My dog has a red, painful, swollen breast after spay. What's wrong?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Tofy's incision looks relatively appropriate for 1 day post OVH. There is a purple swollen area that you should watch. There is no need to apply betadine solution. I prefer that nothing be applied to the incision. She is on an antibiotic. It is normal for the incision and surrounding tissues to be painful to the touch for the first 3 days. It should improve significantly. If you feel she is excessively painful then have your Vet recheck her for additional pain medications. The one mammary gland is very close to the incision thus why it is painful when you touch it. I wish Tofy a speedy recovery!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Panda's spay incision does appear to be red and a little swollen. Swelling at a spay site can be due to a variety of reasons, including infection, inflammation from a reaction to the suture material, or over-activity after her procedure, among others. I would recommend Panda be seen by her regular veterinarian to have the swelling evaluated, and start any medications (antibiotic, anti-inflammatory) that she may need. In the meantime, I would recommend icing the area as well. Good luck!

It doesn't look too serious to me. The nipple is mildly inflammed, which could be due to the surgery she had (for example it was irritated while the skin was scrubbed for the surgery). Please, monitor the nipple for the next few days. If you notice that it is getting more red, swollen or is painful for Ell, please, take her to your local vet for a check.

This swelling is probably a hormonal response to being in heat. As long as she still has hormones in her system the swelling will remain. Since your vet did not feel like it was anything significant, it is probably fine. It will eventually go away on its own and if not it will certainly go away when you spay her. If you feel like the swelling is getting larger or starts to feel firm or painful than I would be concerned. Otherwise it is just a side effect of her being in heat.

This doesn't look perfect but definitely does not look too bad either, there is some bulging as you mentioned, probably because the stitches have been put on a little too tight, as long as the stitches hold though i would not be too worried, you need to make sure she does not lick the area (i assume she has an E-collar on) and make sure the incision does not open up, the swelling should start resolving within a couple days from now. as long as it does not look worse than this i would be ok keeping her at home, you can still take her for short walks without any issues and your vet needs to see her at some point but it is not urgent (usually post opps are done 3 days and 10 days after the surgery).

She is likely suffering from a phantom pregnancy, i would recommend taking her to the vet anyway in order to get it checked, just to be on the safe side. there is no treatment for this (other than getting her spayed, which i strongly recommend in her case), it will resolve eventually within a few weeks, but it is also likely to reoccur in future heat cycles.

I can see that Ginger's mammary gland is rather swollen. It is a little difficult to tell from the photo, but there may be somewhat of a lump under the skin. While swollen mammary glands are definitely a sign of pregnancy, a false pregnancy, which results from a hormonal imbalance can cause this as well. I recommend having Ginger seen by a vet for an exam, particularly because certain cancers can appear this way. They can also determine if she is pregnant, or provide you with options on how to manage a false pregnancy at home. I hope all is well! Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!