Recently Spayed Yorkie - Abdominal Swelling
 

We just had our 1-year old yorkie spayed last thursday morning. It's now monday night. She seemed to do great, not much lethargy, a little less appetite, but nothing that caused any concern. We've kept her collar on up until yesterday, but now take it off when we can watch her closely. She's pretty spunky, but we've kept her calm and laying around most of the time. She hasn't been picking at her stitches.
Just tonight, we noticed she was a little shy and a bit lethargic. She just crawled into her kennel alone to lay down, which is very unlike her. If we're around, she is always right by our side. I noticed that she has some swelling on the right half of her abdomen, just above her privates. I read that some swelling is normal around the incision, but this isn't even close to the incision. The incision is probably 3 inches higher (which surprised me, our dogs in the past had incisions further down), just below her sternum. Any ideas what this could be? We're debating a trip to the emergency vet or giving her a night to see how it goes and taking her to our regular vet if need be. She does not seem to be in any pain, I've pushed lightly on the swelling and she didn't react. It is somewhat firm, but could be fluid. Thanks!

I have no idea what it could be. I can tell you what I would do....straight to the Emergency Vet. It would be worth the $150 charge to walk in the door to have them tell me it was nothing....because if it were something, I would not want to have it get worse during the night.

The thing that is a concern, is that her personality has changed. It could be nothing, but to me better safe than sorry.

Good luck and welcome to YT! :)

Please keep us posted on her! :)

yeah, her mood change was a little disconcerting. she seems better now in terms of mood, she's cuddling with my wife like always and even wanted to play a bit.

She might be just fine. I guess just keep an eye on it! Good luck!

thanks! my wife is going to call the emergency vet. they're usually pretty good to us, and tell us straight out if we're worrying for nothing. if they feel we need to bring her in we will.

Excellent! :)

:) Welcome to YT. Please come and update us if you find out about this. I am about to get my two girls spayed and am reading everything I can get my fingers on about possible outcomes. :)

the emergency vet suggested that we monitor her tonight and see how she does. she said swelling is normal, though it is a little odd that it's further below the incision. i thought it very strange how high her incision was, it's about the same level as the base of her ribcage, maybe 2 inches below her sternum, and maybe another two inches above her hoo hoo (2 inches doesn't sound like much, but she's only a 4-pounder). but regardless of where the incision was made, i'm assuming they had to do some operating further down, closer to her parts. it may be that she overdid it today and caused some inflammation.

if anyone else has experienced this, i would appreciate your advice. thanks! if a dog can cause this much stress, i can't imagine when we have kids. :eek: at least kids can tell you what they're feeling most of the time

:thumbup:I hope this is all it is too. Look forward to hearing she is all better tomorrow.:)

How is your baby doing today?

We just had our 11mo old spayed on Monday and her belly is also swollen below the incision. Her incision is also very high I thought. The vet said swelling is normal as long as there is not a fever and they are eating and drinking. I hope your little one is doing well!