Spays, or ovariohysterectomies, are one of the most common surgeries in veterinary medicine, and most young female dogs are encouraged to be spayed to prevent pregnancy and disease later in life. We’ve written multiple articles about the benefits of spaying, the different types of spay and even alternatives to spaying. So today we thought we would focus more on the post-surgery period.
Your dog has just come back from her spay operation, tired, but happy to be home. What should you do – and what do you need to do? How long until she is back to normal? Can you walk her off the lead after spaying?
Table of contents
- Wounds and Wound Healing
- The inflammatory phase is the body’s response within the first hours after a wound is made
- The debridement phase is where the body removes all damaged or dead (necrotic) tissue from the wound
- The proliferation phase is the stage of healing where the wound starts to close
- The maturation phase is the final step in wound healing
- Factors Affecting Wound Healing
- Exercising Post-Spay
- Some veterinary practices offer laparoscopic, or keyhole, spays.
- Other Post-Op Considerations
- Final Thoughts
- You might also be interested in:
Wounds and Wound Healing
Understanding how your dog will recover from her spay means learning about wounds and how they heal. There are many different kinds of wounds; surgical cuts made with a scalpel, like the cut into a dog’s abdomen during a spay, are a kind of wound as well. We class them as ‘incisional’ wounds. Incisional wounds tend to have low trauma (more on this later). We also classify wounds based on how dirty they are. Surgical wounds should always be clean. All wound healing follows roughly the same steps.
There are four phases of wound healing: inflammatory; debridement; proliferation; maturation.
The inflammatory phase is the body’s response within the first hours after a wound is made
Its duration can vary from 3-5 days or longer. Blood vessel constriction near the wound reduces bleeding and helps blood clots form. Blood vessel dilation elsewhere promotes blood flow to the wound – blood carries inflammatory cells to prevent infection and clotting factors to encourage clots to form. The wound tends to be moist, hot and red during this phase.
The debridement phase is where the body removes all damaged or dead (necrotic) tissue from the wound
This leaves behind a healthy layer of tissue to heal from. Immune cells are the main component of debridement, though vets can also hasten this stage by manually debriding necrotic tissue with a scalpel or sterile water. Necrotic tissue looks black. Generally, a spay is low trauma, producing little to no necrosis, so the debridement stage should be short. It also takes place 3-5 days post-wound.
The proliferation phase is the stage of healing where the wound starts to close
Once the tissue is healthy post-debridement, new tissue is slowly deposited along the wound edge, closing the damage. It is a very sensitive stage, and any complications can lead to slower healing or even breakdown of the wound. Proliferation also involves new blood vessels growing to supply the new tissue. The wound will generally be dry and pink during this stage, usually around 4-12 days.
The maturation phase is the final step in wound healing
This involves replacing the temporary tissue covering a wound with stronger permanent tissue. It can take weeks, months or even years for this phase to be complete, leaving a scar. Even after maturation is complete, the wound may never be as strong as the tissue was before damage. One medical paper commonly cited advises that a wound is only 10% as strong at 14 days, 25% in 4 weeks, and 80% in a few months; this is important to remember.
Factors Affecting Wound Healing
There are many factors that affect wound healing: disrupting, slowing or stopping one of the phases.
One of the most important is the cleanliness of the wound
Any foreign material in a wound, such as dirt, hair or vegetation, will cause an immune reaction that can slow down healing. Furthermore, much of this material is covered in bacteria which causes increased inflammation. The body supplies immune cells to prevent infection disrupting the healing process. As surgeons, we reduce the risk of wound contamination by shaving your dog’s abdomen and scrubbing it until it is sterile. We also wear sterile clothing and wash our hands thoroughly before surgery – because of this preparation, antibiotics are rarely needed for clean surgeries.
The size of the wound and the amount of trauma affects wound healing too
When a wound is made, blood supply to the area is damaged, resulting in bleeding. These blood vessels must be regrown before healing is complete. The bigger the wound, the more vessels that must be regrown and the slower the healing. Some wounds are more traumatic than others, resulting in increased damage to the blood supply, even if the wound size isn’t that big. If the blood supply is disrupted too much, the tissue can die, resulting in necrosis and prolonged debridement. We reduce trauma by using very sharp scalpels and creating as small a wound as possible. We also try to cut directly in the middle of the abdomen, where the blood supply is smaller, thus less damage can be done.
Wound movement and tension are also important for healing
Every time the two sides of a wound move, healing is disrupted. The more movement, the more disruption and the slower the healing. Tension works in a similar way – if a wound is under a lot of tension, it will be more likely to open up. The larger the opening, the slower the healing, as above. So vets must minimise both movement and tension by holding the wound together with suture material. However, home care is also critical for this as well, as we will discuss later.
Other factors affecting wound healing include:
The management of the wound, the health of the animal, drug use (steroids slow down healing), the location of the wound (abdominal wounds, like spay wounds, tend to heal quickly compared to wounds on the limbs) and many more.
Exercising Post-Spay
Here we move from theory into practice, applying the knowledge of wound healing to reduce complications and reduce healing time.
Exercise results in movement
And we know that movement leads to slowing of healing, skin tension and potentially wound breakdown. In the immediate 1-5 days post-op, you shouldn’t walk your dog at all, save for a walk round the garden to toilet. Keep them confined in the house and prevent them jumping up or down. You may wish to carry them up and down stairs if they are quite boisterous. Some dogs seem to mentally recover immediately and are bouncy and energetic – remember that they still have a fresh wound and it must be rested.
Most veterinary practices advise a post-op check around 3-5 days after surgery
If the wound looks good then, you may be able to start walking your dog outside again. We advise keeping them on a lead and only for a few minutes to start. A good tip is to add five minutes to each walk every day or two, until they are walking their normal duration. Again, prevent them getting too bouncy during the walk. Most practices recommend that by 2 weeks post-surgery they can be walked as normal – however, remember that by 2 weeks their wound may only be 10% as strong as before, so we would still urge caution. To be on the safe side it may be sensible to lead walk up to a month post-surgery before allowing them to run around.
Some veterinary practices offer laparoscopic, or keyhole, spays.
We have discussed these before. One of the major reported advantages to laparoscopic spays is the recovery time – some vets say that a dog can be back to normal in a week. Certainly, because “lap spays” result in smaller wounds, the healing time should be reduced. However, any excess movement can cause delay, and don’t forget the internal wounds to the reproductive organs are still present in lap spays. Thus, it is sensible to stick to the 2 week rest period before letting your dog act as normal, even with lap spays.
Other Post-Op Considerations
There are other important things you need to manage once your dog is home.
The first is pain or discomfort
After a surgery, your dog will be sore. Most dogs go home with pain relief, commonly a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. NSAIDs are important to reduce inflammation, which slows healing directly, and pain, which may cause your dog to lick the wound. It’s also not good welfare to leave a dog in pain! Pain relief should be provided for around a week post-surgery, potentially longer if they are still sore.
On the topic of licking, it is really important you stop your dog licking their wound
Dogs’ mouths are not clean places, and each lick introduces bacteria to the wound, contaminating it and slowing healing. Licking can also open the wound by breaking the stiches. Unless your dog is very disciplined, we advise they wear a Elizabethan collar/”cone of shame”/buster collar, or a pet shirt, to cover the wound up. Again, adequate pain relief and distraction techniques will reduce the desire to lick,
You should monitor the wound, as well as your dog herself, in the immediate post-operative period
Try to avoid touching the wound (if it gets dirty, you can gently clean it with cold boiled water, or salt water if it isn’t sore), but inspect it daily. If it looks overly red or bruised, is oozing or has pus, the stitches are loose, or it just doesn’t seem right, contact your vet. Also ensure your dog is bright, eating, drinking and toileting well, is not painful and wants to exercise – if any of these things aren’t normal, there could be complications brewing.
Don’t forget to attend your post-op appointments
These are really important so a vet or vet nurse can assess the wound and advise how long healing may take. Some spays may also need external stitches removed during one of these appointments.
Final Thoughts
So to answer today’s question you should definitely keep your dog on a lead for the first two weeks post-surgery, potentially up to a month. Gradually reintroduce their normal exercise until it is safe for them to be off the lead. Even then, be cautious and check their wound regularly. It is better to err on the side of caution and restrict movement a bit longer than risk wound breakdown and a potential second surgery!
We have also learnt today how wounds heal, what affects their healing, as well as other important post-operative care for a dog spay. Remember, your own vet will have the most tailored advice, so please speak to them before you book your dog in for a spay.
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