Can't keep recently spayed Sheltie calm!

N

Nova

Forums Regular
As I'm sure you all are aware, keeping a Sheltie calm is as impossible as selling a ketchup popsicle to a woman in white gloves.

But Nova just got spayed and I have got to think of something! I keep her with me at all times, sit on the ground with her instead of the couch and leash her to potty but she STILL jumps and wiggles and gets crazy excited just to tell you that she loves you (and the cat).

She also jumps up and down from the bed. She normally sleeps with me in bed but wakes up and jumps down every morning when my roommates get up early in the AM.

Should I try to keep her sleeping on the floor to avoid that? She would be very, very sad/angry/insistent if I tried that.
 
So here's my thing. First, if they are acting nutty, take them off any pain meds. A little bit of pain is not a bad thing to let them know to settle. I do this with myself when I tweak my knee.

Second. My vet claims that the internal wounds are pretty well healed in 48 hours. Our first girl was running agility, minus the a-frame a week after her spay. My Collie was up and down stairs and the bed and the sofa the same day (I told the vet she had to do stairs, so stitch her up good).

I tend to let them do what they are comfortable with, within reason, of course. I also have one of the best veterinary surgeons ever, who spayed my 60 pound Collie with an incision less than two inches long. That helps a lot.
 
I never bothered trying to keep them quiet and calm. It never worked. Both Emma and Liam (and Noah too) jumped off the bed the first night - I had a single bed that was close to three feet high. Emma and Liam never had any pain medication after their fix. Natalie did but she had a more complicated spay. Keep them as quiet as you can but if you can't don't despair. They're Shelties. You can not keep a good Sheltie quiet.
 
I wouldn't go quite as far as Rachael (I'm a worrier), but I would say that a little wiggling and excitement isn't going to hurt the stitches or the incision (except in that rare case where nothing could prevent it anyways).

The worst for us was that Lexi always wanted to play with Bentley and our cat. So, we ended up bringing the x-pen out and she spent about 5-7 days post surgery in the x-pen with walks only. We brought her out on a leash in the house to walk around with us, or we sat in the x-pen with her. It wasn't a fun few days, but at least we felt she was less likely to hurt herself.

I would probably try to discourage her from jumping on or off the bed. That's a pretty big stretch for the abdominal muscles. Does she have a crate? Or can you put the x-pen in your room? When Bentley had surgery my husband slept on the couch next to the x-pen for a day or two. We're in a similar position now because Lexi is hurt and is back to sleeping in the crate. My husband and I "fight" over who has to put her in the crate at night--it's heartbreaking!
 
I crated for two days, outside of some light movement around the house and going to the bathroom. We don't allow her on the bed anyway (always sleeps in her crate at the foot of the bed), but she did have to navigate some pretty long stairs.
 
Missy got spayed last Tuesday and I had an impossible time keeping her quiet too. She was grogy the first day, but the next day she was back to her normal self. She was jumping on the bed, couch, me, and wanted to go play. By the time Friday came around and we went to her last obedience class, she could barely contain her excitement about seeing other dogs and people.

I made a big mistake by taking her to my parents house and my mom and I went to the big dog show in Houston. She played a little too hard with my parents dogs on Saturday and got a seroma next to her incision, which is basically a fluid filled lump. It went down by Monday, but the vet and I both decided it would be a good idea to keep her quiet a few days longer, even though he originally said a week. It's very hard keeping an active puppy not active, which is why I had put off her spay as long as I could.

I think the normal jumping and wiggling is fine, but I wouldn't let her run really hard outside or anything. Although, Missy might just be a special case!
 
Minnie was spayed yesterday and we were told to keep the elizabethan collar on until her stitches are remove. She absolutely hates the collar and has been dashing around the house. Did not manage to prevent her from jumping up and down the couch too! She refuses to play with her toys though.

She is sleepy most of the time but her whining makes me sad. Hope she gets better soon!
 
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