Bella is getting spayed next week, and I have never owned a bitch before, Ive had female cats spayed though, is it the same operation with dogs? How long do they usually take to recover and has anyone got an experience of having their dog spayed that I should know about.

__________________


gsds (Henrick and Bella), the cats (Syd, Lilly, Elvis and Dizzy), the gerbils (Honey, Lisa, crusty, Millhouse, Flanders, Bart and Homer), the rats (Valentine, Flower, Petal, Blossom, Koda, Cava, George), the mice (Minnie, Pop, Seudag, Caraid, Silver, Trouble, Athena, Pandora, Aphrodite, Meep, and Springtime)

Aww she will be fine!

When I collected Dixie after her spay, I was told that she would probably be a bit groggy/tired (she wasn't) and that she probably wouldn't be hungry for a wee while (she was!).

I was told to give her 1/2 or 1/3 her dinner rather than all in one go, and I fed her chicken and rice instead of her normal food cause she is spoiled rotten!

I was told no off lead for a week, no jumping no running about in the garden or playfighting etc.

Dixie got away without having to wear a lampshade as I felt sorry for her wearing it so took her to bed with me! That way I would wake up if she was moving about licking her wound etc.

I was also told to call the vet if she did not wee and poo within reasonable time too.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
To Bella-
When you come home, make sure your mummy makes you a special dinner, it will help your tummy feel better.
If she hasn't been paying attention to you for too long, lie on the floor and moan it is sure to bring her running!
If she catches you playing about, lie down suddenly and pretend you weren't doing anything!
When it is bed time, give her the big sad puppy dog eyes so you get to sleep on her bed (she will probably give in if you try hard enough!)
When she puts your normal food down the next day, pretend that you have no appetite and she might make you some more yummy special food.

__________________

OMGoddess Biscuit was spoiled after her operation. The vet we had was lovely and took care of an umbilical hernia without any extra charge. Once we finished the pain meds it was really hard to keep her soft and slow and her incision got a little infected so she had to have the cone head on a little longer than we'd hoped for. We had it done last November so Biscuit had her first snow wearing a cone and used it like a scoop!

Lots of crying, hand fed suppers in the living room, lots of fussing and petting and stroking. Then they heal up and it's all over and back to normal. I can't even see the scar now.

You can get laser surgery here, but our vet said that's only better for the boys as their surgery is on the outside. But I don't know for sure as some people have told me that the laser surgery is better for the girls too and that we might not have had the infection if we'd gone that route.

Good luck with your girl!

__________________
[SIGPIC][SIGPIC]

There are different ways of spaying, different extents to which parts of the reproductive organs are removed, although they're usually given different names, which I can never quite remember rightly although show me a number and I'll remember it for weeks, bizarre!

Anyway, ask for the person who is most competent to do the spay, and make sure you're insistent, as this is a routine operation that is often not done as well as it should be. Parts of the uterus if left inside, can cause hormonal imbalances in the future, so you want their best surgeon on the case to ensure that happens, and there's also the issue of post spay incontinence, which is a worry. If you have the conversation with them, and they know you're *aware* of these problems, then they are going to want everything to run 200% without any hitches. As much as it's not nice to think of vets not endeavouring to get every job 100% right, they are always under pressure and do make mistakes, some bigger than others.

As for recovery, it can depend on how they finish up the operation, some vets use staples, some use stitches, both of which have to be removed. Indie had disolvable stitches internally, and the wound was superglued with just a light dressing over the top. It had started granulating nicely within days, and, after a couple of days doing the drama queen woe is me act, she was pretty much wanting to be back to normal, I just had to try and keep her a bit calmer for the rest of the week, no easy task.

Good luck, I'm sure she'll be absolutely fine although you're bound to worry about it all until it's over

I'm sure Bella will be fine. I've had all my bitches spayed over the past 30+ years with no problems.

Because I've always had my bitches spayed at 5 months the hardest part is trying to keep them reasonably quiet for a few days, as by the next day they want to run and play as normal.

I tend to feed them a light diet for a couple of days and lead walk them until the stitches are removed, although these days most vets use dis-solvable ones.
I try very hard to restrain any jumping and am careful that they don't knock into furniture etc whilst they heal internally.

Hope this helps.

I was very worried about Bella but it wasn't half as bad as I feared.

I took het o the vets at 10am and stayed with her until she had been sedated. She was then taken off t the surgery room for her anaesthetic and operation. I was allowed to see her when she came round, and then I went home. Got a phonecall unpdate at lunch, and I was called at 4pm to collect her - It seemed like a very long day without her home!

When I collected her we went for a tiny walk for her to toilet (and she did both a wee and poo).

We were told not to feed her anything that day.

The next morning, she went out for a wee and poo (again) and had a small breakfast. By the afternoon of the second day she was pretty much back to normal, but by day 4 you couldn't tell she had recently had surgery as she was behaving normally. I kept to short clam lead walks until day 5, and then we went on off lead walks, but avoid other doggies she played rough with until about day 10 when she had her stitches out.

As Bella is only 7kg we got away with a babygrow to stop her licking her stitches, and no lampshade collar

Hope everything goes smoothly for your girl! Once they have recovered from the first few days post surgery, it really does seem like nothing more than a distant memory!

Kenzie was spayed on Wednesday so I'm just working through things myself but on the whole it's been ok

__________________

kira was spayed last jan/feb, i had never used my vets for anything more than boosters/worming tabs so was a bit worried, but they were fine

When they brought her out they explained that her stitches were a tad sore and that was why she kept sitting down, bless her. she was so groggy when we got home and she didnt really want to eat (i hand fed her a few biccies then she went back to sleep)

She ate fine the next day I was a bit worried about a lump under her stitches, but it was just a bit of swelling and went within a week, apparently thats normal but it freaked me out!

She was out on lead walks 2 days after her op, obviously she doesnt go offlead anyway but it was pavement walks for about a week

__________________