Post-Surgical Nutritional Support
It is amazing to me that during our learning process in Vet school, we learned so much about the different types of surgery, the drugs to use before and after surgery, the amount of time required for recovery and the care of the incisions, wounds and all that, but we never learned about post-surgical nutrition. Perhaps it is partially for this reason that far too many veterinarians do not incorporate nutrition into their medical protocols. It is not surprising that there are many questions on the subject of post-surgical nutritional support. First, what are we supposed to feed the dog? Is it the same as maintenance? Should we spoil the dog with enticements if it does not want to eat? Should we even care? I have found that most of those in our profession either do not care or, for some reason, do not pass the information on to their clients. When was the last time your dog had surgery and your veterinarian gave you a specific surgical recovery diet? I hope that one of you can say, "mine did," but I venture to say, sadly, that perhaps the answer is "none." Unfortunately, the human medical profession is just as guilty of neglect of this very important subject too.
O.K., so much for the whining. Let's learn something. A couple of basic principals must first be learned. Surgery is stress! Any stress on our dogs requires extra nutrition. Next, after surgery the body is looking for "building blocks and mortar" to repair the damage (hopefully not too severe) done by the surgeon and underlying procedure. In other words, if there was a fractured bone, the body is going to need to make more bone cells to heal it up. The skin needs more skin cells to bridge the spaces made by the surgical approach. In addition, all of these things must be conjured up in the body in complex biochemical reactions that require lots of energy. Now, you all know by now that I am a common sense kind of guy, so let's use that horse sense to look at this. Obviously, the body needs more nutrition than normal to provide for this extra work.
Recent research has shown that the body will heal from a given surgery at a rate up to three times faster if provided with more nutrition than is available from a maintenance diet. Post surgery is one of those few times when lots of extra protein and fat are needed. A diet of about 40% quality protein and about 20% fat is ideal. One commercially available formulation that I know of is Best Breed Extreme. If your vet does not know of this one, you can make your own. Add my favorite supplement to his diet…boiled eggs. They will provide the finest protein available as well as one of the best fat sources. For a 75-pound dog, four-to-five eggs a day for a couple of weeks post surgery would be about right.
Remember, the best diet in the world is no good if the dog does not eat it! This time period is when you are allowed to spoil your dog. Add anything you want to get your dog to eat. Gravy, eggs, baby food, meat, canned food, cat food, anything! Try not to give things that will cause upsets, as vomiting and diarrhea are not pleasant matters to handle, especially when dealing with surgical recovery. Also remember, post-surgical pain is a real thing and may inhibit surgical recovery, but I am sure your vet has given you pain medication for most procedures. However, if not, ask for it.
In summary, it is a known fact that proper nutrition will shorten the recovery time after surgery. It only makes sense to utilize this knowledge for our canine partners. You may have to be a bit proactive and ask your veterinarian about the subject. Who knows, you may be able to teach them something about the subject.
Gary Cotton, D.V.M.