We love our dogs more than anything, after all they're our babies right? Having them neutered is a very common procedure that most owners do whether this be for the health benefits or just to be responsible.
When it came to having my girl Chilli spayed I was clueless, nervous and extremely worried about keeping her home for 10 days post-surgery because she is a pure firecracker. On the daily, she practically does parkour around the house, nearly clearing the sofa with her jumps and bouncing off the walls (you may have seen on our Insta stories) so when i was told she would need to be inside for 10 days with limited movements to avoid ripping her stitches I instantly thought mission impossible.
So I did research online and asked our friends and Instagram followers for advice, especially regarding enrichment to at least keep her mentally stimulated if she couldn't do physical activities. I had several people curious about what I found out so I thought I’d share the tips, ideas and full experience with Chilli.
THE SURGERY ITSELF
With the surgery you would expect that to be simple, you want them neutered… done. Nope! Even that came with choices. There was the procedure on its own plus the optional add-ons of a blood test beforehand and/or an intravenous drip for before, during and after the procedure. A blood test is done to assess their cells and find any abnormalities that may affect the surgery. The drip is given to help stabilise their blood pressure and put less strain on their organs. I did an insta poll to see what others opted for and this was the results:
We ended up having the procedure and the drip, totally against the poll I know, but we decided with Chilli only being young and coming from a very reputable breeder who thoroughly tested their health we felt a blood test was unnecessary. The total cost for this was around £380.
She arrived at the vets at around 9:45 am, she had her procedure done about 1pm, went into recovery around 2:20pm and came home at 6pm. My poor baby, in there longer than a full day's shift bless her.
AFTER SURGERY
The advice we were given was to set her up close to us to make sure she’s comfortable and told she would likely just want to sleep it off for the 1st day or 2. People said they used a tshirt or baby grow for a few to avoid them ripping the stitches. The vet also told us options for this so I decided to ask Insta again…Poll results:
We couldn’t decide on this one so went with all of the above to cover all bases but this wasn’t necessary really, the recovery suit alone would have been fine.
We slept downstairs with her and luckily have doors to our stairs so we closed them to stop her going upstairs. We had a sofa bed downstairs at the time as we had just moved and were waiting for our permanent one to come still so had it pulled out but not up to create a step to the sofa for if she tried in the night. Which she didn’t but hey ho.
DAY BY DAY
Day 1 - We took her home and she just wore her recovery suit. She was out of it and just slept
Day 2 - She ate a good amount of food, had a furry rabbit ear then slept. She started trying to lick the wound on the night so needed the inflatable collar on 
Day 3 - The cone wasn’t needed and she got her wits about her again
Day 6 - I rang the vets as I was scared she was depressed, she was refusing to move even to eat, drink or go for a wee and they told me she likely has separation anxiety due to the op which can be common. Dog dad left for Bali on day 2 so this likely impacted this (poor baby). Typically, by the evening she was back to her crazy self
Day 7 - We went for a walk requested by hers truly by barking at the front door
Day 11 - She was finally healed enough to remove the recovery suit
NOW FOR THE FUN PART - ENRICHMENT
All of the suggestions included:
- Buzzers/ talking buttons
- Lick mat
- Snuffle mat
- Wobble bowl
- Kong
- Frozen snacks
- Long lasting bones
- Nose work/sniffing games - hide a treat, hide toys (in a small area to limit movement)
- Crate when going crazy (something we couldn’t do as Chilli goes bat sh*t crated and ends up making herself sick)
I bought her:
- Kong dental ball from Amazon
- Puff and play yeti refills from Waggs and Whiskers (we already had the toy)
- Selection of yaks
- Mango and Pear fruit pouches from Aldi for lick mats (be sure to check labels to make sure no additives just purely fruit)
- Big box of goodies from Barneys Doggy Treats
- Raw food from The Slobbery Dog
We didn’t actually use many of these until after she recovered because she slept most of the time but I'd definitely recommend them all. Really for the actual recovery what worked best was advice from @bella_the_retriever21 for me to stay calm and she would follow suit. So I stayed chilled with her and she pretty much just chilled too which was EXTREMELY surprising but hey if you're worried about your crazy pooch then trust me, it is possible.
Stay groovy guys,
Love Paige & Crazy Chilli x
