My vet is suggesting my female dog get spayed as it appears she has a uterine infection. She has not been quite right since she had a litter two months ago. What is the recuperation time involved? We are planning a 5 day trip and will have an adult come twice a day to care for the amimals.

My dog was back to normal in about 3 days or so. I let her rest as much as she wanted, and kept her from jumping around too much for the first week or so.

I find spaying time varies from animal to animal by as much as a week. One dog when I was young was a wreck for almost 9 days with no infection and another spayed at the same time was fine in 48 hrs. Both were altered by the same person using the same technique and both roughly between 1-3 years old.

I'm sure they have much fancier ways of making the incisions nicer, and the scars less than when I was younger but recovery times vary by many factors in all surgeries. Keep an eye on your dog, they'll tell you when they feel right. If it were my dog I'd postpone the trip for at least the first couple days because the simple fact of the matter is no one cares for my dogs as much or with as great a quality as I do.

If postponing the trip is not an option I would speak to your vet about boarding there after surgery because at least then a trained medical person would be able to tell if your dog got a post op infection. Many times if you speak to your vet you can get the normal boarding rate for such a thing. Important note, I would only do this with a vet I had complete confidence in because again, no one cares for my dogs like I do.

I agree with Melissa, I would postpone the trip or the spay until you can be home to care for your dog. Surgery is stressful enough for the dog without the added stress of you being gone past your normal routine.

What type of uterine infection is it? If it's a Open Pyometra you will NOT want to put off treatment. I assume it is not a Closed Pyo because AFAIK, that requires emergency treatment.

Our female GSD was spayed last summer. The vet recommended "limited activity and no jumping..." etc. for two weeks. After the first several days, it became a challenge to limit her activity. I'm sure it varies by dog and I got the impression from this vet that probably "2 quiet weeks" is their standard recommendation, and possible the outside of the recovery window most often..

Beth

Thanks so much. She is at the vet right now.