My dog has just had spinal surgury
My dog has just had spinal surgury
I am a first time dog owner and she is a 4 year old toy poodle.. she had spinal surgery on the 10th of January, she came home 2 days ago.. but im just wondering if anyone could give me advice or tip on things i can do with her at home to help her threw her recovery.. she is curretly able to stand for a few minute but not yet gettin up on her own she is lookin very down which is probably expected i no i would be if i was in her position.. but im just worried, if anyone could give me advice or tips i would be very grateful
Re: My dog has just had spinal surgury
Hi,
That sounds really good if she can already stand briefly so soon. Did they tell you to keep her on crate rest? Here is some information on crate rest.
http://www.dodgerslist.com/literature/CrateRRP.htm
Was the surgery for a disk problem, and where on her back is the incision?
Is she able to toilet on her own or are you helping her?
I guess she has her sutures out now. Is she still on any kind of medication for pain? She may be down as you say, but likely she is still just feeling pretty uncomfortable while her surgery heals, so you just want to be sure she has adequate pain control. If her prescription runs out and you think she still needs it, I would talk to the vet about it.
One thing that matters to dogs is being near you, and if she is feeling stressed because she can't be near you, you might want to set up crates for her in more than one room, such as next to your bed, and in the room where you spend the most time when at home (your home office, the TV room, the kitchen, or whatever). A crate does not have to be on the floor, it can be up on a table if you are careful to keep it latched. It is also nice if you can put her daytime crate someplace where she can look out a window and watch what is going on.
With such a small dog, you could consider doing some water therapy at home later when the vet approves it (after her rest period is over).
If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to ask, chances are someone here has been through it before.
That sounds really good if she can already stand briefly so soon. Did they tell you to keep her on crate rest? Here is some information on crate rest.
http://www.dodgerslist.com/literature/CrateRRP.htm
Was the surgery for a disk problem, and where on her back is the incision?
Is she able to toilet on her own or are you helping her?
I guess she has her sutures out now. Is she still on any kind of medication for pain? She may be down as you say, but likely she is still just feeling pretty uncomfortable while her surgery heals, so you just want to be sure she has adequate pain control. If her prescription runs out and you think she still needs it, I would talk to the vet about it.
One thing that matters to dogs is being near you, and if she is feeling stressed because she can't be near you, you might want to set up crates for her in more than one room, such as next to your bed, and in the room where you spend the most time when at home (your home office, the TV room, the kitchen, or whatever). A crate does not have to be on the floor, it can be up on a table if you are careful to keep it latched. It is also nice if you can put her daytime crate someplace where she can look out a window and watch what is going on.
With such a small dog, you could consider doing some water therapy at home later when the vet approves it (after her rest period is over).
If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to ask, chances are someone here has been through it before.
Re: My dog has just had spinal surgury
Thanks for your reply.. she is having lots of rest but she isnt in a crate because she was gettin agitated in it so the vets sed to it was okay to keep her out but to make sure there is lots of soft stuff round her..
The op was because of a slipped disc that had ruptured in her back its sort of in the middle to the bottom of her back she is coming on great with her back end and theyve taught me a little physio to do with her and there guna teach me some more on monday and im goin to do some hydro over the weekend one for 10 minutes or so to get her started but the thing thats bothering me it that while she was in the vets she didnt need help weeing and now she seem to have gone down hill i had to take her to the vets for them to empty her and later that night she did one on her own and its been over a day since shes had one but shes hardly drank anything yesterday, should i try make her drink as much as i can and see if she does anthing today or should i take her up to the vets am really not sure and im a bit worried as i was hoping she was goin to do it over night
The op was because of a slipped disc that had ruptured in her back its sort of in the middle to the bottom of her back she is coming on great with her back end and theyve taught me a little physio to do with her and there guna teach me some more on monday and im goin to do some hydro over the weekend one for 10 minutes or so to get her started but the thing thats bothering me it that while she was in the vets she didnt need help weeing and now she seem to have gone down hill i had to take her to the vets for them to empty her and later that night she did one on her own and its been over a day since shes had one but shes hardly drank anything yesterday, should i try make her drink as much as i can and see if she does anthing today or should i take her up to the vets am really not sure and im a bit worried as i was hoping she was goin to do it over night
Re: My dog has just had spinal surgury
And she is near me when im home from work but while im at work i do have sitter to watch her so she is never on her own and all she is doin all day is sleeping bless her.. her pain medican seems to be working she doesnt seem in any pain at she seem so fed up there a big difference shes used to me coming home from work and takon her out for a couple of hour so shes starting to not even look excited that im home i just feel so helpless
Re: My dog has just had spinal surgury
Is she on any kind of anti-inflammatory, like prednisone?
Yes, it would be good to try to get her to drink more water. Some people have tried mixing little chicken broth into the water.
Yes, if she is not urinating, then you probably need to keep taking her to be emptied, and they should show you how to do it so you can do it at home. She needs to be emptied every 8 hours to prevent getting a urinary infection. It is hard to know if she is simply not drinking anything so her bladder is empty, or if she has some urine she is not passing at the moment. When you potty her, do you take her outside to her usual spot? Sometimes that makes a difference (sometimes they do not want to go indoors because they were taught not to).
We have a lot of information here on expressing the bladder. If you look at the end of this article, there are a bunch of videos.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16027
It may be that she was kind if borderline for bladder control while she was at the vet, so there may not have been a huge change, perhaps she has a little swelling from the additional activity at home, I don't know. Or they may have had her on a medication the first 2 weeks, which she is off of now, you might ask them about that.
Yes, it would be good to try to get her to drink more water. Some people have tried mixing little chicken broth into the water.
Yes, if she is not urinating, then you probably need to keep taking her to be emptied, and they should show you how to do it so you can do it at home. She needs to be emptied every 8 hours to prevent getting a urinary infection. It is hard to know if she is simply not drinking anything so her bladder is empty, or if she has some urine she is not passing at the moment. When you potty her, do you take her outside to her usual spot? Sometimes that makes a difference (sometimes they do not want to go indoors because they were taught not to).
We have a lot of information here on expressing the bladder. If you look at the end of this article, there are a bunch of videos.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16027
It may be that she was kind if borderline for bladder control while she was at the vet, so there may not have been a huge change, perhaps she has a little swelling from the additional activity at home, I don't know. Or they may have had her on a medication the first 2 weeks, which she is off of now, you might ask them about that.
Re: My dog has just had spinal surgury
She is on an anti inflammatory.. she didnt go in the garden before we was always out on walks.. weve just finally got her to have a wee in the garden for the first time on her own.. she is standing up quite well but one of her legs isnt workin that well at all.. iv been havin to take her up to vets every day prior to her doin this so they can empty her i asked if they could show me but they said it could rupture her bladder if i dont do it right.. before her op she stopped goin for a wee she went over 24 hours before we finally found a vets that would treat her because all other vets told me i had to put her to sleep but i couldnt because to me she was all there just her back end had stopped so i think she is just having to re learn how to go again.. she will get there hopefully she seems happy in her self though
Re: My dog has just had spinal surgury
If it were me, I'd find a vet willing to teach me to express. Not all vets will do so.