In this post, we will outline our experience and offer some guidance on what to expect after neutering your dog. We recently had our beautiful cavapoochon, Casteil neutered. We did this for a purely practical reason rather than any issues with his behaviour. His Mum, Biscuit has not yet been spayed and we wanted to make sure we had no accidents when she comes into season. Biscuit will eventually be spayed, however, to have our female dog spayed would have cost double what it did for our male dog. Also, since she had her litter of puppies, Biscuit has become rather skittish and nervous. We didn’t want to put her through any anxiety the operation might cause her.
Animal Trust
Our vets are part of the Animal Trust group. These practices offer low-cost yet professional vet services. My dogs have attended several different vets and Animal Trust is the only vets I would ever now take my dogs to. All members of staff, from receptionists to vets are clearly animal lovers. This seems like an essential criterion for a vet, but trust me, this is not always the case.
I booked Castiel in for his surgery 5 days prior to the operation. I paid over the phone and was given a date and timeslot to bring him in for his surgery. He could not eat after midnight the night before the operation and could only have water until 7 am that day.
The Morning of the Operation
On the day of the procedure, we arrived at the vet as requested first thing in the morning. Castiel knew something was going on and was rather anxious as we waited outside for the surgery to open. Once inside, the veterinary nurse explained the procedure to us and gave us lots of really useful information regarding recovery. We were offered a blood test which checks for organ function prior to anaesthetic, however, given Castiel’s overall good health and young age, we didn’t take up this offer.
All animals who are booked in for a medical procedure that day arrive early in the morning and each animal is worked on in turn. I was told the more anxious animals are operated on first. I rang at lunch time for an update and was told Castiel still hadn’t had his operation, but he was quite happy in his crate watching the world go by.
Neutering Complete
We received a phone call at 2 pm notifying us Castiel was in recovery following his surgery. We arranged to collect him at 4 pm that day. He was rather groggy, as was expected and not his usual bouncy self. The poor thing was wearing the cone of shame but he was relieved to see us and the car and eager to get home.
His car journey home was uncomfortable. He found it painful to sit and instead lay across my lap making little whimpering noises at the bumps in the road.
The Recovery
Castiel was given pain relief to take home. He was given this for the first 4 days. By then, he no longer needed it. We were advised to keep the cone on as much as possible and preferably not to take it off at all as dogs are reluctant to have it put back on again. We made the decision to keep the cone on him until he had properly healed. At first, Castiel found it difficult to move around. As he sniffed the floor, the cone would obstruct him and for the first 2 days he looked very frustrated but by day 4, it simply became a part of him.
We were advised not to allow him to jump up on the furniture, or climb stairs in case he burst his stitches. Instead, we were to lift him. Castiel barely moved when we brought him home. I tried to encourage him to go to the toilet, but we think he was still too tender to try. For the first night, he did not go to the toilet at all.
On day 2, I once again took him outside throughout the day but he did not go to the toilet. I was getting worried and was going to phone the vet when he eventually passed water at the end of the 2nd day.
Up until day 3, Castiel spent almost all day and night sleeping. He wanted cuddles and so he permanently lay at the side of one of us.
We had a phone consultation with the vet on day 4. I was asked to send in some photos of the wound. The vet called and said the wound was healing nicely. The area was red, as was to be expected. The continuous wearing of the cone did help as he could not reach to lick the wound thus giving it time to properly heal. We were then told he could go for a short 5-minute walk outdoors. Castiel absolutely loved these initial walks!
Back to Normal
As the days wore on, Castiel got better and better. We had an in-person appointment with the vet on day 10. She told us the wound had healed nicely and the cone of shame could be removed! From then on, we were to go back to our normal. Castiel could walk, bathe and once again do his favourite thing – jumping up on our bed!
We are now 4 weeks post neutering and our playful dog Castiel is doing great.
We hope you enjoyed this post on neutering your dog. If you have any advice for my readers who are considering neutering their dog, please let us know in the comments below.
