Not drinking water after LP surgery
 

Hi all,
My baby had her LP surgery on her left knee on Tuesday and I picked her up on Wednesday. It’s been so challenging ever since! Eating has been a challenge as she does not want to eat her normal diet, so since she’s on three different medications I think her tummy might be a little bit upset and maybe her taste buds affected so I just kept it bland with rice and turkey which she eats at times but not others. The biggest problem is that she’s not drinking water at all the whole week she has not touched her water bowl. I called the vet and they told me not to worry about it as long as I’m getting water into her in some other ways. For example she likes sardines right now so I decided to put all the sardines with a bunch of water in a bowl and pouring some of that water into her food when I feed her and she’s been drinking that at mealtime. I also offered her some ice chips last night which she’ll only take if I’m feeding them to her from my hand. At least it’s something. She’s on the antibiotic, Meticam & gabapentin, which by the way has also been a challenge giving to her I’ve decided to start squirting them into pieces of bread and wrapping it in liverworst, I also made small meatballs for her and I’ve been injecting those. It’s been quite a challenge. Anyway I’m just wondering for those of you who experienced this or any other type of surgery when the baby is on various medications do they stop drinking water? I’m worried about it but I’m not sure what else to do. I was wondering if also e-collar is getting in the way but even when I offer it to her she doesn’t drink it.

When my dog had surgery he wouldn't drink water either, a member gave me this tip. Make chicken soup but no sat, no onions added, carrots ok for flavor. Cook the chicken, when it's cooked remove it from the broth, let the broth cool then skim off as much fat as possible. Add a teaspoon or 2 to your babys water, just enough to give the water flavor. Do not add to much broth as the dog may drink the entire bowl which can cause the dog to throw up from to much water. You can pour the broth into ice cube trays and freeze it, add a cube to the water until your pup will drink plain water. The chicken you can make chicken salad for your self. This tip worked for my dog, 2 TSP in his bowl and he drank it. Try taking the E-collar off for eating and drinking as long as you stay there while it's off. I hope this helps.

LP surgery is a VERY hard and painful surgery because they grind away some of the bone. When Callie had her first LP surgery she wouldn’t eat or drink for the first week. I had to have a tech show me how to use the pill shooter because I couldn’t even get her to eat something with the pill in it. Week two was still hard I must have tried 8 or 10 different dog foods and she would only eat the tiniest amount. It got a little better as the recovery progressed but she was never big on water until she was released from crate rest. If you are their watching then take e collar off especially if your trying to get her to eat and drink. Remember she is probably in pain which could make her not want to eat or drink.