# Spay shave.



## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

How big is the area that's shaved? Does anyone else out there have pictures of their dog's 'post-spay' haircut? 

No, not a big deal, but I'm a little boggled by Kylie. She's got a strip about 4 inches wide on her back that still has fur, and while she's a 10lb dog, that seems a bit extreme. Her incision is normal sized, by the way - about 2 inches longish. She's never been in heat and she certainly wasn't pregnant. 










Maybe it just looks weirder to me because she's small?


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## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

I've been chuckling at that photo all night. Honestly, if I was a vet tech and this was my 30th patient for a day, and I got a super cute puppy like Kylie on the table... I might have done it for the lulz.

There is a reason why I am not a vet.


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

Canyx said:


> I've been chuckling at that photo all night. Honestly, if I was a vet tech and this was my 30th patient for a day, and I got a super cute puppy like Kylie on the table... I might have done it for the lulz.
> 
> There is a reason why I am not a vet.


I just. Keep snickering. 

SHE HAS A MOHAWK.

(The giant cone (long nose = huge E-collar) helps nothing, either. God, that poor puppy's dignity.)


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## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

My friends spontaneously sent this to me tonight. I think it is more relevant for your situation:


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## spotted nikes (Feb 7, 2008)

Pick up some Cortisone cream to put on shaved abdomen, but not on incision. The shaved underside is going to be prickly/itchy as it grows, and the cortisone will help.
(That shaved area looks excessive to me...my dogs all had just a small patch shaved (about 3-5" around incision).)


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## mashlee08 (Feb 24, 2012)

That is a bit big, was she dirty? Sometimes if the animal is dirty they shave more so they can clean a bigger margin, or someone stuffed up th cut and had to go bigger to fix it (cut still meant to look even and nice) or the vet might have wanted a big margin. But, in saying that, it's still big.


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

mashlee08 said:


> That is a bit big, was she dirty? Sometimes if the animal is dirty they shave more so they can clean a bigger margin, or someone stuffed up th cut and had to go bigger to fix it (cut still meant to look even and nice) or the vet might have wanted a big margin. But, in saying that, it's still big.


Not when I left her, but she was sitting in a cage at the vet for about four hours before she got spayed, so - maybe possible?

Cortisone cream is a go. She is definitely itchy as blazes.


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## georgiapeach (Mar 17, 2012)

Maddie's tummy area was completely shaved, but not that much! Did your dog get a tattoo to show that she was spayed? Maddie has a green line on her tummy about an inch long. We were told that this is the new indicator that a female is spayed.


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## ladyshadowhollyjc (Oct 28, 2008)

Lol, poor girl. Id say, they either had a newer tech shaving, or someone was used to shaving big dogs and got a little carried away on Kylie.


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## zeronightfarm (Jun 15, 2011)

georgiapeach said:


> Maddie's tummy area was completely shaved, but not that much! Did your dog get a tattoo to show that she was spayed? Maddie has a green line on her tummy about an inch long. We were told that this is the new indicator that a female is spayed.


When I got Bria shaved 5 months ago, they did not tattoo her, but thats a good idea, since some dogs don't scar.


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

georgiapeach said:


> Did your dog get a tattoo to show that she was spayed? Maddie has a green line on her tummy about an inch long. We were told that this is the new indicator that a female is spayed.


Yep. She's got the green line tattoo just below the spay incision. I thought it was kind of neat, and it's definitely a good idea.

Thanks, guys. I feel validated to know my  was justified and I wasn't imagining her being extra bald. (Not, again, that it matters at all, but WOW she's doofy looking)


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Haha, my vet shaves cats halfway up their sides like that (probably dogs, too, but I've never had a dog spayed by him). I like to laugh at them. . .


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## Abbylynn (Jul 7, 2011)

georgiapeach said:


> Maddie's tummy area was completely shaved, but not that much! Did your dog get a tattoo to show that she was spayed? Maddie has a green line on her tummy about an inch long. We were told that this is the new indicator that a female is spayed.


Eddee has that green line for his neuter too.  Poor Lucy didn't have one when I adopted her ... and they opened her up twice! ... only to find she was already spayed! Poor old girl.

How is Kylie today?


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

Abbylynn said:


> Eddee has that green line for his neuter too.  Poor Lucy didn't have one when I adopted her ... and they opened her up twice! ... only to find she was already spayed! poor old girl.
> 
> How is Kylie today?


Sleeping on my lap right now. Largely crabby and bored, I think. Bug is the bigger problem and downright sulking at not being able to be in the room with Kylie, since they lack the ability not to wrestle when together.


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## Abbylynn (Jul 7, 2011)

CptJack said:


> Sleeping on my lap right now. Largely crabby and bored, I think. Bug is the bigger problem and downright sulking at not being able to be in the room with Kylie, since they lack the ability not to wrestle when together.


That is normal. The one poor dog I rescued from our area shelter, 10 years ago ... that poor thing got very very ill from her spay. I felt soooo bad for her. She could hardly go poo and just vomited her little head off. She did survive ... and is still in the family and doing well in her aging. She is a Lab mix. 

I bet Bugs is having a hard time understanding what happened to Kylie. It will be all better before she knows it.


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

It's not a side view, but here's one of the fosters post-spay. Smallish area shaved, and a green line.


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## hamandeggs (Aug 11, 2011)

Abbylynn said:


> Eddee has that green line for his neuter too.  Poor Lucy didn't have one when I adopted her ... and they opened her up twice! ... only to find she was already spayed! Poor old girl.
> 
> How is Kylie today?


Biscuit has the green tattoo also. I think it's so smart! I thought it was mostly the low-cost spay-neuter clinics in the South that were doing that, but it sounds like maybe regular vets are doing it now too?


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

Shell said:


> It's not a side view, but here's one of the fosters post-spay. Smallish area shaved, and a green line.


Yeah, that is much more like I expected. Kylie's actually visibly misty bald, even from above. It's bizarre looking. ...I need to buy her a sweater or some pjs or something for after recovery.


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## hanksimon (Mar 18, 2009)

I'm jealous, Shep didn't get a tattoo when he was fixed... how can they tell ?


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

That does seem a bit excessive. When Susie was spayed, you could not even tell she had been clipped unless she rolled over. Our Vet puts a tattoo in the ear when they are spayed. Kiska does not have a tattoo as I got her spayed the same time as she had a c-section and you cannot tell she was even done. That was about three years ago. She was not even clipped off as much as your pup.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

One of my friends got a dog from the Humane Society who was spayed by vet students at the college (that's how the HS does it now). She has a green line tattoo; it's the first time I've seen that. I wish all vets would do that or another agreed-upon sign. . .I hate finding a stray and either having to wait a few months to see if she goes into heat or not or risk putting her through surgery twice. My feral cats had their ears notched but I doubt most people want that done to their pet cats. So either the ear dot tattoos like Marshall Farms does to rabbits and ferrets or a line tattoo on the tummy (but it's hard to see a cat's tummy without shaving it so ear dots would be better for them, I think).


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## luv2byte (Oct 21, 2009)

Idont have a pic bit both our dogs had about a 4"x4" spot shaved, couldn't see it unless looking for it.


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## Jesco (Feb 10, 2012)

Hazel was spayed by the Humane Society before I got her at around 8 weeks old which I'm not too happy about but I understand why they spay/neuter before being adopted out. Her shave was a bit bigger then I remember my previous dog's being and she was also got tattooed in her ear, a couple blue dots. I didn't even notice the tattoo until we were at our Vet's office with what we thought might have been a surgery hernia that ended up being a raging infection and she had to have emergency surgery to clean it all out. The Vet figured that she was allergic to the internal sutures the Humane Society had used and the infection festered inside until it became noticeable on the outside.

Spay shave round 1









Spay shave round 2








Please excuse Hazel being a bit dirty looking in the second picture she also had a urinary tract infection and this picture must have been taken before she was cleaned up.


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## moluno (Apr 29, 2009)

The length looks like it might be typical, we'd usually shave up to the sternum. But on the sides maybe a big excessive, we'd shave about an inch or two past the nipples.


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