Katie Mae will be 10 months and one day on Friday and is going to the vet to be spayed. She has to spend the night and come home the next afternoon. I’m concerned how she’s going to do as she doesn’t particularly like to be crated and doesn’t like other dogs... they want her there between 7-8am. I suggested to them to do her surgery as early as possible so she will be drugged up and hopefully more tolerant of being caged near other dogs. I’m concerned about how she’ll do overnight as nobody will be there. The reason they said they keep them overnight is to check her temperature the next day as a way of making sure there is no infection. She has spent everyday of the last 6 months with me and Bandit, or just with Bandit when I’m working. The surgery is already stressful enough, and then on top of that to have to stay there overnight.. She likes the vets office, I go there about once a month to use their scale, to keep track of her weight and so that it’s a place she’s comfortable. I hope my baby does ok and doesn’t get too stressed out.
I do love your Katie Mae - she makes me smile when I see her pictures And I wish her all the best for her spaying. A question - has she had her first season? I am not thinking about my Griffons from another life, but both Lexi and Pereg were spayed three months after their first season. And came home that afternoon. Tikva never had a season as due to where we live, unclosed yard and too many loose/stray/dumped dogs, my vet wanted her spayed when she was six-months old and weighed 6 kilos and not wanting her to go through a season. She also came home that afternoon, my vet having a theory, right or wrong, that once a spayed girl was well out of the anesthetic, her temperature was OK and she would let one of the vet nurses take her out so she could pee OK, then it was Home Baby, Home. Please give Katie Mae a cuddle for me - and another one for the big boy!
Mine have always come straight home after spaying - the problem is usually stopping them from leaping around afterwards. My breeding girls used to be done between 5 and 6 years, and my non breeding ones three months after their second season. However, I do know that vets can have their own ideas about what is the best time. Don't worry about how she will behave at the clinic. Dogs behave quite differently when they are in a strange place, and the owner is not present, and the staff are used to handling all temperaments.
That sounds exactly like Pereg, which if why she had to wear the cone of shame! [I think it is on top of a a cupboard some where...] Marc - Katie Mae will be fine - not sure about you but I am too far away to give you huggles. And one for the big boy.
Oh no, poor you, I’m sure she will cope better than you She will be very drowsy from the anaesthetic so she sleep her time away Don’t get me wrong I would feel the same as you, but, I do think I will be so much easier than you are imagining You can ring as many times as you like Would they let you take her home with a promise to return the next day for a check over Worth asking !
Yes at 6.5 months old, seemed early for a large breed. I have 2 weeks off so I can monitor the dogs interactions while she heals
I’m feeling much better about it. Now my concern is keeping her calm and bandit from playing with her while she recovers. I got her a crate.. hopefully it won’t be needed to much. They are playing right now and have been for most of the last 1/2 hour minus a water break
Having never had a big dog, even 5 months old [Lexi and Pereg] seemed young for me to have their first season and of course I had long forgotten about my Griffs. But all three [that includes Tikki] seemed to take spaying in their stride. I was the one who was panicked at the thought of the slightest ouch!
When my brothers Akita was spayed she broke off a tooth biting at the chain link door where she was kenneled at the vets. So she had a little dental surgery as well while she was under... but she was a much older dog about 5. She was Darkstar/Hoshi’s mom
Oh, that is shocking. I would hope that they don't use chain link these days - and supervise them better.
That is just too terrible to even think about. I must admit that I was rather [very] piddled off when they would not let me stay while mine were spayed but Ram did let me stay while he did the extensive dental work on Lexi. And let me watch her with a blankie over her, still on the table, IV on and me watching the records while she was coming to. I do not even know if they have cages there although I am sure they do, but I know that there is no-one there overnight. But they let me stay while my girls were pre-med and stay while they were intubated, IV installed, and that was then "out - now". And my girls were brought home once they were fully conscious and been out for a pee. Lexi, of course, came home with me in a taxi after her dental work, but after she was spayed, [arranged by Dr Vadim] she came home in a bread box, blankie and all, on the back seat of his car! Pereg came galloping down the ramp, as did little Tikki.
I’ve dropped Katie Mae off at the vets. Her surgery will be this morning as long as no emergencies come in and they will call me later with a status report. They keep them overnight to make sure no fever the next morning and to check the sutures. She was all hyped up on the ride there, and in the vets, as I’d left Bandit at home and he always comes with too. She has actually been rather hyper the last two nights. Bandit looked for her for a few minutes, now he’s gone back to sleep, ignoring the dental chew I gave him (he put it on a bed and went to sleep by the front door. As I have the day off I think I will see if I can go back to sleep too
I will be thinking of Katie Mae until she is safely home again. And waiting for good news from you Marc. Do they still use sutures and not staples? I had to con Ram into using sutures for Pereg as in my days we did not use staples, but Michal, who was then Tikva's primary vet taught me how to remove staples.
Merry had had three litters but her wound was less than 3cm. and was stitched with the neatest little blue sutures that I have ever seen. She was spayed by their vet not mine, but it really was a work of art! I needed my magnifying spectacles to remove them.
It is amazing how small some surgeries can be. I am not very big but a lot bigger than a dog, and there is no way I can see my hysterectomy scar!
I can certainly see mine - intercostal to pubes! Seven years ago now, but I can still tell that I was stapled up by four different (student?) hands.
Flippin' 'eck! Mine was done when I was 39 - no staples those days, but I woke up to find a sheet of kitchen paper over the wound.