# Nervous about getting my dog spayed



## starrysim (Dec 2, 2012)

I'm hoping you guys can ease my mind a bit about getting Luna spayed. She just turned one, and she had her first heat soon after we got her, before we even had a chance to think about it. I haven't done much research on this, and there is so much conflicting info out there. I'm just a bit worried about the recovery from the surgery, that her personality may change a bit, and the possibility of weaker bladder control. It may be good for me to hear some personal accounts of how it went when you got your girl spayed.


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## Willowren (May 5, 2007)

If you do not intend to breed your dog I would recommend getting her spayed before she is advanced in age. We had a toy fox terrier named Lucy who lived to be 15, but we had not spayed her and she developed very large mammory tumors in her stomach that felt like large sponge like rocks beneath the nipples. The vet informed us that these develop often when Older females have not been fixed. For your dog's future health, I would recommend doing it while she is young and complications are less likely to arise. All of my dogs have been spayed. There are currently four in the house. None of them had any noticeable behavioral changes after they were healed up from the surgery. Sure they're going to be sore for a while, that is to be expected with any surgery, but it's important to do.


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## luv mi pets (Feb 5, 2012)

Since I had no intentions on breeding or wanting my dog to have a litter of pups, I have all my females spayed. I have not had any problems with any of dogs post surgery. My eldest is 16 years old and still going strong. My youngest female is 3 years old. I did not want to go through heat cycles. Surgeries are not without risks but for most the surgery is uneventful and the dog makes a full recovery. It is easier for a younger dog to recover from surgery than an older dog. 

If you do not want to breed or do not want to raise a litter of puppies the only guarantee to this not happening is having the dog spayed.


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## ThoseWordsAtBest (Mar 18, 2009)

At this point I've probably seen the recovery of hundreds of spayed dogs, and very few issues. Personalities unaffected. Smalls had a difficult time, but she is a special circumstance and excluding that her and Elsa were completely normal acting by the end of the night and not too pleased to be on rest.


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## voodookitten (Nov 25, 2012)

I can understand your worries, they are perfectly normal. But unless you can supervise your girl 24/7 when she comes into heat, which would be a feat I would struggle with personally and you have no intentions to breed - get her done. 

I've owned all up 5 females that were pets - over the years not all at once - and all of them went fine afterwards and the ones that have passed on led great lives with no health problems as a result. 

We also have owned 3 female Maremma's to guard our livestock and all the girls were desexed at 6 months - can you imagine a dingo X maremma? Wasn't even going to RISK going there. All the girls were not very human friendly as they lived with their flocks 24/7 but they were human tolerant so we did have some concerns as to how they would go. The vets would give us enough sedatives to keep them knocked out for the first week so they wouldn't fret too much about being away from their flocks whilst they healed but it always ended well.

All 3 girls are not with us any longer as they were sold on with their flocks and all 3 had no health problems either at ages 3, 6 and 12+. 

Recovery after surgery was the most worrying point for me, we just had Kayla done a couple of months ago and had to get her one of those cones of shame as she wouldn't leave the incision site alone. And then she was fine. Dopey for 24 hours (as mean as it sounds, enjoy chuckling at that part when you get her done as its so funny and Kayla was on pain meds so I knew she wasn't in pain, just dopey as all hell. Priceless. And no, I never laughed at her directly, just when she wasn't watching hehe poor darling).

Edited to add - none of our girls personalities changed at all. I've personally never seen that in any other females either.


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## Fade (Feb 24, 2012)

If your worried find a very experienced vet  makes a difference. Spaying females is very important. there is a tiny risk in surgery not nearly compared to all the female issues that can develop. if a dog gets pyometra then you have to spay anyways and its life threatening and costs a lot. and the numbers are up to like 24-30% of dogs over 5 yrs old.

There was a thread started awhile ago discussing the pros and cons. HereThere are graphic surgery photos on that thread but you can read the original post without seeing them if you want


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## cookieface (Jul 6, 2011)

We had Katie spayed at 10 1/2 months. There was a _very minor_ complication during surgery which required to her to stay overnight at the veterinary hospital, but otherwise she was fine. The notes in her chart indicated that she was alert, happy, and wagging her tail every time she was checked during the night. I think I was more affected by the surgery than she was - I was up all night worrying. 

We dropped her off on a Friday morning, picker her up Saturday morning, and she acted as though nothing happened. She didn't seem to mind the week of restricted activity, didn't show any signs of pain (we gave her pain meds for two days), and healed without incident. It's been over a year since her spay, and she's absolutely the same goofy love bug as before the surgery.

Spay incontinence is a possibility, but talk to your vet about your dog's risk (as I understand it, size and number of estrus cycles before spaying make a difference). There are treatment options should that occur.

For me, the biggest change is that I'm not worried about Katie going into season and attracting all the intact dogs in the area. I'm not sure how many that would be, but I don't want to find out


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## starrysim (Dec 2, 2012)

After re-reading my post, I guess I wasn't completely clear. The decision to spay has already been made, it's not a matter of making the decision. I'm just worried about it, that's all. Thanks for the encouragement, everyone.


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## dmichaelc (Jun 7, 2013)

Personally, I've never heard of spaying changing a female dog's personality. I know it didn't change my dog's behavior. As with any surgical procedure there is always some risk of complications but this is a really routine procedure. I hope everything goes well. Let us know how it turns out.


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## hanksimon (Mar 18, 2009)

As cookieface said, the surgery seems to be more traumatic for the owner than the dog  The Vet should answer ALL of your questions beforehand, and many Vets have a handout with all the frequently asked questions.

Typically the Vet will give you about 3 days of pain pills, but most dogs don't seem to need them ... use them anyway to make the dog more comfortable. The incision will smell funny to the dog, and will start to itch after about 3 days. You have to stop the dog from licking or chewing, by monitoring, using boy's underwear (!!), or by using an Elizabethan Collar (which some Vets will lend for free). I don't know the specifics, but the Vet used to remove stitches after 8 days. I think they use glue now.

After about two weeks, I think the dog can be released for exercise. When the dog is released, many of them go crazy with happiness since they're no longer cooped up. That's the only change in personality and it is temporary. Also, a decrease in hormones results in a decrease in 'metabolism' so the dog will get fat by eating the same calories. The surgery doesn't make them fat, they get fat because the surgery may slow their metabolism. So, you simply want to reduce how much you feed her by about 10% - 20% if she starts gaining weight.

Don't be fooled. Just after surgery, she may lose weight for about a month, then she'll start gaining quickly.

When is (or was?) surgery scheduled?


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## starrysim (Dec 2, 2012)

I haven't scheduled her surgery yet, but planning to do it in early July. My usual vet is charging way too much ($600+), so I've asked the "breeder" I got her from for recommendations, and she recommended another vet who she says is very good, and charges less. So I need to call up the new vet and talk to them. I'm also on the wait list for the SPCA low cost spay/neuter clinic, but if they don't call me within the next week or two, then I'll have to go with the new vet. The new vet is almost an hour drive away - any tips on how to make her trip home comfortable? Will she be woozy from the sedatives?


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## hanksimon (Mar 18, 2009)

You'll have to ask the Vet about that. Some Vets hold the dog overnight, others do the procedure in the morning and release the dog in the afternoon. Also, the current anesthetics, such as sevo, wear off very quickly. But the pup should be happy to sleep during the ride...


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## starrysim (Dec 2, 2012)

Luna is going in for her surgery next Friday. The thought of them putting her under and cutting her open is killing me 

For reference, if anyone else from the Toronto area is reading, I'm taking her to the OSPCA Low Cost Spay Neuter Clinic in Newmarket. I put her on the wait list in mid-February, and they called last week. Once they call, the next available appointment is usually within a week or two, so no more waiting. They also got my vet's info, and will take care of getting her blood work results. She also told me they send meloxicam home for pain management. The woman on the phone was really helpful and friendly. I'll update later on how the surgery went. I'm also getting her microchipped at the same time.


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