My oldest Girlie Pepsi (7 years)was spayed yesterday. She had a couple of mammary lumps removed at the same time (Fatty lumps, that was a huge relief) Now  I know she is probably uncomfortable, she is having regular pain relief and is eating and toileting normally. She does not give me the immpression that she is in huge amounts of pain but I know she will be sore, the lumps were quite big as my vet wanted to get good margins just in case of any problems, as it was they turned out to be just fatty lumps and no worries (I can do without any more after having just had the trauma of loosing my darling Treacle) she has not stopped whining since coming home yesterday. I spent most of the night with her to see if she wanted company, she had a morphine based analgiesia yesterday and has had two calprogiesic this morning and is due two twice a day. She will get up to eat and toilet but then is rushing back into the office to curl up under the desk and moan! She has just been out and has grabbed a squeeky toy to bring back with her. Now my queerie is, could the spaying have brought on a pseudo-pregnancy? She was about week 12 following her last season and had shown no signs of one before the spay. I have to say I have very rarely bothered with having my older girls done and usually just cope with seasons as they arrive. So my knowledge is slim on these matters. I am beginning to wish I had not bothered if it is going to upsett her so much.
Any ideas you knowlegable lot??
I want her to settle as it is distressing for her. As I say I do not think pain is a big issue, sore yes but not in huge pain. I have a visit to the Vet this pm and can chat about things then, I am not undully worried about her health wise as the wounds are clean and dry and she is on ABX and as I say plenty of pain relief it would seem to be a mental problem what do you think?
Aileen

My 9 year old had much the same done on Friday, and for the first 2-3 days she most definitely was in pain. It's major surgery after all, and two lots with spay plus lump removal. She also didn't want to eat and that is unheard of for her. However since yesterday she has been much more like her usual self again.

My 15 month old pup was spayed last month and I did find for the first three days if she got up to walk she would walk two steps and quickly sit down and whine, I can only put this down to the stitches pulling a little when she moved.  She also did find the place she had been shaved very itchy and would sit in a puddle on the patio to soothe it if she could. She recovered from this very quickly and after three days was back to her usual loony self. 

> . Now my queerie is, could the spaying have brought on a pseudo-pregnancy?

Spaying entirely & instantly removes the hormones which induce false pregnancy, so I can't see that it's possible.  But this removal must give the bitch a huge jolt physically but dogs, being dogs just get on with life and seem to recover quickly.  My bitch was spayed due to severe false pregnancy and though she went into shock during recovery (which I suspect was reaction to anasectic (sp?)) and mopped around for a couple of days, within a week she was back to normal physically.

Spaying causes a sudden hormone imbalance which can result in strange behaviour; also anaesthetics can take a while to clear the system, with howling being quite a common reaction. Keep an eye on her but treat her normally as far as possible (no nursing toys etc) and she should be fine. But of course if you have any worries you should talk to your vet.

If she was only spayed yesterday i'd expect you to have at least a couple more days of this behaviour. she is going to be in pain even with the tablets but they will take away alot of it.
Your girl has had an even bigger op with the removal of lumps so i expect she's feeling very uncomfortable at the moment.
Some bitches recover quicker than others and some cope with pain more easily so just keep an eye one her and she will get a little better each day.
If she's eating, drinking and going to the toilet then i'd say she's doing well but the vet will give her a check over i'm sure.
By next week she should be raring to go again and your be trying to stop her running around.
let us know how she is.

When we had our bernese spayed she was really knocked for 6 - so much so that it put me off getting our setter spayed. When we did get her done she was the exact opposite - trying to leap into the back of the car on the way home from the vet :-o. I don't know if it was because Bramble was so much bigger and needed more anaesthetic or if it was because she is generally such a wuss when it comes to any kind of pain but she was right as rain a couple of days later.

I had my bitch spayed recently and she definitely had a phantom pregnancy. She even started producing milk. And this was a dog that never suffered from phantoms while entire, was 3 months past last season and had no symptoms of phantom before the operation. The vet said she had seen it before. I had to keep the small squeekies away from her as she kept nesting with them. Like you, I thought the quiet, sulky behaviour was down to pain. She brightened up a lot once I took her 'babies' away and got her out.

Dogs are generally pretty moody the day after they have undergone some sort of surgery, especially one for spaying or neutering purposes. She is definitely sore, as you said, and also feeling the after effects of the anesthetic wearing off. At the same time, her body is readjusting to the new levels of hormones. Sounds like her surgery was very major, with the spaying and lumps removal. Remember not to try to comfort her the way one would a person or child who is recovering, as you may inadvertently reinforce the whining or other moody or attention-seeking behaviour. Try your hardest to be normal and stable so she will take her lead from you and stay strong and get well quicker! Hope Treacle gets well soon.

Hi 3wags, I'm fairly certain that you're not allowed a website as your signature.  I could be wrong, but please do check out the TOS to be certain you aren't contravening any rules on CD.  :-)

> I don't know if it was because Bramble was so much bigger and needed more anaesthetic

I think you could be right there.  I had 2 girls spayed last year.  Both L/C Chihuahuas, one large and one very small.  The larger one was knocked for 6 like your Bramble.  The dinky little tiny tot was such a livewire I had to resort to a crate to calm her down for the first couple of days.  So the amount of anaesthetic required could be the contributing factor.

Hi all thanks for your replies...definitley a false pregnancy...she is trying to dig her way to Austrailia today and is still very squeeky! Not so much pain (Though she is obviously sore still) but definite nesting behaviour. She can get about remarkably quickly if she wants to and is not showing any signs of deep pain...rushing to greet everyone, tail wagging, presenting us with any ?toy? she can get, first in the que for a treat, picky with normal grub!! She was keen to go for a walk this morning though obviously can't yet, wish she could it would help take her mind of her Imaginary puppies. This is a bitch who has never had a false pregnancy to speak of before so I am guessing it must be the op, Vet said yesterday it can happen sometimes and will give Galstop if it goes on another 24 hours as it is not fair on her to be upset like this.
OH and I are suffering sleep depravation now??? Love her!
Aileen

Why can't she go out for a walk on the lead? As long as she doesn't rush about, lead walking should be fine, and will stop her going stir-crazy! At work we always tell clients to restrict their dogs to lead walking after surgery until the stitches are out.

Hi,

She could be in phantom but she would have to have been in phantom before the op for that to be the case and hopefully your vet would have checked her over and asked you relevant questions to make sure that was not the case.  Bitches can get trapped in a phantom cycle if they are spayed during one but spaying alone cannot induce a phantom pregnancy. 

The whining is to be expected given that she's had a GA and big op.  My Dobe is incredibly confused after a GA and is unsettled and cries a lot for about 48 hours, and it takes about 4 days before she is really back to her normal self.  On top of that she's had mojor surgery and will hurt - dogs are very stoic compared to us and show it in less obvious ways generally.  Digging is often a sign of abdo pain!  I personally would be wanting things to have settled a little more and given her some more time before giving her gallastop.

Hope she's feeling better soon.

Normally I would take her out but one of the lumps removed was from the knee joint on her hind leg, it's a very mobile spot for sutures and both my vet and I think it better she has very restricted exersise for a few days.

No disrespect to anyone but she was not in false pregnancy before the op...we checked carefully! and I know her well. I do realise she is uncomfortable and in pain but I also know she is now having a full blown false pregnancy, I will not give Galastop unless essentual and am quite prepared to treat her conservativley for a couple more days, but on the other side I will not allow her to get too upset either.
It can be quite a common effect of a spay apparently but not normally quite so quickly, plus the fact that she has just lost her friend, although she is not pinning activley I assume it may have some bearing on how she is feeling. I am pleased to say she is a little happier today...not so clingy and going out to sit in the garden a little more. No doubt given some time she will be back to her normal self soon.
Aileen

>Normally I would take her out but one of the lumps removed was from the knee joint on her hind leg, it's a very mobile spot for sutures and both my vet and I think it better she has very restricted exersise for a few days.

Under those circumstances you're absolutely right.

However it has not stopped her sneaking out into the garden and digging a HUGE hole!!! LOL
I just wish she would sing a different tune sometimes as the "Wooo Wooo Wooo" gats a bit monotamus (Sp) in the middle of the night...thank goodness my neigbour is a friend....and deaf as a post!!
Aileen