Sydney is getting spayed today

Poor Syd is getting spayed today...i hate this part of getting a dog...its hard keeping a dog especially a puppy relativly quiet for two weeks...i hope she doesnt pull at her stitches...can a puppy wear an e coller in a crate?? My friend gave me a good idea that his vet gave hime...they took a towel (not a huge one) and cute leg holes in it, and made a makeshift sling type thing and the dog wore that and didnt pull out her stitches...anyone ever done that? I wonder if i should, i dont know....anyone have any tips on how to keep her from biting at the stitches, maybe somekind of goo or something to put around the area? Thanks

 

Hmmm. I have never had any trouble with a spayed or neutered animal. Nala was spayed at about 14 weeks, when we got her from the shelter. Her stitches were internal, so there was no chance of her pulling at them. They also never had to be removed - they just get reabsorbed by the body.

We got her the day after the surgery with no instructions to keep her quiet - we were just supposed to try not to get the incision site wet. She ran around like a hellion as usual. She leaped around like a demented salmon, nipping at us and scaring my kids, LOL. She crashed off the deck a few times and I swear she must have hit her tummy on the edge of the deck, but she didn't seem to notice. There was no pain, no lethargy, no licking at the site - nothing. We were not given any pain meds and she didn't seem to need any.

Two weeks? Wow. Scary.

My cat was spayed at 6 months and I also don't remember any ill effects.


Jamiya

 

wow jamiya i hope i am so lucky...when i have had my last two dogs spayed they said to keep them quiet for 2 weeks, definitly the first week and both dogs aggrivated their stitches....Winnie actually yanked out all her stitches but one, but she was still at the rescue then, i got her two days later and she was still trying to go at her stitches...hopefully Sydney is younger and maybe wont care? well I am off to the vets...thanks for responding

 

You know, when I think about it the whole "two weeks" thing sounds incredibly old-fashioned. I had a C-section with my first baby and they tossed me out of the hospital after 4 days. My neighbor was tossed out after 2 days with the same surgery - although that was pushing it. People recover a lot faster from surgeries than they used to, because of better surgical techniques. Animals typically recover from ANY trauma much faster than humans - I don't know why.

And what's with the stitches thing? Does anyone know why some vets still use external stitches that then have to be removed? When Bonnie came to us, she must have been spayed fairly recently because her tummy is all shaved. You can see the incision easily, but there are no stitches nor any sign of them ever being there. There are internal stitches that can be used so the dogs can't pull them out, nor do they have to have an appointment to take them out manually later.

So why don't all vets do this?

Our vet (even though I am deciding I don't really like them all that much) has a laser surgery option for spay and neuters. I guess there is a lot less bleeding, although it is more expensive (of course).


Jamiya

 

Most sticthes nowadays are the body absorbing type

I think, everyone I have known that has gotten an animal spayed or neutered in the past 3 years or so has only had the body absorbing ones, both my animals had them and never had any problems. Your pet will be fine there is nothing to worry about. Just think of it as when humans go in to get there tonsils removed! But this is a little off the subject, but I had always had girl dogs and not a boys, so I was pretty suprised a how it happens, not what I expected! They went up through his penis or something? I thought they just cut the testes off? What do they do exactly?

 

With my cat, they made a small incision on the testicles and then just pulled out the sacs and cut the tubes and tied it all off. Pretty simple for a male, and not terribly traumatic.

It's pretty much the same thing as a human vasectomy, except in humans they just cut the tubes and tie them off - they don't remove the actual testicles.


Jamiya

 

they usually cut open the sac and cut them off. i know for a fact though they chuck them in the bin afterwards lol. no joke either!

 

Last time I went to the vet I take my mice to, there was a person there with her dog, waiting to get the spay stitches out. Which made me wonder why stitches like that are still used. I'll have to ask her.


Jamiya

 

sometimes they can cause abcesses if they dont disolve properly. i guess its up to the vets preference?

 

my dog experienced heavy bleeding with her internal stitches (don't want to scare you)...the vet was across the street where I worked so at the specified time I went over and got Sadie and brought her back to my office. I was working alone that day. Sadie is white and was sitting behind me when a customer came into and said "OMG!!! Your dog is bleeding" I turned around and she sure was. This client stayed at the office while I ran Sadie over the to the vet - they kept her overnight. The man was so nice he even had his wife call later in the week to see how Sadie was.

I think the bleeding looked worse than it actually was cause Sadie is white. But it was dripping onto the floor. Freaked me out....but I've known others whose pets had the internal stitches with no problem at all.

 

When i had Nala spayed about 3-4 years ago they used regular stiches they also had to take a piece of her liver at the same time (thats when we found out she had hepitias) (sp) anyway the gave me one of those cone collers for her but it was so big she crashed into everything so i took one of my T-shirts and put it on her and made a little knot in the back so it wouldn't hang down so far and she couldn't get to her tummy. It worked pretty good

good luck to your baby

 

Margo-

I was worried about Zoe when I got her spayed in January but she did just fine. They were external stitches as well. One thing you my want to try is putting a little bit of neosporin (sp?) on them so they dont dry out and force the dog to scratch them. I would ask you vet about this to make sure it is okay, my vet suggested it. Zoe didn't eat much for the fist two days but she was doing fine by the third day. Ten days later we got her stitches out and it literally took 2 minutes. The vet came out in the waiting room and had me hold Zoe still and she took them out right there. Let us know how you dog does. Im sure she will be fine.

Megan

 

Thank you everyone for your replies...i am feeling better about this whole thing...im curious to see how long the stitches will be in for...i will ask about the neosporin thats a good idea....thanks..i will let you guys know how she does...i miss her so much and she has been only gone for 2 hours now...geez i wonder how i will be when i have children.

 

My sister must have called me 6 times when her littlest kitten went in for his neutering. I hate waiting for the vet to call!

She'll be just fine and very happy to see you.


Jamiya

 

well i got syd back...they let me sit with her in a room while she was still sleeping and i was there with winnie when syd woke up...she walked a couple steps and then plopped down and has ben sleeping ever since...i put her on the couch with me with a peepee pad under her just in case....she is so cute, i just love her, i cant wait till she wakes up and i can cuddle...thanks agian everyone for making me feel better.

 

There is an update to the e-collar....it is a collar like the ones we people wear for neck trama! My sister's dog just had knee surg. and being he is an eskie he has ripped out all of the stitches! now has 2 staples removed but the collar has helped. It was when seh removed the collar that he did the damage!

just tell her how important those stitches are she will try then to behave! LOL