I had my young bitch spayed yesterday and she was given an injected painkiller ( vetergesic / propofal), but I was surprised not to have any  other painkillers to give to her for the next couple of days. The nurse said the injection would last 24 hours and she should be fine. Today she is still very down and keeps jumping and turning suddenly to the wound, does this indicate pain? I have some Metacam in the house, would it be safe to give her a dose at lunchtime anyway, or should I go back to the vet ?

Thanks

well my Vet always sends them home with a 3 day supply of Rimadyl. I would phone the Vet and tell them that you are not happy with her demeanour and why not insist that she is given something to help her over this?. Have to say that normally mine are okay after 48 hours so I only give the pain relief if I consider that it is worrying them.

I was sent home with metacam to give for 3 to 5 days depending on need.

Thinking back, I've never been given painkillers for my bitches after they've been spayed, other than the long-lasting injectable one the vet gives. In fact, hard as it may sound, a degree of pain and discomfort is actually a good thing because it can make the animal less likely to act 'normally' - ie manically active! :D - which could do a lot of damage. The wound is likely to feel tight and stitches often pull a little which will make her aware of it. Don't let her lick it (contrary to popular belief this doesn't help the healing process) and if it gets inflamed or weepy or bothers her a lot contact your vet.

I have never had anything with mine either JG.  I agree it is no bad thing if their activities are limited by an awareness that running around would be uncomfortable, you can't give them the written advise sheet :)

You should be safe to give more anti-inflammatory 6 hours after the Vetegesic  They ususally are still a little groggy the next day although they do vary a bit but I think I would give the vet a call if it wasn't actually prescribed.  Propofol by the way is the induction drug they use at the beginning of the anaesthetic and will be long gone.

When I was spayed myself ;) they kept trying to give me painkillers - morphine drip, tablets every 4 hours etc - and I declined.  I'm no hero but I explained that I had some discomfort, not pain.  Just enough to remind me that I'd been pulled around and shouldn't be dancing on the tables. :D

I suspect that the jumping round is just the stitches pulling and I wouldn't be thinking of pain killers without the Vet seeing her first.

Thank you all so much, your replies make a lot of sense and I will just monitor her and see how she copes with the discomfort til this evening.  I will try her again with some food and see if she will eat anything.

Val you are a hero ! - I would have taken everything on offer, but then I am sucha wimp:rolleyes:

Val you are a hero

Oooohhh I'm really not!  I'd worked on myself before I went in as I was petrified of needles! :rolleyes:  When I talked to the surgeon before he told me that they routinely gave an epidural as patients left the theatre so that they had no pain as they recovered from the GA.  I told him that I didn't want that either!  Also asked for my catheter removed after 24 hours instead of 3 days and that was no problem either.;)

When I trained as a hypnotherapist, I learned techniques to reduce pain etc and just used those and I was just fine.  Very simple techniques that anyone can learn and are freely available.  After 3 days (they'd planned to keep me in for 8 days) I was working in the office and they said that they either needed to pay me or send me home!

Just remember the only things that others cannot influence are your thoughts! :)