Pickles gets the snip!

[krandall]

Originally Posted by veridea

I think he'd lose it if we tried to confine him. His original confinement area was a 2x3' puppy playpen - we still have it, but I feel it's cruel to keep him in it (he was only 2.9 pounds when we got him, now he's almost 7!) He hated it from the beginning! He's able to jump off the bed because it's quite low to the ground, and he still needs help for the couch...would it work if I bought a gate for the stairs? Or at least set my alarm before his wake-up time, so I could carry him down?

You have to figure SOMETHING out to keep him off the stairs, and to prevent him from jumping on or off the bed. If he won't tolerate an ex-pen (and this is a PERFECT example of why it is SO important to get puppies used to and comfortable with their crate or ex-pen!) you may have to tether him to you during the day so that you can restrict his movement and keep him from getting too wild with the cat.

[BennyBoy]

Benny did not have any stitches (surgery done with laser) so there was no need for a cone - he never licked the area.

Benny rested that day, but once day 2 came, he was up and at 'em and it was pretty hard to keep him from running around. He was doing stairs by day 4 - he really acted like nothing happened.

[krandall]

Kodi WANTED to run around and do stairs, but we were specifically told by the vet not to let him. I didn't want to be THE one whose puppy managed to break something open. Ten days just isn't that long to enforce rest.

I'm sure lots of people are lucky, and their dogs get by fine without the extra care, but I didn't want to take chances.

[veridea]

I know this is an old thread by now, but thanks everyone for your help! Pickles recovered wonderfully, and we were able to keep him relatively calm for about a week after his surgery. We carried him down the stairs, and slept in with him in the mornings to curb his 7am wild time. He took pain medication for five days, as per the vet, and after two weeks we finally let him romp in the off leash park. It was a MUCH easier process than I thought it would be, and I'm happy I didn't wait until he was older to do it.

Thanks again for all your advice!

[Carefulove]

Glad he recovered quickly.

We just had Toby (our 1 y/o) neutered on Oct 19th. He wanted to run around within 2 days. Thanks God I kept the Expen, we had to keep him there for a week.