After surgery care

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dspch911

dspch911

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2012
Messages
7,963
Location
Chicago, IL
The girls are scheduled for their spays and tumor removal (Sonoma). I'm not sure what to expect after surgery. Do I put them each in their own hospital cage? I do have three or put them together in one small hospital cage that limits climbing, but will be cramped or a large one level cage that gives them room, but will allow for climbing the bars? We work the day after surgery - should I take the day off to monitor them? That wouldn't be a problem. What else do I need to know about these girls? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
OOh good questions!! My girls are being spayed on the 26th and I'd like to know the answers to these as well.
I have a hospital cage that I'll set up for them, It's small and they wont' be able to climb. I think for the first day to 3 days, at least you don't want them climbing bars if you can avoid it
I could put the girls in a single CN but I know they'll try to climb and I really don't want them to injure themselves.The two I have are risk takers and would try stupid stuff even after surgery, I"m sure :/
I personally would opt for the small cramped cage for the first couple of days. I hear from others who have had spays done that the girls are pretty much back to normal after 3 days
 
I'm no expert on this but I'll tell you about what I know when my girls got spayed.
I attached a picture of them after the surgery :3
They were kept together after surgery. I picked them up 7 days after their surgery... I know they were together the whole time and I think they hung out with their cagemates at some point too. So ya, they can all 3 heal together. It's probably pretty soothing/comforting to be together too. ^_^

Peggy said she had them in a bin cage for the day (and after I think) of surgery. So I'm not sure which of your cages you'll want to use. She said she watched them for the night, so you probably don't ~have~ to stay home the day after to watch them, but if you can... You might as well, right? :p I don't know about you, but I'd be useless at work anyway, constantly thinking about them.
 
Nope. They came home the same day as the surgery. The picture is just a few hours after the surgery. I picked them up from Peggy 7 days after the surgery to adopt them. I had them spayed at her vet before I adopted them. :)
 
Velo said:
Nope. They came home the same day as the surgery. The picture is just a few hours after the surgery. I picked them up from Peggy 7 days after the surgery to adopt them. I had them spayed at her vet before I adopted them. :)
Click to expand...
OH!! LOL
you scared me there, I was thinking the vet kept them for a week after yikes!

hmm, I think I'll put some cardboard around the bars of the hospital cage so they can't try to climb the first day or so.
 
Haha that would suck! [emoji14]
That does sound like a good idea. An easy and cheap way to keep them from climbing. :)
 
I unlike others dont baby them after spays. Some people keep them in hospital cages and stop them from doing anything. I keep them out the first night and I put them back the day after. We give goodies soft foods like ensure or baby food or just extra stuff we have laying around. The first day they generally ache but the next day you dont know they even had a spay done. I use a bin cage when they mice dont have them full LOL or i use a smaller cage for them. I keep an eye on their incision daily for the next few weeks. We never had any issues with spays after the fact. I used to give antibiotics after spays but I stopped that a long time ago we never had an issue.

I try to keep the spayed girls here for at least 5 days after spays that way if there is a problem I can get them to my vet rather than the adopter trying to figure it out.
 
Ok, so let them rest for the night then send them out looking for jobs the next day to support their expensive furry butts. No babying them!! Got it .... LOL
 
Yeah -- make sure they have their social security cards.

They have been freeloaders too long now. Time to put on their big rattie panties and march to work. :thumbup:
 
dspch911 said:
The girls are scheduled for their spays and tumor removal (Sonoma). I'm not sure what to expect after surgery. Do I put them each in their own hospital cage? I do have three or put them together in one small hospital cage that limits climbing, but will be cramped or a large one level cage that gives them room, but will allow for climbing the bars? We work the day after surgery - should I take the day off to monitor them? That wouldn't be a problem. What else do I need to know about these girls? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Once they are no longer groggy, they can be back with the others

Make sure you are given lots of metacam as they will need pain meds for several day .... rats in pain or discomfort will pull out stiches or staples, etc.

The vet should keep an eye on them and monitor them after surgery for several hours to make sure they are fine

I give them treats and lab block mush for a few days after surgery

It is good to ensure that they are warm/at a good temp after surgery as rats can not regulate their body temperature for 24 hours after surgery. (Never use a heat source with a rat that is unable to move away from it)

and most important of all http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7691

hope this helps ... although you are likely already aware of most of this
 
My rats go back into their regular cage. I like to make sure the cage is cleaned while they are gone. Any rats who have had surgery are allowed to stay together. I would separate any other rats out for a couple of days until the girls have started to heal.
 
SQ said:
Once they are no longer groggy, they can be back with the others

Make sure you are given lots of metacam as they will need pain meds for several day .... rats in pain or discomfort will pull out stiches or staples, etc.

The vet should keep an eye on them and monitor them after surgery for several hours to make sure they are fine

I give them treats and lab block mush for a few days after surgery

It is good to ensure that they are warm/at a good temp after surgery as rats can not regulate their body temperature for 24 hours after surgery. (Never use a heat source with a rat that is unable to move away from it)

and most important of all http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7691

hope this helps ... although you are likely already aware of most of this
Click to expand...

I definitely will keep them well medicated and the vet keeps them until into the evening. I did not know about the body temp thing or to give them mushy food. Thanks
 
I usually put them back in their regular cage the night of the surgery. Rarely, I will have a girl that will attack the returning rat (one of my girls right now is like that with any compromised rat), in those cases I separate them with a buddy for a day or two but I make sure to let them out together as a group when they're split. After a day or so, they should be pretty much back to normal unless the surgery is very invasive. Just make sure you give pain meds and you monitor the surgery site. Sometimes a suture or two will come undone but unless the incision becomes undone or there is a lot of bleeding, all you need to do is keep it clean.

The vet clinic shouldn't be releasing them if they are unable to regulate their own body temperature, otherwise they can go into shock. Keep them warm on the way home but you don't really need to do anything special once you're back home unless your place is very cold.
 
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Its just the three girls they have no other cagemates yet - that's why they are getting spayed. I have all boys, these are my first girls and I don't know much about girls. I'm assuming their not much different. I know about neuters not spays - I'm thinking the incision is going to be much larger especially on Sonoma since she is also having a tumor removed from under her arm pit area. I didn't know if they should climb or if stretching would open the incision sites... Anyone want three girls :toothy1: and they are so tiny still ..... I have informed the boys that girls are on the way...
 
Your boys want 3 girls:) THat is who wants them LOL the incision is generally very tiny maybe half inch long. I asked my vet how the hell they do it with the incision beign on the middle yet the parts they take out are on the sides of the body and with it being so small it amazes me how they pull it off. THe one with the tumor will be bigger ours did it from the incision site of hr tumor to spay her so she dont have two marks. We dont use buprenorphine anymore so we dont have th eproblems regulating temps in the rats with tramadol and metacam the side effects isnt as bad. We only use tramadol when they are aching. but it never last more than the night thenext morning it never stays anymore. I hate that groggy cold they get from those meds. You will have to watch out for pica, we had that in girls more than boys we had girls chew their nipples off, chew their stomach open, and chew anything else they can get ahold of. If it happens use paper towel as bedding and just wait for it to pass but keep everything else out of the cage, no litter no fleece nothing till the pica passes.
 
We don't allow them to use buprenorphine during surgery, but we let them give them a one time dose after for pain. So far its worked out just fine.
 

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