How long do you keep a dog "quiet" after a spay?

Maggie was spayed on Friday and she is doing Great. A little too great. She was back up running around like a fool Saturday. It's impossible to really keep her from running but I have been keeping her away from Indy b/c they play so rough together. Anyways, one is in while the other is out. The one who is in is happy. The one who is out is not.

What is a reasonable time to keep them apart? The vet said "ideally" 2 wks.

Her incision looks good but the vet gave her outside stitches (she said b/c she is so big) so she'll need the stitches taken out in 2 wks.

I certainly don't want to risk anything but they're stinking up the house. I just cleaned the carpet in the dog room (a waste of time but I'm not getting new carpet). Indy is pretty good about holding it but Maggie isn't. They recognize that room as being the inside bathroom - there is only so much Nature's Miracle can do. One is in there all night (approx 9 hours) and one is in their while I'm at work (approx 10 hours). Indy is in at night b/c he's quiet. Maggie during the day b/c she bangs on the door.

But they're getting a little depressed and I'm running out of paper towels (it takes like a whole roll to soak up St. Bernard pee) so about when is the incision safely healed?

 

You will get tons of different answers about this. I don't think there are any "good" ones that work for all dogs!

When Nala was spayed at about 14 weeks before leaving the shelter, we brought her home the next day. She was as active as any dog could possibly be, times about 100. She had internal stitches and she was totally fine. No pain, no problems.

The next female dog I had spayed was our foster, Libby. Her incision looked great for a few days. Then it got lumpy and oozey - serum pockets we were told. She was put on an antibiotic for both the incision problems and the cold she had at the same time. She was kept separate from the other dogs for a few days, so she wasn't terribly active. But when her nose dried up, I let them back together and they dashed around the yard and her incision continued to heal. She had a slight skin reaction to the stitches but it went away very soon after the stitches were removed.

Lacey was spayed a couple weeks ago. She stayed quiet, so it's hard to use her as a comparison. She healed beautifully except for that bruising thing, which I have to say was probably unrelated.

The male dogs have been about the same story. Chomper we tried to keep quiet for about 5 days and were mostly successful. I kept him in an ex-pen in the same room with my dogs and he was pretty good about it. His incision sort of healed well and sort of did not. His stitches were supposed to dissolve, but he had a reaction to them and so his body was pushing them out. The incision wasn't infected or anything, and once the vet snipped the stitches that were hanging out, the rest of the incision healed within hours.

Carter was neutered by a different vet. She said she lets the dogs regulate themselves. I told her he wrestles a lot with one of my dogs, and she said to sort of watch that. I picked him up the same day as his surgery. I didn't let him play with the other dogs for the rest of the day, but I did let him off leash by himself in the yard for short sessions. The next morning, I let him play for a few minutes with the other dogs. In the afternoon, I pretty much let him do what he wanted. I checked the incision often, but there were never any problems.

So. That tells you nothing! My opinion is, if her incision still looks good, let her out with Indy for about 5 minutes or so. Then bring her back in and have a look. Try to give her other things to do for a while - chew on a giant bone, teach some tricks, etc. Then let her play again. Take it moderately for the rest of today and if she's still doing okay, let her do more tomorrow.

I know many of the vet techs here will tell you to keep her quiet. I'm sure they see all the horrible things that happen to some dogs. But they don't see the rest of the cases who are all just fine, because they don't have to come back in to the vet!

I do know that most of the foster homes in my group don't worry about it. They are out playing a day or two after a spay and at adoptions on the weekend.

I also usually give a homeopathic remedy - Arnica 30C in solution - once a day after surgery. But I think that works better if started right away. I didn't do it with Lacey, but it seemed to help the other dogs that I did - like Carter.