14 days for cone?!

[Kris and Sawyer]

Sawyer was neutered yesterday. Thankfully all went well. Our vet said to keep the cone on for 14 days! Does that seem excessive? He has no external stitches. The nurse said he did not have to come back in but when the vet talked to me he said he'd like to take a peek at the incision at 10-14 days (no charge) just to make sure. I'm glad he's conservative, but poor Sawyer. He said when we are watching him he can have it off but sleeping and all other times it must be on. So far, it has been difficult to have it off at all... :-(

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

It really does depend upon the dog.  Ned had the same surgery your dog did - no external stitches.  He never bothered it at all so we didn't use a cone.  Our Springer has had several surgeries and he never bothered his stitches either.  Our foster dog absolutely could not leave his neutering incision alone and even tore out the stitches while still at the vet and had to be restitched, tore them out at home while wearing a cone, got the stitches infected, etc. He wore the cone  for at least 3 weeks but I think it was more like 4 weeks.  I thought he would never heal!

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

I've had one neuter and 5 4 spays in the last few years?  We had to use nothing  :)

With the last two puppies who were spayed, I did buy onsies but never had to use them.

I slept on the couch right next to the crate. I left collars on with tags. If one of them moved in the night, I could hear it because of the plastic crate tray and watch to make sure they were not going after the stitches.

During the day, I just kept an eye on the dogs.

Lucky me, and knock on wood, I have never used a cone

[Kelly & Zoe]

Most people I'm sure will disagree with me, but this was our experience.

We just had Zoe spayed 2 weeks ago.  Our vet said the same thing, 14 days IN THE CONE, and also recommended we keep her crated at all times for the first week (at 5 1/2 months, she's completely potty trained - we give her free reign of most of the house, and she rarely even uses her crate anymore, so that wasn't going to fly).  Personally, I felt the vet recommendation was ridiculously excessive.  We took the cone off at intervals on day 2 and watched her carefully - after we knew she wasn't messing with the incision, we took the cone off completely.  That was day 4.  In terms of keeping her calm (our vet said no stairs for 2 weeks either, and unfortunately we live in a 2 story house) - it was impossible.  By day 4 she was acting her normal self so we started taking her for short walks.  By the end of the first week the incision was practically invisible and we were back to exercising her as normal. 

IMHO, just pay attention to your dog - if he mucks with the stitches/incision, you gotta keep the cone on, but if not and you can monitor him, take it off!  Also, as long as he's feeling spry, there's really no way you'll be able to keep him 'calm', so expending energy with walks (as opposed to jumping and running) might be the best?

Good luck!!

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Great advice from Kelly. Do what works for you and the pup. Surgery, other than the first night home, never slowed Enz down. She wore her cone only at night, the first few nights..as she is always with me. Once I was sure she was leaving the stitches alone, we chose not to use it. We had more problems in keeping her calm. She loves to run...I swear she part Grayhound...and curbing that need was not easy. We were given sedatives for her, but I used those very sparingly. I hated drugging her.

[Gail & Bogey]

Wow, my vet didn't even recommend a cone. He said if your dog won't leave the sight alone you might have to but most dogs don't need a cone. We never had one and he was fine.