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Problems following castration.

Monkey

I really hope you can help with this. On thursday we took our dogs to be neutered, one was absolutely fine no problem. My dog, Monkey, has changed completely - he was biting at his stitches at the vet so they gave him a collar - which caused him stress so we took it off.

Monkey is just over 6 months and a shih tzu, he used to be off a nervous disposition but through walks and socialisation he seemed a lot more like his outgoing brother who we also own.

Monkey apparently had both testicles moved so his was to be the simple straightforward operation.

Friday morning we asked for some painkillers as he seemed to be in pain.

Anyway in spite of these painkillers friday night, he would suddenly start flying round the room yelping as if in great pain. He is off his food and will only drink tea - not water which is always available to him.

We described his symptoms to the vet on Saturday morning - basically he is panting, stressed, he won't move from one position, he will not pay attention to anything (not even his brother) and has very shallow breathing. Rather than go outside or ask to, he stays in the same spot and passes water or a stool and only moves out of it, if it is the hard stuff.

The vet could find nothing wrong with him but gave us some more painkillers and some anti-biotics just in case there was anything further wrong with him but these didnt seem to relief anything.

He still pants, has shallow breathing and cries. Today, he went to the vets again and they gave me a calming spray (tryptophan) and some cream because he has been licking what was a nicely healing wound.

I tried to put his lead on this evening in an attempt to take him for a walk but he screamed and cried so much we gave up. To get him to move to his food bowl my husband picked him up and he was still screaming. Please can you offer any advice.... he doesn't want his toys, doesn't want his favourite treat and shakes.

His screaming isn't just a warning telling us not to do something it is a full hysterical outburst that really is almost deafening.

At the moment he is lying in bed and I have been able to get his attention with some cheese but he won't actually move for it. He won't drink water but I have managed to get him to drink some tea (previously which was always a favourite) and some lactol which I thought I would try to improve his mood.

Please can you suggest anything that we can do to improve his condition - we have considered taking him to a different vets to get a second opinion. People have suggested that there could be something wrong with the stitches but the 3 vets that we have seen since at the same practice insist that nothing is wrong. I just want my lovely dog back

Symptoms: Breathing, Lethargy, No Appetite & Anorexia, Pain

• Veteran Advisor Angela Spar says:

  December 18th, 2007 at 01:07 AM

  It sounds to me as if he is in pain from either the surgery site or potentially back pain. I have seen it before where a patient has had surgery and been doing fine with that part only to have back pain as a problem and they often do scream suddenly and hysterically( sometimes from positioning during surgery). What pain killers did they give him? I often find that the normal non steroidal antiinflammatory medications aren't that great for back pain so will usually try steroids as an injection then tablets and use tramadol tablets at the same time. I am assuming that there is no swelling or redness at the surgery site and no fever and that your vet has done a full physical examination. Have you asked your vet about using steroids? I know that steroids can theoretically slow healing of the wound but sometimes you just have to use them if nothing else is helping. I hope this helps out a little

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• Sonia says:

  December 18th, 2007 at 09:58 AM

  Thanks for your reply. Not sure that we have had steroids we had some pain killers for post surgery that he had to take twice a day, when we took him back to the vets on Saturday they gave him a dog equivalent of morphine injection and really that didnt make any difference. He certainly has a reluctance to pass anything and screams in agony when he does - which is about one wee and one poo a day because he is hardly eating anything. He just pretty much stays in one spot though. He is eating cheese and the spray seems to be working more than the painkillers did but he is still crying and won't move without screaming. We have checked the wound and it looks fine. Wrt his back, to have a look at his wound, while he was sitting, I lifted his front legs up and all his weight was on his back, he winced and cried a little but after a while he was fine - surely that indicates this is not a back problem? Could it just be complete and utter stress do you think please?

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• Veteran Advisor Angela Spar says:

  December 18th, 2007 at 11:43 AM

  It could still be a potential back problem, just lifting his front legs doesn't rule it out. A full back exam involves palpation and manipulation of his entire back from head to tail to try and localise if there is a problem and where it is and its something your vet can check out. Stress is still a potential component but I would have thought that it should have resolved by now. I hope he feels better soon

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