umsami Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 Our almost 10 month old golden doodle is getting spayed on Monday. Any tips to make her recovery easier? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selkie Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 Our two lab puppies just got spayed and neutered last week. The biggest challenge for us was keeping them calm and quiet for the first three days, per vet's orders. They were pretty much conked out the first night after surgery, but by the next morning they were raring to go and wanting to roughhouse. We had to keep a very close eye on them to prevent them from getting too rambunctious. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MercyA Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 We kept our girl overnight at the vet's, and I think it was good for her recovery. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 Before agreeing to leave a post-op dog at the vet's overnight -- make sure that someone is there. It's not uncommon at all for no one to be on duty overnight. My vet, who I otherwise think is a very good vet, doesn't have anyone there for much of the night. So I bring my spay/neuter dogs home on the same day. Usually they either want to sleep or they're raring to go and keeping them calm is the issue. And making sure they leave the incision alone. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selkie Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 Re. staying overnight at the vet's - our vet prefers not to keep animals overnight unless it is absolutely necessary. She says that it is better psychologically for animals to be at home and that less stress = faster recovery. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonderchica Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 I planned my girl for a time when I knew we would be mostly home the next few days. I stayed on top of giving the pain mess as they kept her quieter. She had an easy recovery. Make sure she doesn't jump on any furniture. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted November 17, 2017 Author Share Posted November 17, 2017 So our vet said we'd drop her off in the a.m. and pick her up in the p.m. She is a very very active girl, and I have no idea how we'll keep her quiet or from jumping on things. Apparently, she'll have an Elizabethan collar to keep her from licking her incisions. Goes back in 10 days for an incision check as well. We love our sweet girl so much. It's going to be tough dropping her off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 Our collie puppy just got spayed three weeks ago at 10 months. She was very groggy the first day and spent the entire day lolling around. My 19yo picked her up from the vet at 3pm. The next day, she was up and raring to go. It was really hard to keep her quiet and keep her down. My 19yo took a fleece sleeper and made it over into a onesie for Aspen to keep her away from her stitches. We put this on Aspen at night and any time we weren't able to watch her. She never tried to mess with her stitches though. We were not able to keep her nearly as quiet as the vet had recommended. She was still going up and down the stairs and jumping on the sofa and bed. She still ran outside in the yard. She healed beautifully. I tried to upload a picture of Aspen in her onesie, but there isn't a paperclip icon for attaching a file anymore and I couldn't get it to cut and paste. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted November 20, 2017 Author Share Posted November 20, 2017 Ugh. The vet called. They discovered she was in heat during surgery. (Shouldn't they have realized this before??) So more bleeding and stuff... plus I'm being assessed an extra charge. Lovely. Hope she recovers OK. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 (edited) Use. The. E-collar. 24/7 unless you are RIGHT THERE WATCHING. If the e-collar isn't reliably 100% keeping her away from her incision, that is an emergency, and you must get one that fits right and stays on. (PetCo, etc, sell them, so if your vet is closed when you notice the e-collar isn't fitting right, just go buy another one!!) One of dh's first emergency calls when he was a baby-vet was to come clean up a female dog whose owners had not kept her e-collar on post-spay. She'd eaten out her stitches. And part of spleen. And part of her intestines. Miraculously, dh was able to reassemble her innards and she lived on. . . I have no idea how much the fee was on that procedure, but if they charged fairly, it'd probably have been close to $2000 (or much more). . . And, of course, it was a miracle she lived. Give the pain meds as scheduled/prescribed. It's major surgery, especially for a female who is probably a good-sized dog already. Edited November 20, 2017 by StephanieZ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 (edited) Ugh. The vet called. They discovered she was in heat during surgery. (Shouldn't they have realized this before??) So more bleeding and stuff... plus I'm being assessed an extra charge. Lovely. Hope she recovers OK. :( Bummer. Yes, that makes it an even more major surgery. Vets hate to do in-heat spays. Much more bleeding and it's a longer, trickier surgery. Sometimes you can't tell pre-op (per dh who is a vet). Usually, if they can tell pre-op, they'll delay the surgery, because nobody prefers to do in-heat spays. But, once she's opened up (and you can definitely tell), it's clearly in the best interest of the dog to finish the procedure. Most vets will charge more (sometimes much more) for an in-heat spay since it takes longer, is higher risk, much more effort and time by the vet to deal with all the extra bleeding/etc during the procedure (and to monitor post-op). (This is why dh generally advises people to spay around 5-6 months of age, before they go into heat.) Of course, it's better to go ahead and spay an in-heat dog than to face an unplanned pregnancy, or the dreaded pregnant spay. . . So, well, often folks opt to proceed with the surgery if the dog is already at the hospital, and, as I said, it's not rare to not know the dog was in heat before you cut her open. (If you couldn't tell . . . she was likely in pretty early heat . . . as an in heat bitch is typically messy and very noticeable . . .) Just double up on efforts to keep her calm post-op for several days and keep on top of her pain meds. And, if you didn't get a couple hundred extra bucks added to your spay estimate, then be very appreciative. I'd bring the vet some cookies or something when you come back for the post-op check. :) Edited November 20, 2017 by StephanieZ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 I've had approximately a bazillion dogs (including fosters) spayed or neutered and have never once used or needed an E-collar. Not that I'm advising not using one. Just had to say that it's not always necessary, and certainly not an emergency not to have one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted November 21, 2017 Author Share Posted November 21, 2017 Picked her up. Our poor girl had trouble breathing during surgery. She's at home, with her e-collar, and pain meds...although not interested in taking the pain meds yet (even with peanut butter.) Just wants to sleep. I was surprised that they make the pain meds an optional add on. Do people really choose not to buy them?? They charged us $100 extra for the in-heat spay. Just thankful that she's OK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selkie Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Aww, poor thing. I'm glad she made it through okay! I agree that pain meds are a must. We always have the best luck hiding pills in cream cheese. Hope she has a restful night! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 I've had approximately a bazillion dogs (including fosters) spayed or neutered and have never once used or needed an E-collar. Not that I'm advising not using one. Just had to say that it's not always necessary, and certainly not an emergency not to have one. Yah, well, tell that to the owner whose doggy ate her guts. You're very right that the large majority of dogs will do just fine w/o an e-collar. But, the 1/10 chew out their sutures or the 1/100 that'll eat their guts . . . well, to me, that's not a chance I'd take. Just last week my BFF (long distance friend, so dh isn't her vet) went out to PetCo at night to buy another e-collar when her puppy could get to his boy-parts post-neuter due to a poorly fitting e-collar. She's already heard my ate-her-guts story, lol, so she takes no chances. I would take no chances, either. My little boy puppy will wear an e-collar at all times when not immediately supervised post-neuter . . . I've just heard too many sad stories and seen too many GROSS pics of dogs who eat out their sutures and then get going on their actual body . . . to take chances. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Picked her up. Our poor girl had trouble breathing during surgery. She's at home, with her e-collar, and pain meds...although not interested in taking the pain meds yet (even with peanut butter.) Just wants to sleep. I was surprised that they make the pain meds an optional add on. Do people really choose not to buy them?? They charged us $100 extra for the in-heat spay. Just thankful that she's OK. Sadly, many folks are very price-conscious on pet care, and spay/neuter surgeries are one of the very few "price shopped" vet services, so practices generally try to price them low (and the vast majority of practices lose money on every spay/neuter surgery . . . they are essentially a "loss leader". Many (most?) hospitals make pain control and even IV fluids or even having an IV placed (for emergency access) . . . optional add-ons. The $100 extra for the in-heat spay is absolutely fair and not high. Dh says that's around what he charges for in-heat spay, and he's generally very generous with things like that, so I'd guess other practices generally charge a higher surcharge. (Although he'll quote much higher surcharge if he knows it's in heat before cutting and is trying to talk someone into delaying the procedure until after the heat. One of the nice things about being the owner, lol.) One of dh's first moves when he became an owner was to make all medically-necessary (in his opinion) things like IV/fluids/pain management standard and not optional. For our hospital, placing a microchip is optional. Routine pre-op bloodwork is optional on young healthy pets . . . but, catheter/fluids/pain management/monitoring is included and mandatory for *all* his procedures -- varying to some degree with the type/length/risk profile of the procedure and the risk profile (age/health status/etc) of the patient -- including the procedures he does for free/almost free for the shelter/etc -- he doesn't cut if he doesn't feel like he's doing everything reasonably possible to ensure a safe procedure. I'd estimate that at least 70-90% of vet hospitals have one or all of those items as "optional add-ons." That sort of thing was just an ethical line we made when we took ownership . . . it is a scary thing business-wise to do something so out of the ordinary norms, and it pushes up our costs on procedures that are already loss-leaders. (An in heat spay on a 60 lb dog might take 40-60 min of surgery time or more . . . with a vet and likely 2 nurses . . . and significant prep and recovery time . . . Any other surgery that complicated and time consuming would easily bill for $1000 or more . .. whereas a spay might bill for less than half that.) It's not something you can easily "market" so very few clients have any idea we are so "different". The thing is, folks "price shop" spay/neuter surgeries. So, they call the place down the road and they quote a 50 lb 6 month old spay as $200, whereas we might be $250. So, they'd choose the $200 place. Then they get there at drop-off and "add on" pain control ($40), IV catheter ($30), IV fluids ($50), and, well, they've spent a lot more than they expected, but they're already there. It's just the way pricing is done at many practices. I'm not explaining this to make you uncomfortable with/critical of your practice. Actually, I'm trying to explain that it's a pretty normal vet pricing practice. It just so happens that it's a practice that I don't personally don't like, lol. I strongly discourage "price shopping" in vet medicine for many reasons, but one of the big ones is that you really have no freaking idea what you're pricing, in general. Pick a place you feel good about, ask for thorough estimates, and speaking openly and frequently about choices/plans/costs is your best bet, IME. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted November 21, 2017 Author Share Posted November 21, 2017 Thanks for all the info StephanieZ. The practice we chose for our pets has a monthly plan which we chose when she was a puppy. One plan included spay/neuter, the other didn't. So we went with the spay/neuter plan that also includes her routine vaccinations, deworming, etc. I knew I'd pay a surcharge for spaying her over 6 months, but we felt that was better for her being a breed prone to hip dysplasia. For us, it works well. Her yearly vet costs are estimated (I'm assuming the practice uses their own data to do this) and broken down into monthly payments of I want to say $59 or so. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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