Great ideas about getting her something to keep her occupied while she is on the mend! That is the hardest part, they want to be able to do all of the things that they usually do and they have to take it easy for awhile. Our vet recommended that we not give Abbey post-op pain medication unless she was displaying extreme signs of pain, she is a high activity dog and if we masked her pain with medication she would be more prone to exerting herself (jumping on and off the couch, trying to run about). It was a hard decision to make because we really didn't want her to feel pain, but in the end we didn't want her to hurt herself by over exertion. We did have the pre-op blood work done, they check how well the kidneys are functioning which is vital during anesthesia. It does cost more, but I was worried enough about her having her surgery that I wanted to clear my mind as much as I could. They usually pull through just fine, and resume acting like themselves within a couple of days. Good luck.