Bella seems to be recuperating nicely from her spay. She's been taking an antibiotic for a skin infection and it seems to be helping. We're at the point now where it's hard to keep her from playing with Tucker. When it gets more boisterous than laying on the floor-type bitey face, I try to intervene, but I think she's ready for a good romp. Since she had the surgery on Monday, do you all think it's too soon to let her run?

Tucker has been licking his paws off and on for months. I've been giving him ACV but the licking never goes away completely. When I stopped giving him ACV, he developed a very sore paw, and we tried steroids with bad results (he became very grumpy and aggressive). I don't want to go there again. So today I started him on Benadryl. Gave him two 25mg tabs with his breakfast. I guess I can give it to him up to three times daily. He weighs about 75 lbs so I could give him up to 75mgs, three times daily. Had anyone had adverse reactions? I thought I'd start him on the smaller dose, and then increase if it seemed to help but more was needed.

Tess, my little spaniel with CHF (congestive heart failure), seems to be chug-chug-chugging along. The medicine is definitely helping, but it's hard to hear her cough sometimes. For the most part she is very perky, although still rests more than she used to.

And now it's official-- every one of my dogs is on medicine!

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

Sorry to hear about the health issues your dogs have ....Bella's are temporary at least, but that must be stressful for you & them. It's really hard with large breed girls who have just been spayed. Once they feel better in themselves, they want to romp about. My maremma girl had issues & we had to keep her quiet for about two weeks. She slept in our room for that time & then when stitches were out, she was able to return to sleeping in the kitchen/ laundry area with her brother. I kept them apart during daytime for the first four days, though they spent evenings together snoozing in the lounge with us. On fifth day I allowed her to be with her brother indoors under supervision & as soon as it looked as if play was getting rough, I separated them. I did that for several more days, so I think she would have been post-op for around nine days before I let her to start romping with her brother ....the longest nine days off my life Lol. You could ask your vet what he thinks. You don't want to risk her rupturing through the stitches.

It's been so long since our dogs were spayed. I won't even venture to give you advice as I just plain can't remember how long the vet said, or what we did...lol

I didn't know your spaniel had CHF, she's so cute! I take care of humans with it, and would figure that is pretty much the same in dogs. Give her a hug for me.

My cousins dog took Benedryl daily and it really helped with her allergies. If they missed she would also develop a smell to go along with the itching. She could knock you over from 10 feet away too. Let me know how it works with Tucker. not that I'm planning on problems with Sage, but I prefer to be educated to these things just in case.

Have you ever tried a vinegar rinse with Tucker...just asking because someone told me it helps to rinse them with vinegar and water after baths...I know I do my Cocker's but cocker's, especially my old lady has an old dog smell...it really does help keep it down...wondering if it would help with the paws too....hmmmm

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I would wait a few more days to let Bella do any hard running. Separate and conquer when she and Tucker seem to really want to go into full play mode. It's been quite a while but I remember how hard it was when Flem was spayed; she was a little energizer bunny and her thing was jumping, a big no-no.

The Benadryl dosage for Tucker sounds right but I would probably start him at 50 mg three times daily rather than the full 1mg/lb dosage. I hope it helps him without making him too sleepy.

Glad that Tess' medicines are making a difference. Perky is good.

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