Took Greta (15 mos) to be spayed last Thursday and it has been more challenging than I expected...

When I picked her up the Vet said surgery went fine; it took her overnight to really get over the anesthesia but I was expecting that. Unfortunately she developed diarrhea Saturday; I figured it might have been all of the stuff in her system from the surgery. Sunday evening there were a few drops of blood in the diarrhea, which made me really concerned. First thing Monday morning I call and back to the vet we go. He asked a bunch of questions and gave her an antibiotic and some anti-diarrhea meds along with a shot to jump-start that. He suggested she skip a meal to let her system recover a bit; we had already switched over to rice/boiled chicken on Sunday so keeping that up.

Her stool is already improving and I feel like this is all relatively under control, but what a pain! No running or jumping for another 5 days and only mild food until the stomach is back to normal. That pretty much rules out everything she does except sleep and snuggle She apparently feels great despite all of this because she has been flipping her metal food bowl around, pogo-ing in front of the back door and wanting to wrestle or chase birds...

The Vet thought the diarrhea was probably caused by something she ate; this is entirely possible but I can't think what she might have ingested that was out of the ordinary. She could have slurped up something in the yard when I took her out for a bathroom break but it must have been a split second thing since she was on a leash. I wondered if it was the previcox she was taking for pain but he said side effects of that are usually vomiting, not diarrhea. Who knows.

Looking forward to this being over so we can get back to normal!

I feel your pain - the last time I have had a female spayed was about 10 years ago!

I have an intact female Leonberger who is 12, I never felt the need to spay her, though I understand the increased risk of uterine infection. So when it came time for my heart dog to retire from breeding, I had a helluva time deciding what to do. I explored OSS, full spay, ovariectomies and just leaving well enough alone - STILL really didn't know which to choose. My vet is a friend and actually has one of my girls sons, so when I asked, she told me what her choice was. I chose the Ovariectomy as she suggested. Too soon to say whether I regret it or not.

But my girl - high drive working dog, even at 8.5 years old - was NOT going to be easy to keep still for 14 days. I told my vet that we would be lucky if we got 10 days of "stillness" lol.

Her surgery was textbook and everyone commented on how well conditioned she was. My vet and the tech also said it was the fastest they have seen a dog come out of anesthesia in a LONG time. So I felt pretty great leaving the clinic and hoping for nothing eventful.

Well guess who decides she is nauseated and pukes up every bit of food that enters her mouth lol. So the next day, after a few failed attempts at even keeping bland food down, we were back at the vet for a shot to stop the nausea. Once that was under control, she was good. But after day 3 and only leashed walks and small training sessions, she was one VERY unhappy camper. And like I called it, by day 8 she was scratching herself so bad from frustration and trying to RUN every time she thought she had the chance, so by day 10 I just put her back to her regular routine (Without any jumping exercises) and she was happy again lol!

I hope I made the right choice for her, only time will tell! Hope the recovery time for your girl is uneventful from here on out and flies by!

I appreciate the sympathy, Niomi

I agree with you and definitely would have preferred the ovariectomy but there are only two places in/near our city that do them. The first wanted to charge me around $3,000 and would only do it with a stomach tack and the second said it was only for medically necessary cases with a referral. Jeez-louise.

 Quote: Carolyn Pike Roman

I appreciate the sympathy, Niomi

I agree with you and definitely would have preferred the ovariectomy but there are only two places in/near our city that do them. The first wanted to charge me around $3,000 and would only do it with a stomach tack and the second said it was only for medically necessary cases with a referral. Jeez-louise.

Wholy smokes! I actually got her Ovariectomy done for half price, since its not as invasive and time consuming. Only $600 instead of the $1100+ for the full spay! I wish I had done a stomach tack on her, but honestly didn't even think about it until the day of surgery, which was of course too late.

I will take girl dogs any day of the week over boy dogs (just my personal preference), but OMG this spay/don't spay, heats and such is going to be the death of me haha. Boys are simple that way, just leave them alone until there is a reason to do something.

 Quote: Carolyn Pike Roman

Took Greta (15 mos) to be spayed last Thursday and it has been more challenging than I expected...

When I picked her up the Vet said surgery went fine; it took her overnight to really get over the anesthesia but I was expecting that. Unfortunately she developed diarrhea Saturday; I figured it might have been all of the stuff in her system from the surgery. Sunday evening there were a few drops of blood in the diarrhea, which made me really concerned. First thing Monday morning I call and back to the vet we go. He asked a bunch of questions and gave her an antibiotic and some anti-diarrhea meds along with a shot to jump-start that. He suggested she skip a meal to let her system recover a bit; we had already switched over to rice/boiled chicken on Sunday so keeping that up.

Her stool is already improving and I feel like this is all relatively under control, but what a pain! No running or jumping for another 5 days and only mild food until the stomach is back to normal. That pretty much rules out everything she does except sleep and snuggle She apparently feels great despite all of this because she has been flipping her metal food bowl around, pogo-ing in front of the back door and wanting to wrestle or chase birds...

The Vet thought the diarrhea was probably caused by something she ate; this is entirely possible but I can't think what she might have ingested that was out of the ordinary. She could have slurped up something in the yard when I took her out for a bathroom break but it must have been a split second thing since she was on a leash. I wondered if it was the previcox she was taking for pain but he said side effects of that are usually vomiting, not diarrhea. Who knows.

Looking forward to this being over so we can get back to normal!

Previcox was the cause of a lot of problems for Kaiser, who was prescribed it for suspected arthritis, so be vigilant if this situation continues. Hope she feels better soon.

There is a wealth of info that supports the idea of waiting until a dog is fully mature before spay.

BUT- a puppy heals a heck of a lot faster, the surgery is much easier. On everyone. Post op vomiting, complications are really rare. Pups are just so resilient.

Still, my next dog will be mature before surgery. The orthopedic implications of early neuter just can't be ignored.

For me, with a rescue/shelter background, preventing oops litters trumps almost everything.

BUT, as Dr. Betty says, there are implications of pediatric neutering that can't be ignored.

We have posted here, more than once, an EXCELLENT paper on pros and cons, split between male and female dogs. Now I'm on Google and can't find it again.

But here are a couple, perhaps not as detailed and scholarly.

This is largely about the hip dysplasia, CCL, elbow dysplasia , etc. problems ....
https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/early-neutering-poses-health-risks-german-shepherd-dogs-study-finds/

And this is a somewhat broader picture ...
https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/7_9/features/The-Spay-Neuter-Debate_15649-1.html

http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/long-term-health-risks-benefits-spay-neuter-dogs/




ETA
I found it!
http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf

The orthopedic effects are more recently documented, I think, and so this should be read as an adjunct ....
https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/early-neutering-poses-health-risks-german-shepherd-dogs-study-finds/

Edited by Connie Sutherland (03/26/2018 03:22 PM)
Edit reason: ETA

Greta is 10 days post surgery, finally! Incision seems to have healed well, only lost two stitches, and her gut is back to normal. Glad to have that over and done with. Taking her on Wednesday to have the remaining stitches out... that aught to be entertaining, lol. Making my hubs go with us to help hold her for the techs.

Our vet was pro spay asap; he was not terribly pleased to wait even this long. The breeder recommended waiting until the second heat minimum. I'm hoping she's mostly done growing although I know it may still be a bit early. She went through one heat last year and developed mild pano during that time only. Guess we're splitting the difference (between early / adult spay) and hoping for the best. It was a tough decision, but we also have lots of loose intact animals in our 'hood. I was not interested in Greta having puppies at any point so...

My only regret was in forgetting to ask them to x-ray her joints since they had her under. Would have been nice to know where she is in growth and if we can expect any problems down the line.

I've never been a fan of spay/neuter without any health issues or just doing it for convenience.

With all the new info on the possible long term issues I doubt I'll ever do it without serious health issues.

If it's only about unwanted puppies that's my responsibility.

Unwanted behaviors often given as a reason to have it done is also my responsibility to properly train my dogs.

In my 72 yrs of owning rarely less then 2-3 sometimes 4 at the same time.

This was always with both males and females ran together I have had two females spayed and I believe 2 males neutered.

They are my responsibility!

Just my choice of course.