# Stomach tacking



## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I have not opted for gastropexy for our spoos, but plenty of people here have with no problems. You do need to have a plan in place for keeping him quiet after the neutering with or without the other procedure anyway.


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## Countryboy (May 16, 2011)

I wouldn't hesitate for a minute over the 'pexy. 

It never bothered Tonka really. I dressed him in an old T-shirt and tied it up around the hindquarters. He wore that quite calmly for a week or so. 

Don't let it get to the Emergency Gastropexy or Die situation.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

Yes, I had Frosty done and it went absolutely smoothly as if he had just been neutered. He was just tired and sore for the first day (he was on good pain meds, which I always insist on), then he was fine. Since he had laser surgery, he only needed 5 days of rest before he was approved for returning to exercise!


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## Mufar42 (Jan 1, 2017)

Well I was just to scared about the recovery and about tacking his stomach. Renn was neutered on the 15th of this month. At first I was really upset that I even had that done. He was so red, his whole tummy was blood red I was sure I was going to have a problem. He also wanted to lick himself so I had to go get a cone, in fact two cones. The first one worked well enough but he learned it was quite flexible and he could get at his stitches to lick so Ihad to get the bigger size, which he hated and so did I as he bumped into everything. But after 4 days of it , probably really the 3rd day. the cone went away as well as all the redness. Today would be day 12 and you can only see the stitches some but other than that perfectly normal. So I probably should have had him tacked at the same time I just worry to much. Its funny I never did in the past must be something about having a poodle.


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## Olaf_standardpoodle (Mar 9, 2018)

Thank you for the reply’s everyone! I’m feeling better about having this done for my boy! I will definitely find an old t shirt for him that is a great idea! I’ll be glad to put this behind us and he can live a happy healthy life and I won’t worry about his tummy twisting if ever does bloat! ❤❤


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## galofpink (Mar 14, 2017)

We had the pexy done on Shae with little issue. A little bit longer recovery than only a spay with a few extra cautions, but I didn’t find that it was really a big deal.

The surgery went well (was pretty quick for a spay & pexy, with no complications) and she was home same day, mid afternoon. For a super rambunctious young dog, I was surprised (and pleased) when she barely moved off the couch for three days. 

The only small “issue” we had was a little bit of seepage from her stitches, which just meant wiping it up and keeping it clean. Her stitches did take nearly 6 mos to heal (that’s not normal) since the incisions kept pulling apart a bit. My vet was never too concerned about it and played the wait and see approach unless an infection developed. I was very careful to pay attention to the incisions and keep them clean. Looking back, I think I would have insisted on them restitching the incision a month post op to get it to heal quicker. I didn’t really think it would take 6 months to heal up so didn’t want her to have to have the incision recut and redden. Shae was very lean going into surgery so I think she lacked extra tissue around the incisions which was what caused them to pull apart like they did.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

Olaf_standardpoodle said:


> Thank you for the reply’s everyone! I’m feeling better about having this done for my boy! I will definitely find an old t shirt for him that is a great idea! I’ll be glad to put this behind us and he can live a happy healthy life and I won’t worry about his tummy twisting if ever does bloat! ❤❤


I would also recommend you get a hard cone collar, just in case it is needed. It is the safest way to keep them from licking their stitches. Sure, it's not the most comfortable, but they get used to it, and it's the most foolproof protection.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

galofpink said:


> We had the pexy done on Shae with little issue. A little bit longer recovery than only a spay with a few extra cautions, but I didn’t find that it was really a big deal.
> 
> The surgery went well (was pretty quick for a spay & pexy, with no complications) and she was home same day, mid afternoon. For a super rambunctious young dog, I was surprised (and pleased) when she barely moved off the couch for three days.
> 
> ...


Oh, man, what an ordeal  I'm sorry you and Shae went through that. Frosty had some scary looking incisions when he came home, but they healed really fast and you can't see the scars today.


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## galofpink (Mar 14, 2017)

zooeysmom said:


> Oh, man, what an ordeal  I'm sorry you and Shae went through that. Frosty had some scary looking incisions when he came home, but they healed really fast and you can't see the scars today.




Thanks ZM; I didn’t find it to be too big of a deal, I’m used to seeing stomach ties in cows (they bloat like poodles on occasion) often enough and they always looked much worse than Shae. 

The incisions looked great coming home, not nasty or anything and there’s no scarring today either. The incisions never bothered Shae, the one was just a bit open in one section. Not a big deal really, just something I’d do a bit different. 

So OP/Olaf, don’t get scared, just if your incisions don’t heal up, within a month, I wouldn’t wait like I did.


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## SpinningBunnyFluff (Feb 9, 2018)

I wish I'd have known about the preventative plexi, as it would have been a much easier surgery to recover from than the emergency surgery. We had some issues post op, that has more to do with the fact that Snow is a licker and too smart for his own good. He was able to work around the first two cones to lick at his wound and managed to get it infected. He broke the 1st and 3rd cone. In the end what worked best was an old t-shirt to cover most of the incision followed by a doggie onesie that covered the entire incision. Even with all these issues his wound was completely closed after about three weeks. It's still healing, but so much better now. 

Since you have a pretty active poodle you might want to skip the whole cone thing and go straight for a onesie. Order it now so that you can start using it right away instead of having to purchase and cone or make due with a t-shirt in the meantime. Of course since this is planned surgery you probably won't have nearly as extensive an incision to deal with, so a t-shirt may be plenty of length to cover it.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

Spinning, they can still bite the incision with a T-shirt. Not all dogs will, of course, but it is very possible. How did your dog destroy a hard cone? I've been through dozens of spays/neuters and that has never happened, even with my wild child, Maizie. I still say hard cone is by far the _safest_ option, but I think I've made my point and the OP can make their own decision.


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## Olaf_standardpoodle (Mar 9, 2018)

Thanks so much for all the replys!! I am so glad I have opted for this surgery with his neuter. I am going to use a hard cone like suggested to be safe and I also bought a dog onesie surgical suite on chewy which should be here any day now. I will definitely take the advice on watching the incision and keeping it clean, and have it restitched after a month if it pulls apart. I was hoping my vet did the laser surgery but I asked yesterday and they do not. However they did say the incision should still be on the small side. I’m hoping for the best for my baby olaf and I will send you all updates when he is on the mend!!! ?


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## rkj__ (Dec 24, 2017)

Willard got his stomach tacked laparoscopically. It went very well. He was tired and sore for a couple days, but quickly returned to himself. The trickiest part was keeping him from running withing the recovery period. We had to keep him on leash 100% of the time when outdoors.


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## Eclipse (Apr 26, 2010)

*Stomach Tacking*



Olaf_standardpoodle said:


> Hello-
> 
> My spoo Olaf is getting neutered on feb 11th and we also opted to have his stomach tacked for preventative purposes. I am very worried about this upcoming surgery. Has anyone else here had their dogs stomach tacked and did you have any issues with recovery? Olaf is a very rambunctious and highly energetic dog. I am worried about keeping him still post surgery.
> 
> Any advice for this worried dog mom will be appreciated!


Both of my girls had a gastropexy when they were spayed. I lost my first Standard to bloat and torsion many years ago and never want to go through that again so if there is anything I can do to reduce risks I am all for it. A dog that is tacked can still bloat (which is still a medical emergency and you need to seek immediate veterinary attention), but should not torsion, and it will give you precious extra time to get to the vet. Both of my dogs are very high drive and active. It was easier with the first one since it was only her at home. When I had my second one done I had to also contend with the fact that they liked to play rough together in addition to the usual high energy. I was just firm with both about playing around and only leash walked them for 3 weeks or so, no zoomies in the yard, etc., that way the adhesions could really heal and get strong. I also kept them out of agility class for way longer than when cleared to resume by my vet, probably for a good 7-8 weeks, I didn't want to take any chances they could fall off a dog walk, bail a contact or twist the wrong way over a jump and pull anything loose. I have never had any issues with them related to the pexy. I don't know how old your dog will be at the time he is neutered, but I will note I don't spay my girls until they go through a heat, which for them was around 18 months. Both were around 20 months when they were spayed and pexied and their stomachs were fully grown. I myself would not do a pexy on a dog whose stomach was not fully grown. I would also note that the vet who is doing the surgery should be familiar with doing it. Not all vets are, some do very few of them. My vet used to be the medical director of one of the local 24 hour emergency practices and did many of them over the years so was very used to performing the procedure and I felt confident having her do it.


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## SpinningBunnyFluff (Feb 9, 2018)

zooeysmom said:


> Spinning, they can still bite the incision with a T-shirt. Not all dogs will, of course, but it is very possible. How did your dog destroy a hard cone? I've been through dozens of spays/neuters and that has never happened, even with my wild child, Maizie. I still say hard cone is by far the _safest_ option, but I think I've made my point and the OP can make their own decision.


He broke them by constantly running into everything with it head on. He likes to go at full speed and either couldn't or wouldn't adjust for the extra width of the cone. It was pretty impressive and painful when he'd catch me with the fool thing.


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