Dog Community

Posted : 7/28/2007 10:42:19 AM

I agree that the runny stools are likely from the anesthesia. If it continues, you might try giving just some boiled chicken or hamburger and rice. I would keep an eye on the sutures though and let your vet know if the weeping gets worse. Poor Marley - I hope he starts feeling better today.

Justine Freeman

Posted : 7/28/2007 3:06:34 PM

Okay...we took him into the vet, and apparently he was able to mess with the incision even with the e-collar on! They cleaned him up, and said to give him canned pumpkin for the diarrhea. They gave me pain medication and some stuff to spray on the incision. He is resting now...but he's still not my same old Marley! I just keep thinking about the pain I was in after I had Parker...I figure his pain is equivalent to that. Poor guy. [&o]

Marley and I just went outside for a bathroom break and there was a little bit of blood in his runny stool. Should I be concerned about this?

janet_rose

Posted : 7/28/2007 6:00:13 PM

cakana
Marley and I just went outside for a bathroom break and there was a little bit of blood in his runny stool. Should I be concerned about this?

I wouldn't worry. A little blood in diarrhea is not abnormal.

I hope Marley feels better soon!

Marley, silly dog, leave your stitches alone!!

ron2

Posted : 7/28/2007 9:07:40 PM

Hopefully, he will cheer up soon and be a goofy lug again

He'll be back to full speed in a week, at the latest. FWIW, I had Shadow neutered at 2.5.

Justine Freeman

Posted : 7/29/2007 8:43:21 AM

Thanks everyone! This has been awful! It is so hard to keep Marley away from those stitches! He gets that cone over there and you have to stop him. I was up all night with him right by me so I could stop him every time he tried. He also had to go potty 2x again last night. The diarrhea is started to subside. The wound isn't looking too good though. It's swollen. In fact, it looks like he has balls again! I gave him the pain meds this morning. It says it's an anti-inflamatory, hopefully that will help. Is there a way I can clean the incision? He has staples there. I don't want to make it worse.

snownose

Posted : 7/29/2007 8:56:38 AM

Poor Marley, I hope he feels better soon......in my experience the swelling will make it look like he has his hoohoos still......but, it should subside in less than a week.....just keep an eye on it, and don't let him move around a lot.
Did the vet say why he went with staples instead of self disolving stitches?

Justine Freeman

Posted : 7/29/2007 9:45:06 AM

I don't know why he went with staples...maybe because he is older. He said it was a tougher operation because of that. He's a really good Vet...so he must have had a good reason.

Truley

Posted : 7/29/2007 11:47:07 AM

Well I hope Marley is doing and feeling better. I just made a new crate bed for Kord. My husband and I just bought a new pillowtop mattress and we took the old pillowtop we had bought, folded it over and velcro'd a new piece of material over it. Told him in a couple of weeks he is gonna love the extra cushion!

cakana

Posted : 7/29/2007 8:16:47 PM

Is there a way I can clean the incision? He has staples there. I don't want to make it worse.

I hope Marley's starting to feel better by this evening. I can't think of any reason why you couldn't clean the incision area with a moist towel and some antibacterial soap. Treat it as you would any incision you would have and it should be fine. Don't be afraid to call the vet clinic if you have concerns though. It's always better to be safe than sorry. I really hope he's doing fine though and you're both getting some rest.

Justine Freeman

Posted : 7/29/2007 10:51:49 PM

Thanks Cathy...for your concern! Marley seems to be a little better. He decided to get into his toy bin earlier and he told me when it was 7:00 (because that is dinnertime). The pain killer (they gave me Metacam-I think that's how it's spelled) seems to be helping. He's still swollen though. We'll see how he sleeps tonight. I'll keep everyone updated! [8|]

I think I may try to clean the incision with a clean warm washcloth.

everwood

Posted : 7/30/2007 4:38:36 AM

Hehe, I have two pets currently on Metacam, good stuff.

Be careful about cleaning the incision, did his vet give you any instructions to do so? Usually after the stitches/staples come out, the dog can clean themselves up, unless there is inflammation, redness or swelling, ect. They're only dirty there for a few days and clean isn't always beneficial, especially since the the wash cloth you're using isn't sterile and it's making direct contact with a fresh incision. If you clean him, instead of just monitoring, you/his vet might not be able to tell if/when there is a problem, should one arise.

Anyway, I'm sure Marley will appreciate the decision you made for him, good luck!

Justine Freeman

Posted : 7/30/2007 9:10:59 AM

Thanks for the advice everwood. My dh and I decided to wait and ask the doctor if it is okay for me to clean his wound. So I haven't done anything yet. Although I thought that I do have the squirt water bottle they gave me to clean my episiotomy with...I was thinking I could use that!

Marley seems okay this morning...he's still really swollen still though. I wonder if we should have the vet check it again.

marynh

Posted : 7/30/2007 1:23:34 PM

relax....he'll be fine.
You don't need to clean the incision. You don't want to get his incision wet.
Countless dogs have made it through neteurs and yours will too.
I was a basketcase when Molly was spayed as it had been years since i'd had a dog spayed (Sadie was 12 when I lost her so hadn't had a pup in 12 years). Spaying being more invasive than a neuter, I kept a close eye on her. I know it can be nerve wracking. But Marley will relax if you do [

]

NikoAwesomo

Posted : 7/30/2007 2:08:01 PM

I agree, Marley will be fine. My husband and I had our 9 month old lab neutered when he was only 18 weeks old. The vet told us the earlier the better before "they dropped" (I am told that by a number of folks that dogs can be spayed or neutered as early as 8 to 10 weeks old) but, my husband was a little concerned so we waited until he was 18 weeks old.

Niko, our lab, had a little diarhea and barfed afterward. He was his old self and running around in less than 2 days. We didn't bath him or anything until the stitches were removed.

P.S.
I, of course, was concerned and frantic the whole day until I picked him up.

Thalie

Posted : 7/30/2007 3:11:09 PM

Glad to see that Marley is doing better overall. If he reminds you that it is suppertime and goes around looking for toys, it sounds like he is on the mend.

About the swelling, I have read that there is some more of it when "older" (as opposed to 6 months old) dogs are neutered. I have found a couple of older threads with pictures that show "normal" swelling.

Look here
[linkhttp://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=263716&mpage=1&key=neuter%2Cswelling񀵱]http://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=263716&mpage=1&key=neuter%2Cswelling񀵱[/link]
[linkhttp://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=275523&mpage=1&key=neuter%2Cswelling񃑃]http://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=275523&mpage=1&key=neuter%2Cswelling񃑃[/link]

As long as the incision area does not look "angry", I would say leave it alone unless your vet tells you otherwise. I hope that the swelling decreases in the coming days and that Marley keeps getting better and better.

Marley went in this morning!