My dog was spayed. Is breast swelling and pain near incision normal?

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!

Hello and welcome to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. The incision looks inflammed, but this could be part of the normal healing process. If there is any discharge, OR if the wound looked better than this previously and is now looking MORE red than say Friday or Saturday, I would take her back to the vet right away. If it is steadily looking better, and she is eating, drinking, pooping and peeing normally, then you can continue to monitor it. Best of luck with Lilo.

There is definitely a severe inflammation going on in that area, i do not know if it is directly related to the spay, it could also be an impaction of the mammary gland if she was in late pregnancy before being spayed.

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).

Hello, thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. The incision, based on this one photo, looks normal to me for one day post-op. It is not uncommon for dogs to be lethargic a day after surgery. If she is wearing a cone collar, many dogs will not walk or move around much due to the cone. That being said, I do not recommend you take the cone off. Eventually they will figure out how to move around with the cone. If she is not wearing a cone, she should be. Ultimately, you know her best. If she does not seem right to you then call your vet or take her to an urgent care vet. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

It looks like there could be some inflammation at the site of the incision. That could be due to her body breaking down the sutures, or she caused some sort of trauma to the area. If she is acting normal and you don't feel any swelling around that area I would wait and see if it improves. But if there is swelling, drainage, or pain I would worry about a dehiscence (opening of the incision) which would be an emergency and she should see a vet immediately.

The incision looks pretty normal for a few days after surgery. Often there will be some inflammation that will feel firm under the incision. However, if the firm spot you feel gets bigger then I would recommend a follow up appointment with your veterinarian to make sure that she isn’t developing a hernia. Best of luck and thank you for using Pet Coach.