Hello again everyone
Very many thanks for your lovely replies. I knew I could rely on you forum-ites for some reassurance! It's heartening to know there are so many lovely cocker owners out there.
Well, we called the vet first thing this morning to be told that he has had a comfortable night, he's on antibiotics and painkillers being administered intravenously, he hasn't yet eaten anything which I thought might be a good thing not to strain his gut so soon, he'd been out twice to stretch his legs and his temperature was normal. His very long eyelashes have won over all the nursing staff and he's getting lots of fuss and cuddles! Bless him.
We're very mindful not to get too blase about it though, fearing a possible sudden deterioration during the critical 3-4 day post op period, so fingers/paws/general limbs are crossed for that stage. We are hoping that his age and chunky build will be in his favour for his recovery.
We collected the stone he'd had removed today - 4cm long x 2.5cm wide and it was a piece of gravel as we feared. We are going to fence off the lawn from the back door so he can't go around the front of the house into the gravelled courtyard. The thought of this happening again [I've heard of dogs doing this multiple times] sends shudders through me, so we must do all we can to ensure it doesn't.
Thank you, Mari, for the tip about the basket muzzle - hope we won't need it as it would restrict the enjoyment of his "sniffaris" but it's worth bearing in mind.
The next challenge will be when he comes home to try and prevent him from jumping up in his enthusiasm and compromising his stitches. He's a very bouncy little boy. Our vet offers a snug fitting, stretchy t-shirt type garment to prevent the animals licking their stitches as an alternative to a cone collar, so we may well go for one of those. Does anyone out there have any experience of them? They seem like a good idea.
A big thank you to everyone out there.
xx