Gabi was spayed on Friday and is feeling very sorry for herself. My question is why do the stiches have to stay in for so long? Ten days seems a long time. We humans have stiches out between 5-7days. She hates the collar and keeps bumping in to everything. Spending all my time cleaning her and the lamp shade, along with her bum as she can't do it herself.

Does she actually need the collar?  Our vets tend to dislike giving them to the dogs and said they wouldn't give us one unless it was absolutely necessary, and I found Molly was fine without it when she was spayed.  She's also just had some stitches for a gash at the top of her leg and is leaving those alone, though if I have to go out of the house I put a toddlers t-shirt (she's a cocker) on her so she can't nibble at them.  If she shows any interest in her stitches, I firmly tell her "no", and that seems to work.  Hope poor Gabi will be feeling better soon.

My Rosie was spayed last Tuesday, shes an English Cocker Spaniel too,  her stitches come out on Friday 10 days after the op. but she didn't wear a collar, the stitches haven't bothered her, she's completely ignored them.  She was very good, a bit grumpy the day she came home, but has been fine since.........in fact I've had troubles keeping her still!...........lol.

vet said the collar must remain on untill the stiches are out. Could not trust Gabi not to chew stiches if I took my eyes off her for a min. She knows the meaning of NO but to her this just means whilst I am watching. Better to be safe than sorry.

We have had at least five bitches spayed and none of them has ever had a collar on and they were fine and didn't bother with the stitches.  When our dog was castrated last October the vet put a collar on him although I think I took it off the day after and he didn't bother with the stitches at all :-)

Hollie didn't have a collar after spaying. She would have liked to nibble her stitches but couldn't quite reach them so they were quite safe :D

We have a Staff and she was spayed at 6 months and didnt wear a collar for the ten days the stiches were in. Occasionally she licked the stitches but didnt touch them otherwise and we couldnt keep her still at all but no damage to the stitches. So I doubt whether you need the collar.

I think it's so long to make sure the wound is healed - in humans, it's a local anaesthetic to re-suture if we need it, but in dogs, it's another general anaesthetic, which of course carries a risk with it every time it's done.  Better safe than sorry.

My girl was fine with hers - the only issue we had was a minor infection where the wound hadn't been stitched very well (the wound was a little puckered instead of neatly sutured straight closed), but she didn't scratch it at all.  She had dissolving sutures, I find it strange that these aren't more commonly used.

Eb was spayed on Tuesday and is due to have her stitches out next Friday.  We didn't get given a collar as our vet doesn't like giving them out due to stress on the dog.  So fra we've managed to swing work so that one of us is home with her all the time but next week she'll be home alone for a while during the day.  She hasn't paid any attention to the stitches as yet (fingers crossed) but next week if she does I will be putting a T-shirt / pair of pants on her during the day - lol

Many vets use intradermal dissolving sutures routinely, however the extra cost is normally reflected in the surgical cost. 10days isn't long to wear a collar to prevent serious complications: when you've seen a dog that's chewed its sutures out (including the deeper ones) and literally has its guts hanging out, you'll understand why vets err on the side of caution.