Dog Neutering/Pain relief question....

[Boobs]

I hope somebody can help me here. We just got back from the vet's with our dog. The office was so busy, I didn't get any time to talk to the vet or find out what to do with him now. No cone & no pain meds of any kind. Can I give him Tylenol or Aleve? I made him a makeshift cone out of a cardboard box and so far it's working, but I'm afraid it won't after he really perks up.

[jlutgendorf]

he doesn't need a cone unless he refuses to leave his incision alone.

I wouldn't give him people meds without a vets advice. I know some people pain killers are deadly to dogs and cats. The pain also keeps him from being crazy and opening his wound.

Neuters seem to be much easier to recover from. Both our male cats acted like they hadn't even had surgery less than a day after the operation. Not sure if the same will hold true for dogs.

~Julia

[thekimballs]

No cone, no pain meds necessary.

[The Harpy]

Our old girl is 10 and when she is in pain from her hips the vet tells me to give her 1 low dose aspirin to a max of 3 per week. NO tyenol or advil, they are not ok for animals.

And unless you see pain I wouldn't treat for it. Neither of my dogs required cones or pain meds after spaying or neutering.

[thekimballs]

After surgery, pain is GOOD. It keeps the animal still. Take away the pain and the animal could injure itself or open the stitches. So let him hurt--it will only be maybe two days before he's back to normal.

[Aries1985]

Yep, my animals have never needed any pain meds after neutering/spaying.

[avnlavnlavnl]

Yep, you don"t need a cone unless they lick it a lot. Just keep an eye on the incision. Mine had pain meds but they didn't do much (she seemed almost fine by the next day already!) The first day she slept a lot.

[UptownZoo]

We use the crate a lot after spay/neuter surgery. Keeps 'em still so they don't open the incision, esp. when they're young and rowdy. We've only had one dog that needed a cone, and have never needed meds for any of them.

[cadydid]

Originally Posted by thekimballs

After surgery, pain is GOOD. It keeps the animal still. Take away the pain and the animal could injure itself or open the stitches. So let him hurt--it will only be maybe two days before he's back to normal.

Absolutely wrong.

Pain increases stress, which causes the body to release cortisol, which DELAYS healing. Studies have shown that animals (and people for that matter) heal better when their pain is adequately controlled. Pain in animals is hard to assess, since they can't exactly point to a frowny face. There are books written on this subject, but we err on the side of safety in our practice. I'd rather have an animal too comfortable than uncomfortable. Would you like to have surgery without pain meds?

From an ethical standpoint, still wrong. This notion of "keeping animals quiet" or "animals don't feel pain like people" is about 20 years out of date. Veterinarians have been brought in front of licensing boards and been censured for failing to provide adequate pain control to their patients.

[oneKnight]

Considering you didn't cite your source (for healing better without pain) I'm going to argue based on my personal experience. I heal better when I feel like shit and therefore stay home from work and stay in bed. I get sicker or hurt worse if I try to take meds and force myself to go to work. Allowing the dog to feel bad enough to stay in bed is fine, based on my own personal experience.

Especially when we're talking about a 1-2 day recovery time for a neuter, now if the dog was hit by a car and had all kinds of problems and expected to be in pain for weeks. . . that would be a different story.
I know my cat never acted in pain from his neuter, he was sitting on his butt & boy parts the day after surgery without hesitation. He was more sick from the anesthesia - so why would I give him more medications if the first ones made him sick?

[Boobs]

Thanks for the replies. We were able to get a cone from a family member late last night because he wouldn't leave the stitches alone. He doesn't seem to be in too much pain, today.

[gealach]

I'm going to stay out of the pain meds debate, but I'll post my vet's trick for abdominal stitches in case your dog doesn't like the cone but still won't leave the stitches alone (a little licking is okay, just not obsessively). Sometimes, depending on the make/model of the dog, you can put a human t-shirt on the pup and tie it in a knot above the back to keep the stitches covered and decrease licking. Just make sure the fabric doesn't rub the incision site and cause more irritation. Come to think of it, this trick might not work so well on a neutering situation, since that is pretty near the hind quarters, but it is worth a shot.

[mamamilkers]

I never ended up giving my dog her pain meds for her spay and thanks to the advice here and from my mother (who is a very knowledgable breeder) I didn't use the cone, either.

I was also told by my mother that pain meds can be detrimental because it makes the dog feel better ad therefor more apt to do things that can hurt the sutures.

I wish I would have known better when I picked my dog up from the vet, I wouldn't have paid the money for the cone OR the pain meds!

[cadydid]

So if your child had major abdominal surgery, you would decline any pain meds? Really?

My information on the physiology of stress and healing is dead on. It is wrongwrongwrong to keep an animal in pain for your own convenience.

I was helping out at our local shelter this morning, so I checked in with them, and even the shelter, doing low cost spays and neuters, gives animals analgesia preop, postop, and sends them home with meds (cat neuters excluded - we typically give opioids pre and post op but don't send them home with anything...I agree they're typically fine.

[cadydid]

Handbook of Veterinary Anesthesia, Second Edition, Muir et. al.
"Once considered acceptable, physical restraint, sedation, hypnotics, and inhalation anesthesia are no longer appropriate unless pain is considered and treated. This is particularly true for pain in the perioperative period. Apprehension and stress produced by fear can initiate a variety of potentially deleterious neurohumoral reactions, in addition to sensitizing both the peripheral and central nervous system to noxious stimuli...The optimal treatment of pain is to preempt the establishment of pain and pain hypersensitivity before, during, and after surgery."

Kirk's Current Veterinary Therapy XIII, Bonagura
"Pain management in veterinary medicine has improved significantly since cage confinement alone was an accepted method of pain control. Recent advances in the understanding of the pathophysiology, recognition, and management of pain have underscored the importance of providing adequate pain relief in veterinary patients. It is no longer acceptable to leave a painful animal untreated on the premise that the discomfort will prevent excessive movement and additional injury."

That took me 5 minutes with just the books at home. A literature search is going to come up with a ton of articles saying the exact same thing.

Anyone want to cite some texts or studies showing that animals should be kept in pain? Because I didn't notice any citations on those statements.

It's nice that a previous poster has a knowledgeable breeder for a mother. I don't claim to be the best veterinarian in practice, but I do have a full year of classes in physiology and pharmacology, a semester of anesthesiology, rotations in small and large animal surgery and anesthesia, 10 years + of clinical practice, 20 years + working in the industry in some capacity, and subscriptions to about 5 different journals to keep me updated on the latest research. I think breeders can be amazing sources of information on their breeds, and I would never hesitate to send someone to a good breeder if they're interested in getting a particular kind of dog. But does your average breeder know more than your average veterinarian about physiology? No.

[graceomalley]

Our vet didn't mention pain meds or a cone when we had our boy neutered. He was slow and cautious for 24 hours, and he did some very gentle licking of his wound starting at about 48 hours. He was fine.

[boricuaqueen327]

I work at an AAHA clinic and by AAHA (American Animal Hospital Association) standards pain management must be part of post-operative care. We send every post-operative patient home on pain medications or make sure they received an injectable form of pain control that will last several days such as metacam. If it were my dog I would request pain medications for him.

[oneKnight]

Pain meds that last several days? Given injectable whithout anyone telling me? I'm starting to really reconsider getting my girl spayed next month.

[rozzie'sma]

My dog was neutered Thursday and was chasing after my 3 year old Friday evening. I am sure he is a little tender but I have not noticed any difference in his activity level

[boricuaqueen327]

Pain medications must always be approved by the owners first. Where in my post did i say that we gave them without permission? if owners refuse pain medications they have to sign an AMR, nothing is eve done without permission. The vet or the vet techs should go over their procedures with you before the surgery so you can ask questions about pain meds, etc.