german shep x just had biopsy surgery in anal area….?
ByI do realise I’m probably over reacting. She’s my grandmothers dog I’m minding while grandmother away overseas.
the dog is 6.5, had biopsy surgery today to diagnose suspected anal fistula/furunclosis. the area is driving her crazy. shes on tramadol (pain killer – i know from taking myself its very strong and has, for me anyway, quite nasty side effects) and I’ve been told I can get sedatives to help keep her calm while she recovers BUT
she’s so flexible (she’s crossed with kelpie) she’s able to work her way around the cone collar to get at the area. I don’t want to irritate it too much by constantly inspecting it, but while I’d expect it to be swollen, I have no idea what a dog’s anus should look like, much less after surgery, and it seems to be weepy or possibly even fecal incontinence??
I’m terrified to even leave her alone while I sleep incase she rips something open over night. And I have to go out to appointments tomorrow, and I’m not sure how I can do that with the stress of leaving her alone.
I can’t call the vet for another 9hrs, otherwise I’d be on the phone, not on here.
Any advice at all? What should/can I do to ease her pain? I’ve spent a lot of time just trying to soothe her and keep her calm, but I have my own pain issues and my options are limitied. She also has serious mental issues – anxiety etc. Vets words were GSD’s fear issues crossed with kelpies’ psychosis are a bad mix.
3 Comments
July 28th, 2011 at 5:48 PM
You could ask the vet for a cone that is either larger, longer, or tighter. Something you could do is ask the vet for some sort of sedatives along with the pain medicine so that she would be calm and not trying to get at it. I recently had a hard time keeping my dog from getting at his foot after he had a cancerous toe removed. She is probably freaked out about the whole ordeal and very stressed. If it won’t hurt her you should try to tire her out with a little bit of a walk if she can still handle it. I understand you are worried for her, she will be okay in the end.
July 28th, 2011 at 6:16 PM
Ask the vet for a cone.
July 28th, 2011 at 6:32 PM
You’ll probably want to look at getting a different-sized cone, and if that doesn’t work, then it may be worth it to spend the money to board the dog at the vet’s for a few days. After all, if you are stressing yourself out about this and not sleeping, then all that’s going to happen is that you are going to end up in rough shape yourself.
Talk to the vet, see what he/she says, and then go from there.