I just spoke to an acquaintance who told me about his female dog. The dog was spayed, but was discharged after 2 days. He was not advised that he should confine the dog for another few more days before releasing her. So he released her into his large compound to be free again and mingle with his other dogs. The dog was okay for a few days, then shortly after that, fell sick. The man took his dog to the vet’s for treatment but after about 5 days from the date of release, the dog was found dead one morning. The suspected reason is that the internal sutures may not have healed, might have opened up and got infected inside. The man was really so sad when he related this story to me. I’m surprised that he was not advised about the period of confinement after spaying. He said he really did not know.
For the belly cut, there are two layers of muscles which will be sutured. For the flank cut, it is three layers of muscles. This was what a vet told me sometime ago.
This is why it is so important to keep a spayed female confined for enough number of days to let the internal and external sutures heal properly. My present vet’s protocol is actually 10 days for females but she did say that if push comes to shove, then 7 days can be a cautious minimum too. This is for cats.
I also heard from a friend that she knows of quite a number of rescuers, who, due to lack of financial resources and having no place to confine the animals, release the animals back to the street the moment the animals are discharged from the vet’s. This is really totally unacceptable. If they are “rescuers”, if they care, the confinement after neutering is mandatory and non-negotiable. There have been cases of the surgical site opening up, the insides falling out and the animals dying a slow and painful death on the street.
This is precisely why we do not fund TNR and we only fund CNRM with the emphasis on C=Care and M=Manage. If someone is only going to neuter and release without caring for the animal, please think about what you are doing and whether you should do better. You should and you must. Please.
Here’s what I learnt from a very experienced dog and cat rescuer and this applies to both cats and dogs:
Males: 5-7 days
Females: 7-12 days
So please heed your vet’s advice or use the guideline above to play it safe. This period of confinement after a castration or spaying surgery is crucial to the survival of your animal. It would be such a waste and a shame if you have made the effort to catch a street animal, sent for neutering only to have them die just because you did not know you had to confine them for a sufficient number of days for recovery.
It IS a matter of life and death.
