Dog neutering complications

My dog was neutered on Wednesday and the swelling is huge, the scrotum is at least twice the size it was before the operation. The swelling covers his scrotum and the length of the shaft of the penis. The majority of the area is covered by very dark bruising which appears to also be at the top of his legs as well. Ive sent pictures to the vet and although they admit it’s a bad reaction they say it’ll be fine. The vet knew it was bad when I picked him up but only prescribed anti inflammatory meds and I had to go back for pain meds as the dog was whimpering all night and seemed uncomfortable. Am I being overly concerned? Should I wait a few days and see how it goes or should I seek a second opinion?

Hello!   I understand why you are concerned.  I think that you might have encountered a common complication of castration called a haematoma.  I have certainly seen them after my own surgery once or twice.  Somewhere, a blood vessel under the skin of the scrotum is oozing and the blood has filled up the sack.  This comes up as a horrible bruise (a bruise is just blood under the skin) but proving that the blood clots and the bleeding stops (it sounds as though your vet may have checked this), it does tend to go down again surprisingly nicely.  Meanwhile, as you say, they look very sore and pain is a concern.  However, please don't think that your dog has been left without pain medication.  Anti-inflammatories are first and foremost pain-killers;  we give them out post-surgery and for arthritis with that aim in mind.  Most dogs do very well with this but, if the pain is not well enough controlled, vets may need to give a second pain killer such as an opiate on top.  How is your dog doing at the moment?  If you have any remaining concerns at all, I would recommend giving them a call.

Thank you for the quick reply. Hes uncomfortable but I can’t tell how much of that is down to the buster collar. The bruising and swelling don’t appear to be going down yet, although thankfully, it doesn’t appear to be getting worse. He has a a little blood coming from the wound but it appears to be mixed with fluid so watery rather than pure blood. He has a follow up tomorrow so the vet can have a proper look then and decide the next course of action.

Hi - It is likely to take a day or two for the bruising and swelling to start to go down.  It is always better to get a bleeding wound to checked than not, so if there is any chance of bleeding still continuing since your vet last saw a picture, or any sign of lethargy or weakness, then always contact them.

We had him back at the vet today and it looks like infection has set in so they’ve gave him antibiotics. He seems to be in worse pain though and became quite aggressive earlier to the extent that we won’t let him back out of his crate tonight. If he’s the same tomorrow I think he’ll have to go to an emergency vet for a second opinion.