I dropped Bella off a short while ago at the SPCA clinic to be spayed. When we went through the door, she was happy and curious, and by the time she had been weighed and listened to all the other animals in their crates, she was anxious. she is probably out of surgery by now--they said she would be first. I suspect she will be fine, but I'm having trepidations just like I did when I took Tucker in for his surgery.

One problem--haven't been able to buy a soft collar locally. Didn't think to buy online because with so many pet stores here, I was sure I could get one. So she may have to wear the hard cone, which I'm worried about. My instincts are that it will scare her to bits. We may try the boxer shorts again. I tried a t shirt on her last night but it didn't work right. Someone should make post-surgical canine onesies!

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Kathleen, mom to one human, age 17, three canines, and a bunch of fish.

My most scared dog was the best about the e-collar. She didn't like it but didn't move around a lot either. She just laid there with it on. My other one was like a pin ball machine ball with hers. We laughed as she kept hitting walls and doorways and furniture. They get used to them, but we always took them off to eat.

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Barb, Rick and Tayla (STAR Puppy)



Cheyenne (CGC) and Jesse (CGC) who will be always loved and never forgotten.

I hope you've heard by now that Bella is out of surgery. None of mine, males & females, have needed a e-collar after surgery. It may not be necessary. I bought the blow-up type for Hank and sent it back.

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**Fraulein "Maggie" Louise 8/2/95 - 7/20/09**
*At Rainbow Bridge but Forever in Our Hearts*

Awe, poor Bella....I'm sure she will be fine, but I have always found it hard when they are going in for anything that I can't be there with them for. Sending hugs and prayers to Bella and you...btw...I have seen dog PJ's, but they have an open belly for potty breaks. I like the boxers idea if she will leave them on. I'm interested to see what you come up with as, we are waiting till Sage is through her first or possibly second heat before spaying.

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I put one of those hard plastic collars on our big maremma girl Neeve, when she was spayed a number of years ago. She hated it & kept going round & round in circles, when she should have been resting. Phoned the vet & he said to take it off & keep an eye on her. I separated her from her brother & she slept in her bed on the floor next to me. I kept waking up throughout the night to make sure all was ok. She seemed to be leaving her stitches alone, but on the fifth morning since her surgery, I woke up to see some streaks of blood on her bedding & white fur. Rushed her over to the vet, & sure enough she had chewed through a couple of stitches. The vet said she was healing up well, so he put a canvas sling around her tummy with several thick dressings over the stitches. She managed to get the dressing pads out of the sling & shredded them. What a mess! as she could not get the sling off, vet said not to worry about the dressing pads. She wore the sling for another week, & spent hours trying to figure out how to get it off, eliciting the help of her brother whenever my back was turned. That's why we got a male Goldie, though I would have loved a girl. I hope Bella is now home with you & doing well .....& that she is better behaved with the collar than Neeve was. I have not seen the soft collars here, but if I can find one online, will get one to have on hand when Loki gets fixed ...he is relatively calm, but I think he might do a lot of licking.

Praying for you and Bella! Let us know how she does. After reading all of these I'm going to sew a onesie with a ummmm..male flap...for Bentley before he gets 'fixed'. I love to sew so this should be fun. I hate the idea of the cone but I understand why it's used.

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Bella is home. She seems dopey but overall fine. She's sticking close one of us at all times. She hasn't wanted to eat anything yet, but just went outside and peed. So far she hasn't shown interest in licking her incision, which is good. I had her microchipped while she was under so that is handled also. I think she'll be in fine fettle very soon!

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Kathleen, mom to one human, age 17, three canines, and a bunch of fish.

Glad to hear Bella is doing ok.

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Dave

Glad she is doing okay. Hope you have a restful night.

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--Briana--

I'm glad she's home.

Maddie just had that done a month or so ago. The first night she cried and was in pain. After that we had everything we could do to keep her calm and not running and jumping. That was the hardest part.

She never chewed on her incision though I had bought one of those blow up donut things for around her head, but didn't need it.

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Gwen
belongs to Amber (LiquidAmber II) June 1995-August 2010
Maddie (Essex Mountain Madrone) CGC Born April 17th, 2012