Surgery can be a stressful experience for the owner of a dog, just like it is for a pet. As the primary carer of the animal following its surgery, having a panicked, uninformed owner can only be a bad thing, so knowing what you need to do to look after them is very important.

Both before and after your pet’s surgery, you should take every opportunity available to you to speak to your vet and nursing staff, and gain as much knowledge as possible to help you in looking after them over the following days, and on how to avoid any mishaps. You can also look online in case you missed your opportunity to ask a question, or else call your vet centre for advise.

There are a few tips that you can do though:

• Make sure that they receive regular exercise (unless your vet has advised you not to) so that they remain healthy for the duration of their recovery (which will help them heal faster), and that it is low intensity, so that they don’t overstrain themselves, or even rip their stitches out.
• If they’ve been given a recovery cone to ensure that they can’t reach their wound with their mouths, leave it on. If it is creating difficulty eating and drinking you should speak to your vet, but if you’re monitoring them it could be removed temporarily, so that they can eat their meal.
• After most surgeries, vets will provide your pet with painkillers. While these will help them keep their morale up, they can cause them to forget their injury, leading to them overstraining and ripping out their stitches, so bear that in mind. If you have trouble feeding them these pills, stick inside a piece of meat that they’ll enjoy, and then follow it up immediately with a second piece (this usually works).