require sutures).
Your pet does not need to return
for suture removal. All sutures used
are dissolvable. If your pet
demonstrates any unusual behavior, i.e. laziness, labored breathing, etc.
call our volunteer immediately.
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If a female animal is spayed during her
estrus cycle, she is still attractive to males for several days following
her surgery and is still capable of mating.
Although no possibility of pregnancy exists, you MUST keep her away
from all male animals for up to two weeks.
-
Male animals are still capable of breeding
for ninety (90) days or occasionally even longer after being neutered.
Even though the testicles have been surgically removed, hormone
levels remain in the bloodstream and viable sperm remain in storage canals
for an extended period of time.
If you are concerned about your pet and would
like one of our veterinarians to take a look at its incision, you may come to
our
Monday-Thursday 9 .m. –
Thursday
Friday
If your pet has a
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