# Spay incision healing progress (pics)



## PeggyTheParti

Thank you for this!


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## Porkchop

You’re very welcome!


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## PeggyTheParti

Just looking at those photos made me itchy! We ask a lot of our pups not to bite and scratch at their healing wounds.


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## FloofyPoodle

Wow! Looks like it healed quite nicely! Thanks for taking the time to do this!


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## Porkchop

PeggyTheParti said:


> Just looking at those photos made me itchy! We ask a lot of our pups not to bite and scratch at their healing wounds.


I almost needed a cone for myself, I wished I could scratch for her, lol.



FloofyPoodle said:


> Wow! Looks like it healed quite nicely! Thanks for taking the time to do this!


You’re welcome! I had a hard time finding pictures like this of healing progress online. It helps to know what to expect. Her incision isn’t the tidy kind I’m used to seeing on humans at work so I wanted other people to see what’s normal.


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## Porkchop

Here’s an update on her incision. Not good. Once the cone was gone she started licking her incision occasionally. I recently noticed the top of the incision was swelling a bit, and then more swollen the next day. So it’s back to the cone. I was so excited for her to be done with it. I sent an email with the pics to my vet to see what they say on Monday.


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## Fenris-wolf

Hoping for good news🙏


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## Porkchop

Here’s a pic from today. The swelling has gone down a lot but now there is a knot of clear and blue sutures sticking out from the top of her incision. Lacey is acting normal, eating, drinking, peeing, and pooping. 

thanks, fenris-wolf. I will keep you posted.


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## FloofyPoodle

Looks like maybe her body is just pushing out the stitches/is scarring? Misty got a tick bite a while back, and I left the head in by accident when I pulled it 🤦‍♀️. She had something similar around the bite, but the vet said she was fine. The head popped out shortly after. I’d still take her to the vet to make sure there is no infection or anything else, but since she’s eating, drinking, and pottying fine (and presumably not running a fever), I wouldn’t worry too much. 

And no more licking, Miss Lacey!


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## Porkchop

Floofypoodle, sounds similar to my vet’s reply. Thankfully she wasn’t having any signs of infection at the incision site, but I was concerned she’d have to wear the e collar for another two weeks! The vet’s reply:


“The little suture knot is causing some irritation. You can gently pull it, it may have dissolved enough to come out, or we can snip the knot off. You can put a little triple antibiotic (like neosporin) on it as well. If you want us to snip the knot off for you, let me know and we can find a time to do it tomorrow.”

I tried gently pulling the suture knot and unsurprisingly it wasn’t dissolved enough to come out. I’ve heard it can take months to dissolve. But there was enough extra sticking out that I felt comfortable snipping it off myself with sharp, disinfected scissors. I attached a pic. The next pic is immediately after I removed the suture knot. I stopped using the e collar right away, but I did spray bitter apple on the area to discourage licking. It’s a few days later the incision is looking good and she hasn’t messed with it.


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## Toffee the toy poodle

This is very useful! Thank you so much. Ours will be getting spayed soon. I've bookmarked this as a reference point.

Hope she continues to do well. Stay pawsome~~


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## PeggyTheParti

This is all so helpful. I'm glad her little complication wasn't a big deal and she's feeling good.


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## Porkchop

I’m so glad you guys are finding this helpful. I hope this thread eases the nerves a little and helps you feel more prepared. 

Yes, I’m thankful Lacey’s suture problem was simple and easily taken care of at home. I wasn’t even aware that could happen. From here on out assume no news is good news!


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## Raindrops

Wow she's looking so good! It's amazing how quickly they go back to normal even with a rough looking post op site.


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## Bboi

How long did you keep the cone on for?


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## Rose n Poos

Hi and welcome!

Until Porkchop sees this I'll say that it's going to depend greatly on the dog, whether spay or neuter. Another member recently had her girl spayed and didn't need the cone at all but they were super vigilant with her. With my boys neuter, we used the "cloud collar" style. We left them on for maybe a couple of days, to see how much they tried to get at the site. After that, and since we were almost always with them, we left the collars off unless we had to leave the house without them.

An option to the cone is a onesie or "recovery suit" which will keep the pup out of the surgical site.

This site goes over a few brands with pro's and cons. Dog surgery onesie - Best, 2020 | Post-op care - Furry Friends Gear

If your pup is the right size, a human infant onesie _might _be adapted.


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## Porkchop

For post op days 1-10 I used a cone. During the day a blow up donut style cone and a night a bigger diameter soft cone. I used a recovery suit for post op days 7-11 and she tolerated it until the 11th day. She started biting at the crotch area and stretching it out! She had enough of it. So I put her back in the cone until it had been 14 days. 

I also bought her cones ahead of time to prepare. I did short training sessions with both styles I bought and gave lots of treats. She never had any problems with wearing the cone. She even seemed to like the blow up one.
Lacey is definitely the type who would insistently lick and try to do it inconspicuously, so that’s why she got the cone for the full two weeks. 


If you’d like to read a little about her recovery and see pics of her in both styles of cone as well as the recovery suit, check out my other thread.








Lacey’s spay is tomorrow, just wanted to check in


Hey poodle fam. I just wanted to check in and air out my thoughts. I’m feeling a little emotional. I’ll be fine once it’s over. Lacey is being spayed tomorrow (3 days before her 1st birthday). I’m sad at the thought of removing healthy organs that serve a function to her body, even if they...




www.poodleforum.com


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## Rebel1994

Porkchop said:


> Here’s pics of Lacey’s spay incision healing process day by day for 2 weeks.


Thank you for sharing this, but it looks nothing like my little girls wound. She looks like she already is almost all the way healed and she just had hers done Monday. It was red Monday and Tuesday but by Wednesday the redness was gone I have kept a cone on her unless she is eating. When she eats I take it off or else she won’t eat. I try not to leave the cone off for long cause she likes to try to go for the incision, which I’m glad they used glue on the outside instead of stitches cause she would have tore them out.


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