We went to the vet yesterday to have Willow's pre-sterilisation blood tests. Do they do those in the UK? Assuming the results are good, she'll be going in a week on Friday. I know it's not a big deal, but I'm still worried for her. I'm more worried about her being scared that I'm not there than the actual operation. I may have to take her down the night before, too, which I'm really worried about because it will make her more stressed. My poor little girl
Re: Willow booked in for her spay Poor both of you. I'm sure it's just as hard on the owners, at least the dogs have no sense of anticipation and they seem to bounce back quickly. In two weeks time you'll be struggling to keep her quiet
Re: Willow booked in for her spay If you can, it would be better to take her the morning of the spay, as soon as she is in she should be given a sedative and then she just won't care This is what we did when I worked for the vet. It is one of the reasons that I chose boys for my last two dogs, couldn't stand the stress of the worry of spays! Ridiculous really as I have seen so many bitches spayed without a problem. You will be so relieved when she is home and then you will be worried about keeping her quiet!
Re: Willow booked in for her spay I have a couple of questions about it. 1. There's nowhere to park near the surgery. The nearest carpark is a ten minute walk away. Would it be OK to carry her this far after her op? Otherwise, I'll risk a ticket and block the road outside! 2. Post-op diet. I know it's been said that spayed dogs need fewer calories going forward to prevent weight loss. I'm not worried about managing my dogs' weight just by tweaking their diet based on how they look, but immediately post-op (the week or so after, as she's recovering), will she need more food to aid her recovery, assuming she gets her appetite back? Is there anything in particular I can feed her to aid her recovery? [quote author=Stacia link=topic=9856.msg142999#msg142999 date=1423645562] If you can, it would be better to take her the morning of the spay, as soon as she is in she should be given a sedative and then she just won't care This is what we did when I worked for the vet. [/quote] I know, but I won't be able to do that because I have to be at work, which is at least 40 minutes away from the vet, at 10am and the vet doesn't open until 9:30am, so timing doesn't work out. I'll put in a jumper of mine which will hopefully help her settle overnight :'(
Re: Willow booked in for her spay Ah I can't say don't worry because of course you will,it's horrible taking them in but they really do bounce back quickly x
Re: Willow booked in for her spay You've probably asked the vet already if you can drop her early but if not I'd be tempted to explain. I can't believe there's no one there until 9:30 if they have animals overnight......
Re: Willow booked in for her spay [quote author=bbrown link=topic=9856.msg143012#msg143012 date=1423647998] You've probably asked the vet already if you can drop her early but if not I'd be tempted to explain. I can't believe there's no one there until 9:30 if they have animals overnight...... [/quote] I hadn't thought of that! I mean, I had obviously thought about asking and he said that's the time they open, but hadn't thought about the overnighters.... Maybe it's just that that's the time he arrives, and would want to do the hand over himself. I'll see what I can do. I'd be much happier dropping her off in the morning.
Re: Willow booked in for her spay It's an awful feeling taking them in for surgery when they are not ill. I made sure I had really busy days booked when my two went in. The vet nurse said 'Come on Gypsy, we're going for a nice party, a rather snoozy party.' It was such a sweet thing to say I came out smiling despite how I felt. All I can say is - it's soon over and the worry is keeping them quiet! (I couldn't do it with Tatze around, so she went to a quiet Puppy Walker's house for two weeks to recover. She was absolutely fine with that too ) We worry FAR more than they do!
Re: Willow booked in for her spay [quote author=snowbunny link=topic=9856.msg143000#msg143000 date=1423646069] There's nowhere to park near the surgery. The nearest carpark is a ten minute walk away. Would it be OK to carry her this far after her op? Otherwise, I'll risk a ticket and block the road outside! [/quote] No, definitely not. Even getting them in the car is hard when they are woozy. I had to do the same - risk a ticket.
Re: Willow booked in for her spay Aw I hope you can arrange to drop her off in the morning. Is there anyway someone could cover for you at work for half an hour? Ask the vet about pick up - surely they must have lots of animals who need carrying out or couldn't walk that far. Maybe they have a back door/staff entrance or something? If it's keyhole surgery there won't be a huge amount of tissue repair needed, so I would think that her normal diet would be just fine, but somebody might know better. We gave Mira some chicken and fish the first day or two just to spoil her and also to be easy on her stomach after the anaesthetic. The extra protein for tissue repair can't go wrong too. She got her appetite back quickly and I don't remember her being extra hungry.
Re: Willow booked in for her spay I have had 2 girls done in the past and Meg will be done next month. We don't do pre op bloods in the UK. Both mine bounced back overnight. It really was a breeze for them. We just did normal diet then I cut back as they got a bit older. I agree with previous post, risk a ticket. It would be too uncomfortable for you both to walk for 10 mins. Even across the car park is hard when they are so post op. They just need to sleep. I hope it all passes quickly for you and she is up to mischief in no time. All this worry is much easier than a scary pyometra ,best wishes Emma and Meg
Re: Willow booked in for her spay Thanks for all your kind words. I'm going to see if John can come with me to pick her up, then he can just drive round the block until I walk out the door with her. It's a single lane road with bollards on the pavement, so parking our massive Jeep would completely block it off. I'm also going to try my damndest to drop her off in the morning rather than the night before! I'll get her some lovely, easy to eat treats in for the days after. She already has a good amount of raw meat so I'll keep that up. Shadow will need lots of treats, too, because he'll be moving out for a few days and I don't want him to feel unloved when I go and visit him!
Re: Willow booked in for her spay I love the way you're planning this all so carefully Fiona. Very kind and responsible of you, just the way it should be.
Re: Willow booked in for her spay [quote author=Karen link=topic=9856.msg143064#msg143064 date=1423666755] I love the way you're planning this all so carefully Fiona. Very kind and responsible of you, just the way it should be. [/quote] Anally retentive? Moi? 8)
Re: Willow booked in for her spay We don't do pre op blood work here in the US- not for the routine spays anyway. It sounds like you've worked out most of the details...and I totally hear ya on the worry thing! : Bella sailed through her spay with NO problems at all...even in her sleepy state she still wanted to jump up on the sofa and bed...and run with her sister and all that. I did my best to lift her up and down especially the first few days...but by day 5 there was no stopping her. I will say that her stamina was less...she didn't have the boundless energy for hours on end kind of thing...but she still was full of beans and needed to play for quick bursts between her naps. I would just continue to feed her normally and keep tabs on her weight. She is still a growing girl, and you're doing her young....so I would just watch her as she keeps growing and make adjustments if you see it being a problem in the future. It will all be over before you know it! {{HUGS}}
Re: Willow booked in for her spay Chepi has her spay in a few days and I am upset to think of her sitting for god knows how long in a strange cage waiting. I have to take her in between 8 and 8.30 am. I also feel sad to alter her. Never felt this with the cats!
Re: Willow booked in for her spay Holly was done a couple of months ago. She was dropped off in the morning and went trotting off quite happily with the nurse. It was me stood like a muppet going 'ok bye then Holly, don't miss me too much ' as her wagging tail disappeared round the corner. She was in for the day and I think she had a lovely snoozy day being looked after by the team. She was walking when I picked her up late afternoon but it was only a few steps then lifted into the car. Can't imagine having had to carry her for 10 full minutes. Hopefully you can drop Willow off a little earlier in the morning although I'm sure of she has to go for a sleep over she'll be fine too. I do recommend a busy day for you so the time flies by until pick up time. Food wise we were advised to give her just a few bits of her normal food at night and keep it light for a couple of days. Holly Hoover only lasted a couple of days on light meals before she was back to normal eating/hoovering habits. Good luck with it, and to you too Jane with Chepi.
Re: Willow booked in for her spay We had Sara done 2 weeks ago. Same as Steph. Happy to go in, happy to leave that afternoon. We had to stop her from jumping into the car and fed her only half her dinner that night. But after that everything was back to normal. The only one feeling any pain was me. She was extemely happy to be going for walks again after about 10 days. I think it cured her fear of water but now she's started barking at the neighbour.
