I took my puppy Polaris in to be spayed yesterday. As I was discussing the procedure with the vet tech, she asked me if I wanted Polaris to be sent home with pain medication. “Oh, yes, of course,” I said.
Later on, I was talking to Hubby about this. “I can’t believe anyone would say they didn’t want their dog to have pain medication after surgery,” I said. “I mean, if the dog is healthy and can tolerate it, why in the world would anyone say no? It was only three dollars for the pills.”
“Honey, you know that there are people out there who believe that animals can’t ‘feel’ pain the way we do,” he replied. “They seem to think if the animal can’t talk about what it’s feeling, it doesn’t experience it the way we do.”
This made me so sad. I really wish my vet’s office would just automatically add the pain medication into the procedure. I can’t believe that most people would object that much.
What kind of people are these who would just let their pet hurt? Even if I’d never been around a dog before, accidently stepping on your dog’s foot and hearing it yelp should give you an indication that they do, indeed, feel pain. Whether they can philosophise about it is immaterial. Actually, the fact that they can’t really understand the pain makes it worse.
All little Polaris knows is that I took her to the vet’s office, they gave her a shot, and she woke up with a terrible pain in her belly. (The poor baby screamed when we picked her up to put her in her carrier. It tore my heart.) She doesn’t know why she hurts, or that the pain will go away in a few days. She certainly doesn’t understand that the procedure will give her a longer life and make her less prone to certain cancers. All she knows is that she hurts. I can’t imagine not wanting to do all I can to try to ease her discomfort.
Poor baby! I was the one to pick up our two dogs (now 3 and 5) when they were each spayed, and boy, were they pathetic. Phyllis dragged herself up onto the couch and drooped her head and paws over the edge, looking about as pitiful as coud be. She didn’t even want to take any tempting food like biscuits or meat, even though she must have been starving. Two years later, Dottie took a long time to recover from anesthesia and had to be carried out to the van, still oozing a little bit of blood. And after she got home, she pooped in her crate while I was momentarily distracted. That evening she did let me share a few pieces of deli roast beef with her, but she ate slowly rather than gobbling as usual.
The good news is that the next day each of them was up to 95% puppy power!
Pain meds for spays and neuters is a pretty new thing, and it’s still not standard treatment, because most animals seem to do just fine without them. As Scarlett says, they’re generally at 95-100% puppy power by the next morning. If they’re acting like they feel fine, and there’s no physiological indicator of pain like increase respiratory or heart rate, there’s not much point in stuffing pain meds down them. Even our back surgery and fracture repair patients are usually off pain meds within four days.
And yes, there are plenty of people who will squawk about how you’re trying to rip them off by charging them $3 for pain meds for a dog. They’re usually the same jerkwads who spend $400 on a puppy and then shriek about how the $40 booster shots and well-puppy exams are just highway robbery and we ought to be ashamed of ourselves charging so much.
When my kitten got her spay done the vet told me she would probably be really quiet and hurty for a few days, not want to eat or play, etc… So I went to the store, bought some of the really good (stinky) canned kitten food and kitten treats and put all the other animals away for a while so she would have some peace when we brought her home. I brought my precious little baby home, I opened the carrier expecting a sad, quiet little thing…and she popped right out and climbed the shelves in the pantry. Then she ate all her special food, then some of the normal food, then some of the dog food, then jumped up on top of the bookshelf, then ran around a while… So, yeah. Not all pets need the meds.
I was told by my vet that when they are experiencing pain, they know instinctively to rest and let the “injury” heal. If pain meds work too well, they can think nothing is wrong and possibly do damage to the surgery site (ripped stitches, for example). Of my two girls spays, my puggy girl was laid low for four days…didn’t want to move, didn’t want to eat. The chi, OTOH, barely knew anything had happened. Sometimes they are smarter than we are about how to take care of themselves.
No . . . actually I’d never had any experience with post-op pain meds for dogs.
My older dog was spayed almost nine years ago. I don’t remember her taking any pain medication (and I certainly would have accepted it had it been offered.) She’s on pain medication now for joint pain, and I hadn’t noticed any ill effects-- quite the contrary.
Polaris was quiet last night and slept a lot. Today, I kept her confined to her playpen with a couple chew toys for entertainment. She wants out to play and has barked at me impatiently whenever I go in to check on her. When I take her out, she wiggles almost frantically in my arms to be let down, so she seems to be doing pretty well.
I’m not sure, though, if friskiness can really be an indicator that all is well. I’ve seen her hurt herself but act as if nothing’s wrong when I knew she had to be in pain. I’m sure she’s still hurting, even though she wants to play. I’m going to continue to give her the medication to ease any residual discomfort she may be having but is too energetic to show.
It’s going to be hard to try to keep her quiet for the next few days. She has her first Puppy Kindergarten class on Monday. (The trainer assured me she’d be fine in time for it.) I may let her out to romp a bit tomorrow, as long as she doesn’t get too crazy with it.
I imagine she must be feeling like I felt after my laparoscopy. The first day, I was pretty unhappy, but for the next few days, I was merely uncomfortable, less so each day.
