Simon was so pathetic with the e-collar – but it was a must for him, since he's a nitwit and took out one catheter while he was still at the vet and was determined to remove the stitches the whole time. We were weenies and picked up an inflatable collar at petco, which worked fine and he seemed to like having a built in pillow.
It was tough keeping him from dashing at first, and in fact we called to ask what we could give him that wouldn't interfere with pain meds. (They recommended benadryl, and it did help a lot.) We also used teh crate a LOT and just had to keep our pity to ourselves.
Also, the pain meds gave him the runs, and we had to do a lot of juggling of dosage.
He's doing great now. We all survived!
Glad she's doing well 
ha! thanks for the ideas - and glad i'm not alone.
oh, yeah. suki needs the e-collar big time. if there is a loose string hanging from anywhere or anyone, she is SURE to find it and pull on it continuously until it is hers! now, imagine the loose string hanging from her own body! oh, she would have a good ol' time with those stitches!
i went to the restroom - she jumped off the sofa again. there is no way to keep her completely jump-free. what can i do besides keeping her in her crate all the time? how bad is the occasional (well, ok, more than occasional - it's been at least 5 times since 3:00 pm!) jump? is she really going to hurt herself, mess up her internal organs?? i'm pretty worried, because as much as i try, if i move from this couch, she follows me.
most likely she will be fine with a little jumping here and there. It is near impossible to keep a healthy dog from moving around after surgery. If she jumps down, and it hurts she will be more careful the next time. Keep her from jumping on and off a high bed, or table; and don't let her rough house with other dogs, and she should do fine. She isn't likely to hurt her internal organs..organ wise, everything that they cut into has been removed. But she chould rupture her sutures…however, normal activity is pretty unlikely to cause that. Dogs are pretty tough, and especially basenjis!
most likely she will be fine with a little jumping here and there. It is near impossible to keep a healthy dog from moving around after surgery. If she jumps down, and it hurts she will be more careful the next time. Keep her from jumping on and off a high bed, or table; and don't let her rough house with other dogs, and she should do fine. She isn't likely to hurt her internal organs..organ wise, everything that they cut into has been removed. But she chould rupture her sutures…however, normal activity is pretty unlikely to cause that. Dogs are pretty tough, and especially basenjis!
Yes, this.
I forgot to add my disclaimer to my post: I'm neurotic this year. When Simon went for neutering, I had lost two young dogs within a calendar year, and I was convinced he would die on the table. The vets were very kind and gave me very good advice on how to be as conservatively careful as I needed to be
I'm much less neurotic than I was even a month ago. Really! And Simon has about as much vim as I can take 
I have not had to use a e-collar on Wheat. She only licks when she has gone outside and its wet. Re jumping. The pain pills my vet gave really did kind of knock her into a sleepy state…so maybe its the difference in meds?
We are at day 4 and the meds are gone..she seems just like her old self, and the surgery site looks great...so, good luck.
Yes, this.
I forgot to add my disclaimer to my post: I'm neurotic this year. When Simon went for neutering, I had lost two young dogs within a calendar year, and I was convinced he would die on the table. The vets were very kind and gave me very good advice on how to be as conservatively careful as I needed to be
I'm much less neurotic than I was even a month ago. Really! And Simon has about as much vim as I can take
I can understand that. When you lose a dog suddenly (or otherwise) it is really hard to not over-react over everything. After our Luna died, I panicked every time one of the dogs looked a little 'off'. I can't imagine losing two in one year 
well, i'm neurotic, too, and was sure that by jumping onto the sofa her stitches would come loose and internal organs would be spilling out onto the floor. so, glad that's not the case. i have her on leash now, and just make her get up and go wherever i go. she ate well this morning, and just took a pain pill (remadyl - NSAID). now she sleeping on my lap. i've got some things to do, so i'll put her in her crate awhile today. she's still wearing the e-collar because i just don't trust that she won't pull at the stitches - she can find a loose string on someones sweater from across the room and rushes after it.
thanks for the reassurances.
oh - and my new neuroses from reading too much on the internet last night, is that i spayed her too young and she's not going to grow any more and be in this perpetual leggy, 13-pound puppy state. ai ai ai!
tlish, you did the right thing, spaying, for your family and your dog..don't let anyone tell you difference.
thanks. i definitely wanted to get her spayed before she came into her first season. i'm just wondering if she really would've come into season right at six months, or if i could have waited 'til she was nine months… oh, well, it's done now and all went well. i'm so grateful for that.
Depending on the type of e-collar, you can make life better by cutting nickle size holes in it to give peripheral vision.
As for jumping, when you get up why not just set her butt on the floor so she doesn't have to jump? You KNOW she's going to follow so just go ahead and put her down.
yep, that's what i'm doing now. i had hoped that she wouldn't wake up from peaceful sleep just to follow me to the bathroom. well… i was wrong. so now i just set her down and bring her with me on leash. that way when she gets bored with whatever i'm doing, she doesn't go and jump back up onto the couch. it's going to be a loooooong week.
Maybe try Suki without her e-collar, watching closely. Shaye did not need one, I found, because although she licked the wound once in a while, it was not excessive, she did not worry at it - and the pain relievers seemed to keep her moving around without noticing it much. Of course, they are all different.
well, we made an adjustment. i bought one of the inflatable collars today. i'm not totally impressed because i'm sure if she were determined, she could still get at those stitches. fortunately, she doesn't seem like she wants to work that hard. so, i will let her wear that while i am with her so she can chew on toys comfortably, smell properly at restroom times, not run into walls, etc. when she's in her crate, i'm going to put the e-collar back on since i can't supervise. better safe than sorry. i'm still contemplating about bedtime…. she sleeps with me, so she's quasi-supervised, but i'm sleeping, so not entirely. we'll see....
