Tips for caring for your pet after surgery

By: Nátaly Londoño Laura

There are many surgical procedures that your dog or cat and yourself, as attendant, may face. We leave you a basic guide with which you will learn to seek your well-being in those moments.

With the care of animals two things happen: there are situations that can be prevented on a daily basis and others in which you have to act on the fly due to the untimely nature of the situation. The same happens with their surgeries, there are some that can be planned ahead of time and others that occur from one day to the next because the dog or cat, for example, ate something that it shouldn’t have or accidentally broke a paw.

AAlthough in the imaginary collective there is only the operating room to prevent pets from reproducing, there are many more procedures that are performed on a recurring basis and that are on the radar of veterinarians and zootechniciansas Paola Ramírez Ospina, a graduate of the CES University, explains: “The surgeries that are most commonly performed in veterinary medical centers are sterilizations, which in females is called ovariohysterectomy (OVH) and in males castration, but there is also extraction of skin masses, there is dental prophylaxis with extraction of pieces when some are already loose, there are surgeries of the digestive tract due to obstruction by foreign bodies, there are eye surgeries to remove it when it is injured and no longer fulfills any function, or there are amputation surgeries of members”.

Whatever the case, following surgery, any accompanying animals should receive special care It depends on the type of procedure, but in general, and citing the most basic, it includes not exercising and doing a good disinfection of the wound three times a day or more if it constantly drains fluid.

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It is important that the owners are very aware of the recommendations in a post-surgical “Because any alteration must be reported immediately in order to have a way to act quickly and with an effective procedure. Whenever we carry out a procedure, we give some basic indications, we deliver a formula in which the basics of medication, treatment and some recommendations are written, and we wait for the owners to comply with them to the letter”, explains Ramírez.

Veterinary doctor María Paula Vélez Montoya adds that “It is essential that people when taking their pet home once more are very attentive to the doctor’s recommendationsboth to the medication or to the indications that are sent home and to the indications for post-surgery check-ups because sometimes one prescribes a medical formula and following two, three days, the owners, seeing that the wound is fine , that the animal is fine, they suspend all the medication or do not take the animal to the subsequent check-up and all this is necessary because we know what is required for a correct healing scheme, and following all these steps are necessary”.

In general terms, and according to Ramírez, there are some basic care that must be taken into account to ensure the well-being of a pet following surgery, take note:

* See that the animal is comfortable and calm.

* Make sure you are eating and drinking the way you are regularly and at will. It is one of the basic principles of animal freedoms. “If suddenly you don’t eat, you have to inform the specialists and then we will give you special feeding guidelines.”

* Ensure that it does not get wet or that it will not get very cold.

* Be aware that the wounds evolve correctly. How is that checked? “That the wound is dry, that it is not too red, that it is not oozing too much fluid, that it does not hurt while it is handled or cleaned.”

* Avoid letting the animal touch the stitches because if they are touched or removed, the wound can become infected, open, etc. How can these points be taken care of? “There are many ways, but it all depends on the type of surgery that has been performed. There are little dresses, there are Elizabethan collars, or bandages can be made in case the wound is on a paw or on the tail”.

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In that same sense, there are some things that can be avoided and that will help the animal more quickly, taking into account that “animals are instinctively hunters, be it dog or cat, in their ancestral nature, they were hunters. What’s happening? Being with a wound, being shaved, being in pain, they can feel vulnerable and that is why they tend to hidenot to be seen, because in nature being in this situation would indicate that they are weak, that they are sick and that they are easy prey,” says Ramírez, who is also known as @dra.pao.vet.

Those things that can be avoided are:

* Let the animal exercise or play at home, since correct wound healing depends on rest.

* Bathe him, because the wound is healing and the dirt from the skin that is being removed during the bath can go into the wound and infect it.

* If it is a dog and is used to pooping and peeing outside the house, take it out on short, very leisurely walks to avoid exaggerated forces.

And what strange behaviors do you have to watch out for, when do you have to go to the vet? Vélez responds: “That depends a lot on the type of surgery that is performed, but I would say that abnormal behavior that worries me following surgery is see that the animal is very downLet’s say that it may be normal for him to feel pain, which is managed with medication, but if I see that even with the medication he is very low, he does not want to eat or if I see him as very quiet, that indicates to me that something is happening and that the inflammatory process or surgery may be getting a bit complicated; if I see that following the procedure you are vomiting a lotThere are some medications, for example, that are managed for pain that can cause vomiting or diarrhea in animals, so if any of these adverse reactions occur, it is better to consult the veterinarian because it may be necessary to change the medication. There is nothing to be gained by giving my dog ​​medication, following surgery if he is throwing up everything; and if there is any change in the wound. At a behavioral level it would be that ”.