Spay surgery question now.

Ok. If everything goes well at her vet checkup and she gets her surgeries (spay and eyelid surgery) and her hips get the OK, I will be getting Lucy (the St. Bernard puppy for adoption). B/c of the way they do things they want me to pick her up Friday evening after her surgery b/c they won't have a good place for her to recover. I have never had a dog spayed so I don't know what kind of condition she will be in and I didn't think to ask the lady. I guess I want to know what to expect? Will she be able to walk? How long does it take for a typical spay surgery to heal? And then the eye lid thing? Indy will want to meet her but should I let him meet her that evening or wait until Sat or wait later? I don't want to traumatize her. Also, she is a big puppy (6 mos so like 50 ish pounds) so if she can't walk that is going to be an issue perhaps.

About Lucy....this is the first dog I will ever have adopted. she is very very sweet and loving. They say she has a little separation anxiety but that she has made a lot of improvements since they have had her which has only been 1 wk. They don't think she has ever been to the vet b/c of the eye thing. Also she still has her dewclaws (double ones!). She gets along great with people and other dogs and cats. She seems to be on the submissive side. She likes to play rough. She is a short-haired St. She is housetrained although they used a doggie door which I don't have so there may be some issues there.

I'm really nervous and excited at the same time. The only thing I am really worried about is her hips but I think that bothers me with all saints. Indy has really good looking hips so I don't worry about it with him. Lucy I don't know about. She walks a little goofy but that is somewhat typical for a St. puppy so it is hard to tell. They said the vet they use is really thorough and is going to do a hip exam so they will tell me if there are any issues. I told them that was my only real deal-breaker. Hips you can't really fix. Anyways, I hope everything goes well. I don't know why this makes me so nervous but it does.

 

Be sure you follow your instincts on this, although I always get nervous when bringing a new animal into my home. There's usually a period of a few days to a week or more where I think "WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?!?!" but then suddenly you realize the animal is indispensible and you wonder why you were ever worried.

About the spay. I have never seen a dog on the same day, although I saw my cat the day he was declawed (14 years ago - I didn't know any better) and he was pretty sleepy and unhappy. I took Nala home the day after her spay and she was a wildcat. She never seemed to notice.

It probably depends on the dog. And Nala was only 14 weeks old, which is easier than 6 months. I don't know if being bigger in size makes it harder or not.

It would be really hard to introduce a new dog that's not feeling well. I almost think you should keep them totally apart for a day or two. Maybe just let them sniff each other under a door or something?

I got a second cat while my first one was being neutered and declawed. He was NOT happy to come home to find a little intruder in his home, and he didn't feel well enough to assert himself. The kitten actually got her way for a day or two, and then when he felt better he wrestled her into submission, LOL.

 

When our dog got spayed, she was a big pain. She licked her stitches constantly, requiring us to supervise her, because she refused to wear an e-collar and whined and woofed if we tried to cover it. So, although it wasn't a complicated surgery, sometimes the doggies can make it worse.

I'd recommend finding her a quiet room to stay in, and I'd definitely wait to introduce her to your other pets until she's better feeling and hurts less. It may make her defensive towards the other animals.

Congrats on your new baby!

 

Congratulations on your new baby! And what a big baby! I can't even imagine the size of a doggie door to accommodate a St.Bernard. That's just a DOOR!

All 3 of my kids--2 dachshunds and 1 cat all did fine after their spay. They could all walk and Brie even popped a stitch playing with my Mom's dog. Zoey milked it a little and we layed around for the weekend but she was really fine. I picked up both of my dogs that day because no one is at my vets overnight. They wanted to keep the cat and that was fine because I had to set up a room for her.

Do you think you could introduce Indy on neutral ground before the new pup's surgeries?

Good luck and don't forget pictures!

 

When Natalie was spayed she was only 16wks old and had to stay overnight (they used to require it at the time) at the vet so I did'nt see her the day of her spay but the following day when I picked her up she was also a "wildcat" like Jamiya's Nala. The vet sent me home with tranquilizers to keep her from running around so much for fear she would rip her stitches out because she was so active.
Good luck Eliza! I'm sure she'll do fine.

 

:lol: :lol:

If a meeting is possible before the surgery on neutral ground as coppersmom said I would do that, the day you bring her home after having surgery, she will most likely still be groggy, the scent of the anaesthetic, the hosptial etc is sometimes enough to unsettle other pets so if the meeting isnt possible beforehand then I would keep the new pup seperate until the following day( but make sure she is somewhere you can monitor her closely)....but you can play it by ear, see how 'awake' the pup is, if shes up and walking around, sniffing, attentive then a meeting outside could still take place.
If she is still groggy pay close attention to her if she's near any steps, if you have sairs in the house keep her away, same if you have a pool, they can be a little unbalanced and not really aware or have control of what their legs are doing!!! check with the vet if its okay to give some water and food, if she has surgery early in the day you may be able to feed her after shes settled down a little in your home, if its a late surgery it might be better to give just some ice cubes and hold off on the food until the next morning, the anaesthesia can make them feel a bit queezy and there can be some vomiting, the last thing you want is a pup that is still too groggy to be moving around and vomiting up food and water, they risk aspirating and it will put added stress on the stomach which would not be too pleasant aftr being spayed. If you do hold off on food and water until the next day, give her some water but dont let her drink too much, then wait about 20 minutes then offer a small amount of food, she may be very hungry and you dont want her to overdo it so small meals through the day is better.
She should have an elizabethan collar on (a cone) due to the eye surgery so she shouldnt be able to lick at the surgery site from the spay, however watch that Indy isnt licking her surgery sites, some pets will do that.
Keep her activity limited for about 10 days, no running, jumping, playing ball etc, I also wouldnt take her on any walks either, at least nothing more than a few minutes. Too much activity (and licking)can end up causing a build up fluid under the skin, if you see any sweilling, redness, discharge, while its usually fine its best to have a vet take a look, any bleeding or opening of the skin (not all vets use external stitches for this) take her to the vet.
Another thing you could do that might put your mind at rest is call the vet ahead of time and ask if they have some kind of a checklist and an emergency number just in case.
Sorry if Im making this sound like its a nightmare, its not but Ive found that when clients have a quick guide they can refer to on home care and a back up phone number they are usually a little more comfortable.
For all the hundreds...probably thousands of spays Ive recovered fom surgery Ive seen very few problems....and mostly those problems are about 5 days later and down to too much activity.
So...congratulations on your new pup.

 

I agree with what others have said, let the dogs meet beforehand (if at all possible) and then keep them seperate while she gets better. I'd be too worried that they might want to play and jump and rip something.
I brought Luther home the day he was desexed, but he just laid around all day, but that is his temperment anyway!

 

Marlee just got spayed on Fri. and we brought her home same day. This was a first for me as well. She was very groggy all evening Fri. I had to help her outside to potty. About 4:30 am on Sat. she woke up hungry, and seemed great. Sat, evening and Sun. she seemed uncomfortable, so we headed to the vet Mon. Turned out she was having a reaction to internal sutures. So she's on antibiotics, but doing great. Depends on the dog for recovery. I had no problems keeping Marlee inactive for the first couple of days, as she was feeling very sad. When Jersey got spayed a couple of years ago, that was a different story! She was a wild woman and I had to watch her like a hawk so she wouldn't hurt herself! Good luck.

 

Thanks for the replies. Strange how dogs can recover from major surgery so quickly. If it were a human, they'd be out for weeks.

I am going to hold off letting them meet until at least Sat. but we'll see how she is acting. I can't let them meet beforehand b/c right now Lucy has a bad cold. Hopefully she will get better in time for the surgery (if not they are postponing it). She is on antibiotics. I just don't want to risk getting Indy sick. Last thing I need is two sick St. Bernards!

I'm feeling better about all this now. I am just a really nervous person but I have been thinking alot about it. This may sound corny but they say she is around 6 mos old (they don't really know for sure) but it was around 6 mos ago that Samantha died. I think it is sort of fate.

Indy has also been harrassing the cat so we need to get another dog in here asap before the cat loses his mind. lol.

 

After everything I said earlier I have a confession to make.
The first time I had to deal with a pet out of anaesthesia was over 20 years ago, my 4 year old dog had
just been neutered, I brought him home a few hours later, he kind of 'wobbled' out to the car (he weighed about 70#) I helped him up the stairs to my apartment, he kept going to his water bowl so I gave him a little water and he seemed to coming around nicely (I was nervous) about 2 hours later he he 'fell asleep' and started howling and whining, occasionally trying to stand but seemed like he couldnt, by this time I was a basket case, couldnt find the phone number the vet had given me...just in case....frantically tore the house apart practically looking for it, finally found it and called the vet, I vaguely remember putting the phone next to my dog so the vet could hear him (I dont know how many times people have done that to me over the years since....it really doesnt help AT ALL ) the vet said....hes just waking up from the anaesthesia, he could be 'in and out' of droopiness all night!!!! Everything was fine, by the next morning my dog was back to his usual happy self....my nerves settled eventually after about a week :shock:

 

The day after Nala's spay, there was nothing we could do to keep her calm. She would dash off the deck and try to jump back on and end up landing right on her stitches on the corner of the deck, but she didn't yelp or even pause. It's like she couldn't even feel it! No licking or chewing at the stitches. I guess that was the only easy thing about her, LOL.

As for animals coming out of anaesthesia - some of them sound like they are being murdered. I have heard it at the vet before and it's very disturbing.

 

Yes....Ive had some nasty comments from clients that have been in reception with their own pets and heard it Ive heard people threaten to report the vet for cruelty.....it really is horrible to hear it. If a pet is waking up very 'rough' (thrashing about) we usually will give a light dose sedative that wears off after a couple of hours on most but if its more just vocalizing, some quieten down if you hold them, not all though and sometimes its a bit risky as you can receive an unintentional bite. Ive been told that its no different in humans waking from anaesthesia but they are usually automatically given drugs to keep the recovery uneventful.
Personally I thik all pets should be kept in the hospital until they are completely awake, up and walking around, the entire recovery period from anasethesia can be extrememly traumatic to the owner, although the pets are usually fine.