Questions re spaying.

[maddy74]

Willow had her first season in Jan and we are planning to get her spayed. We go to a vets that is a part of a chain, having a bit of a bumpy start with them in that we always saw someone different, we have warmed to one vet in particular and had a good chat to her re Willows spay. She has agreed to do it. She said she could do it as early as the end of this month, my under standing was it had to be 3 months in between and I thought it was 3 month after the season finished. The end of this month would only be 2 month after she finished bleeding. Any advice on this? I wasnt a hundred percent sure on the date of the season when I saw her but she did say i could call and chat to her before the op.

To say I am worried about getting her done would be an under estimate, feel physically sick with worry, even more so as I am typing this as its getting closer. Wake up some nights worrying something will go wrong, so silly I know... 

A few questions, how soon in advance do you have to book them in. Is a baby grow better than a cone to stop her nibbling? How do you stop them jumping on the sofa? The first night would I be better sleeping in the lounge with her on an air bed? Is it okay to lift them? We live in a maisonette and I will have to carry Willow up and down to the loo, how long will I need to do this. How many days after she has had the op will I have to stay with her the whole time, I was thinking 4 or 5 days.

Sorry so many questions but I am so worried?

Thank in advance,

Maddy xx

[karen488]

Can't help with most of your Q's but totally sympathise on the worry front. It didn't matter to me how straightforward the op was when it came to my baby it was different! Think the average time for proper heal time is around 2 weeks. Darcey was keyhole which was quicker healing (but turned OH blue in the face when I told him how much....after the event  ) my only advice is to take a deep breath and go through it, you'll both come put the other side in 1 piece. X

[Wenco18]

It's a week tomorrow since Lottie had her op and she has been fine. I got the collar, she hasn't even tried it on. Bought the baby gro and she wore that the first night.  I slept next to her the first night on a blow up bed. She was very red eyed and groggy that night but recovered really quickly, within a day or so and she was back to normal.

I stood the cushions off the sofa up over to stop her jumping for the first few days, btbh now I am just trying to make sure she doesn't over do things. I don't really want to carry her too much either in case it pulls the stitches.


I booked Lottie in about 10 days before

Hope this helps, I can only sympathise with how you feel

I felt that way too

Wendy

[maddy74]

Thank you for the replies, thats what I was thinking re lifting her but as we live upstairs im not gunna have a choice. 

Two things that are really worrying me are Willow is petrified of the vets after them missing and having to have two shots of an anti sickness injection once, she shakes like mad, i know she is not alone, and i cant explain to her I will be back later. The vet did say I could take her later for that reason so she isnt waiting as long and they would give the pre med straight away. As I spoke to the vet about it through a few tears she said she thought I would need a pre med too 

The other thing is I met a lady in the park that had her dog done and she was saying she would never get another dog spayed as she had a huge lump a few days after the op and when she went back to the vets they had to operate again as she described her dogs insides not being sown up right!!!!  I dont know how true this is but its worried me sick....

I know vets carry out these ops all the time and reactions and things going wrong are rare. My other worry is Willow can be a sensitive soul sometimes and i dont want the experience to change her personality.

I did consider the keyhole spay, my understanding is they are about 3 times the price of the normal spay is this right? The nearest one that does it to us is about 15 miles away and then I would be leaving her with complete strangers at least I know the vet that will do the op. I have thought of everything, a bit too much really. Going to ring up tmw and sort a date.... 

[LinziS]

Tilly is 2 days post spay....and she thinks she is back to normal by the way she is trying to run around daft.It is very difficult to keep a cocker rested/quiet...she has tried to jump on couch...tried to race around garden...tried to jump up on whoever will say hello in the house  Her op went well...was only at the vets 3 hours because she was very distressed afterwards that they thought she would be better at home. This was not the case...she was distressed and agitated and crying loudly for the rest of the afternoon and evening...but think this was due to the aneasthetic rather than pain.
She slept in her crate no problem...i did not need to stay with her overnight as she was fine.
Have not used the buster coller from the vets or the comfy collar i bought. She wearing some snazzy baby vest to cover the wound...i just undo the poppers when out for the toilet then fasten her back in when done...she has no real issue with it...except looks could kill
Like you I was really anxious about the whole thing and now glad it is all over but it natural to worry about our babies.

[karen488]

Our key hole was £400  but think you might be able to find that cheaper. They only remove the ovaries and the scar was tiny and has already gone. It is less traumatic on their little nods but the end result is the same and it is sooo expensive!

[KellyT]

oh Maddy, it is only normal to worry about her .. she's your little fur-baby  

I can't comment on Millie's spay - hers was an emergency hysterectomy following a pyometria, so she was very poorly

Jennie had a 'normal' spay - she finished bleeding and 2 months later she was booked in.
I was very sad to leave her at the vets, but luckily for me she (at the time) loved the vets and wasn't too bad being left there (now she is very grumpy and anxious being there, stemming from all the problems we had diagnosing her slipped disc).

She came home and was a little wobbly and sleepy, we kept her warm and she had her dinner.  We carried her upstairs that night and down the next day - we tried to 'scoop' her up, 1 arm between her front legs and supporting her chest, and the other arm kind scooping under her bum and above her hocks .. if that makes sense.  She's a wiggler though so it took a bit of practice  

She never had a cone, nor a baby gro - we kept an eye on her and she wasn't bothered about licking it to be honest, they superglued her back together so there were no stitches to worry about as such.

When we picked Jennie up after her back operation, the surgeon and nurse demonstrated to us the best way to pick her up, as we explained we had steps in and out of house etc.  It was kinda the way we'd picked her up before, only the second arm in front of her back legs and under her middle - I guess this wouldn't be good for after a spay though. So make sure you ask them for they advice on the best way to pick her up and explain that your live in a maisonette etc.

I had the day after her spay working from home, and then went back to normal routine

Before you drop her off you could try some relaxation techniques on her (t touch) - I can send you some fact sheets if you'd like, drop me a message.

be big and brave, both of you   x

[Vicki]

A few questions, how soon in advance do you have to book them in. Is a baby grow better than a cone to stop her nibbling? How do you stop them jumping on the sofa? The first night would I be better sleeping in the lounge with her on an air bed? Is it okay to lift them? We live in a maisonette and I will have to carry Willow up and down to the loo, how long will I need to do this. How many days after she has had the op will I have to stay with her the whole time, I was thinking 4 or 5 days.

We were SO worried when Sally was spayed. There were even a few tears when we dropped her off, so know you are not alone in being worried.

Sally was not interested in her 'worrying' her wound at all, so in the end we didn't need a bucket cone or a baby grow.
To stop her jumping on the sofa OH and I decided that it would be off limits to all of us for the first 24-48 hours or so. So we laid out blankets and cushions on the ground, and we all lounged around on the carpet. 
Sally sleeps in our room, so we were able to be close to her that way.
I'm not sure about the lifting thing. That is probably something to talk to the vet about. I expect there will be a safe way of lifting Willow without hurting her.

x

[black taz]

Kira (my lab) recovered very quickly after her spay.  I used one of my t-shirts to cover the wound for the first night - didnt need to bother much after that.  She was back to her normal self the next morning, keeping her quiet was the most difficult thing.  In the end, we resorted to buying her (and taz) little latex balls which they spent hours just squeaking by banging them with their noses - but at least it meant she didnt jump around too much.

I know that advice (which is probably wise) not to walk for 2 days, but as she was so lively the next morning, i decided that short, slow walks would be much better for her than her running around the garden trying to play.  Within a week we could hardly even see where the cut was.

[aljeana]

Hi my Jodie was spayed on March 17th just 11 weeks from her end of her first season at 2 years old, I like you was worried sick but I need not as she has been amazing

Jodie has been spade by the vets I have been with for over 20 years but have recently had a new vet join the team who does the spaying differently with minimal open wound a bit like key hole she did them for the Dogs Trust in the past and they like a quick recovery rate.

I dropped Jodie off at 10.00am and told she would be ready by 2pm i was a bit shocked that she would be ready so soon, arrived to collect her expecting to find her all doppy and wobbly and out she trotted waggy tail.  My vet explained that she had no stitiches to come out and that the wound was very small and when I came to settle up expecting her fee to be around the £200 mark as quoted they charged me £120 i questioned the price as I thought he was short changing himself and said no when they weighed her and looked at her she was such a tich she came in as a small dog ( she only weighs 8kg )

Jodie never bothered over the wound we could hardly see it, they cut hardly any coat off, and she was running around as normal - so I thought cannot possibly have done a full spay
So at the 7 day check up I asked the vet and he explained that as the new vet had worked for the dogs trust they had developed a method of completing a full spay via  a key hole incision and one long stitch that would not require removing, so Jodie had less adominal recovery needed. 

[maddy74]

Thanks for all the advise. I have not been brave enough to ring the vets as yet and my heart starts to race every time I re visit this thread. Will ring on monday in the hope I can get her in as soon as poss as my nerves can not take much more now I have made my mind up she will be done in the next few weeks.... 

[JulieM]

Hi Maddy,

Just wanted to message to send you  I felt awful about having Florie done and the first day was quite tough to see her all sleepy and sore, but after that it really wasn't too bad.

We needed to lift Florie into the back garden to wee as we have a split level garden and I didn't want her going up the steps. It was fine. We just took it really easy/ slowly and got her comfy in our arms then lifted and it worked out just right. We sort of lifted around her in a big hug, with a hand under her bum if that makes sense so there was no pressure on the tummy.

I did the hood thing as she was a bit nibbly and a childhood dog of ours bit through stiches once so I'm a bit paranoid. This obviously isn't the most comfy, but she did get used to it. I only put it on when I wasn't with her constantly e.g. on day 2-3. We brought her upstairs in our room the first night and she slept by my bed which worked just fine. But by night two she was back in her room and didn't call for me.

I know it's a massive worry, but honestly it's not probably as bad as you're fearing. Hope it all goes really well for lovely Willow 

[maddy74]

Thank you Julie xx

[Neon]

Can't advise Maddy cos I never had one spayed, but try not to worry too much, she will be fine 

[maddy74]

Thanks Mel....xx