Subtle indications of pain

[Calliesmom]

Callie had an ear infection around New Year's. rubbed her head on everything- mostly the couch- also scratched at her head/ear a lot. got her to the vet and got it taken care of. The UTI she had- nothing noticeable except that she went in the house which she had never done since she came home. She was at the vet the next day and the meds cleared her up.

 

[BarbV]

Well, with Indy just coming out of his stomach surgery on Saturday....

These pups are stoic! My vet told me once that Shelties have a very high pain threshold.

But clearly his pain was more than what a female pup would experience with with spay. Heck, he's got staples in his belly! That's gotta hurt!

It took until today for Indy to finally start to act like himself again. He seems to have stopped the funny "twitching" and is handling stairs tolerably well. He even jumped off the bed this morning (my stomach clenched when he did that)

He seems to have stopped staring at me with baleful eyes. But he does sleep more than usual still.

btw - for the vets out there - why are staples used sometimes instead of disolvable stiches?

 

[corbinam]

btw - for the vets out there - why are staples used sometimes instead of disolvable stiches?

That's a good question. Bentley came home with staples after his neuter (he was cryptorchid) and Lexi has dissolvable stitches under her surgical glue.

 

[Justicemom]

Surgical staples are quicker to apply 1-2 mins vs 10-15 mins for long incsions. It shortens the anestheia length in an already long surgery. They are usually harder from the dog to mess(remove)with and hold better which is nice for long incisions. Also it gives added strength layer to long incision.

Usually in most abdominal surgeries ie spay, you have the abdominal wall layer ,a SQ fat layer, and subcuticular skin layer. This brings most incision almost comletely closed. Glue any gaps closed. If you want to add strength or if they are still big gaps or tension add the external sutures or staples.