Random need to hump

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

Hello everyone! 2 weeks ago we got phin neutered. That procedure went well and phin has made almost a full recovery. He went in for his follow up and the vet was very happy with his incision and how it was healing. This leads me to the reason of this discussion. Our other dog yeti took an interest to phins incision about 2 days ago (after leaving it alone for almost 2 weeks). He would not stop trying to lick it. I thought maybe it had an odor of some sort and he was trying to “clean” it for phin. I brought it up to our doctor and she didn’t seem overly concerned. He has shown much less interest in his incision, but will NOT stop humping phin. He is relentless. Every time they are out of their kennels yeti mounts him instantly. (Keep in mind they are usually out of their kennels together but this behavior has gotten so bad we have had to start keeping one out and one in) Before the procedure both dogs would occasionally hump each other here or there when excited but I never considered it a problem. I am curious if anyone has experienced this and may have some helpful ideas on how to get it to stop. Any help or insight would be sooo greatly appreciated by myself, my fiancé and phin!

side note: yeti went to the groomer last week (without phin because he was still recovering) and there was a female in heat there. Is that potentially causing the problem? (Yeti is not fixed yet)

[Stacy]

That's a really big cone! You're making me nervous over here. I have Willow's spay and gastropexy scheduled for September. She'll have a larger incision than just the regular spay. I'm going to take some time off work so I can supervise, but good grief! I really think that all of the products are fine, but close supervision is the key. I think once they start messing with it it bothers them more and then they mess with it more. It's a hard cycle to break once they've decided that it's bothering them. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yep. They get it wet, which makes it itch more, and it gets inflamed. Jasper set his healing back several days before I got a cone that kept him from reaching the incision. But I know that soft cone did not work for his brother. His brother, however, didn;t seem as bothered by the incision as Jasper was, so they were able to manage with just the onesies. Now that I think of it, I wonder if they gave him something to tranquilize him.

They're all so different. 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We didn't use a cone for any of our dogs and they never messed with the incisions EXCEPT my mom's rescue - later adopted out - who absolutely couldn't leave it alone no matter what cone was used.  He tore the stitches out several times and the incision became infected.  There really seems not to be a way to know beforehand.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

All joking aside, I guess you have to do whatever it takes. I'm not sure that trazadone is going to keep him from messing with the incision. As I understand it, it's meant to keep them calmer and not jumping around; it isn;t going to stop the incision from bothering him or stop him from licking it. I think you have to find a way to make it impossible for him to get to it.

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

i went out and got him a cone this morning as soon as the pet store opened up! he is a very sad doodle but so far so good. im hoping that he doesnt find a way out of it. we stopped at the vet along the way and our vet tech said despite his licking, the incision looks really good so thats good news!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

That is good news! I hope things go more smoothly now. 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Trazodone didn't do much to Riley, it just kind of mellowed her out a bit.  I suspect she is just one of those dogs not bothered by the incision.  If your dog is the kind to lick an injury they would have to be pretty heavily medicated to stop bothering it so mechanical things like cones make more sense.

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

Phin got neutered about a month ago and didnt bother his incision once so we were SO hopefully Yeti would follow suit. Phin is such an easy dog compared to Yeti so i dont know why i thought he would be easy through this lol. We got a "donut" collar for Phin just incase, but didnt end up needing it, so we tried it on Yeti. He had it off in a minute. So we put a shirt on him the first night and he did great. (i suspect he was still a little drugged up) Yesterday he kept getting out of his shirt, and last night I was up half the night trying to keep him from licking it. First thing this morning we went to the vet (who was out of cones) and she said his incision does look good for him licking it. We went and grabbed the cone above from a pet store here in town and so far so good. Im praying this does the trick at least for the next 3-5 days.

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

just thought id drop in to give an update. i fear the carprofen has caused an upset tummy for yeti. he threw up yesterday and has had diarrhea all night / day today. i was SO nervous to do this because yeti has been doing so good for so long. i looked up the medicine and i found that it can be extra upsetting for dogs with digestive issues. he does not seem to be in any pain so i have discontinued the medicine and have not given him any food today, only chicken broth (just the water from boiled chicken) pedialyte and water. not sure what our next step will be, but if he isnt better by tomorrow its back to the vet we go! 

in good news, it does look like his incision is doing very well :)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm glad the incision is looking good; that's the main thing. 
He really shouldn't need pain meds any more at this point, and hopefully there won;t be any digestive issues. Carprofen is an NSAID, and The NSAIDS can be very hard on their tummies.

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

would you go with a bland diet for a few days while his tummy relaxes or do you think he would be okay on kibble tomorrow?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I would probably just stay with his regular food, but either is fine. If it makes you feel better to go with a homemade bland diet for a couple of days til things are back to normal, there's no harm in that.