Our little Sura is growing up, and we are getting her spayed on Monday! What should I expect, I'm so worried about complications!

For those of you who don't know she's an 8 month old, 60 lbs German shepherd

I know how you feel! I just had my 8 month old greyhound mix spayed about two weeks ago. She chewed out her first set of stitches and we had to get the "wire stitches" put in and she had to wear an elizabethian collar for 10 days. She was also in heat during the spay, which I thought would cause all kinds of complications but the vet was very good with her.
I must have called 15 times that day checking on her before and after her surgery lol
The day she came home she was out of it and mainly slept. The next day she had sort of a razor burn on her tummy from where they shaved her. She spent most of the day whining and trying to scratch it, the benedryl anti itch cream worked wonderful on her to keep the irritation at bay. After the first two days she was back to her normal self, wanting to run around everywhere and jump up on everything. We had to crate her to limit her exercise.
Im sure everything with go smoothly for sura and I'll pray for a speedy recovery!

Don't worry too much. I got Siku spayed and luckily the vet lets owners take their dogs home the same day, so she didn't have to sit at the vets all night. Expect her to be groggy and out of it when you first pick her up (assuming you pick her up the same day). She will probably move around slower the first couple of days, but after that you have to keep her quiet so she doesn't tear her stitches! It's amazing how quickly they can bounce back. And you should see kittens. I swear sometimes it's like they didn't do anything to them at all! Running around like crazy. lol. You might want to get a cone or one of those blow up ones just in case she tries to lick her stitches.

Expect a doped doggy. I'm pretty sure when we picked Tika up she was waging her head instead of her tail and then fell asleep in her water bowl later on in the night.

Apart from expect misbehaving from boredom. Because of the stitches the Vets like you to be as inactive as possible for I think 2 weeks??? This can lead to acting out due to boredom.

I had to start very small walks back up almost right away because if I didn't Tika would run/jump more in the house and backyard.

Keep it slow, check the stitches from time to time and you'll be back to normal in no time. We had no personality, appetite, or activity level drop or gain in any direction. All my Chows always seemed to "Mellow" out after being spayed or Neutered though, so it can happen.

~Chris~

Thanks for the info you guys.

I'm really worried about her licking. She normally sleeps in her crate. Should I have her in my bed for the first little bit?

I wouldn't advise the bed as Mia had some slight bleeding afterwards, she has a white bed and it made quite the mess the first night. I put her crate next to my bed though so I could check on her throughout the night easily.
If she licks too much try the elizabethian collar.

The advice is to park close! Maggie wouldn't walk so I had to carry an 57 pound 6 month malamute to a car! Maggie slept with me the first night. I put a towel down if their was any blood. mine was during my finals so I was home studying.

Cool ,good to know. Maybe I'll pull her crate in my room and dope her up. LOL

Mika got spayed, came back only 1 day not normal, then I got a crazy hyper husky that had to be on a leash and little activity- vet said 14 days, they expected far less and understood she wouldn't last. Mika walked a lil bit but once you stop, she would lay down. I took her to dog bakery just to make a trip happy- no treats though but she loves that place. She was up for part of it, then I took her home and put her in crate in my room for a couple days.

If your still worried about licking either have to deal with the cone of shame, or some way of "wrapping" the stitches. If you do wrap it with something, it goes without saying just make sure it isn't too tight or rubbing against the stitches.

I've used a pair of old boxers for one of my chows, Tika wasn't a licker so we didn't have to worry, but it's easier with them because of the tail curl. I just popped a hole in the bottom of the boxer itself and fed the tail through, just to keep it in place. The Chow was fixated on her stitches but would NOT wear the cone.

Just wait and see how bad Sura is you might get lucky and just have to say "No" a couple of times here and there .

Best of luck Selene
~Chris~

They also have this neck brace you can get! maggie can take cones off her head. This worked the best.

UGH.

So far it's been one problem after another with this spay.

The receptionist calls me on Saturday and reminds me not to feed Sura on Sunday (her appointment is Monday morning) and so I ask if it's okay that she has her breakfast and skips her Sunday dinner. The receptionist tells me "no food on Sunday!" I thought it was quite a long fast, but who am i to second guess her she probably knows more than me right?

So Monday morning I take my poor starving baby girl to her spay appointment. The technician sits down with us and starts asking us standard questions. She asks when Sura ate last and I tell her Saturday night. She looks at me like I have 2 heads and asks me why I fasted her so long and I tell her the receptionist told me to fast her all day Sunday. So then she turns around and starts trying to put the blame on me, saying things like: "You should have questioned it!"

So I ask, is she going to be okay for surgery? They check her glucose and hydration and say she'll be fine for surgery. I tell them to make sure they feed her asap and they promise they will. So we leave.

At 2 pm I get a call from my vet informing me that she probably can't do the surgery because while she was checking Sura over she found a heart murmur. I asked her what the risks involved were (I had no idea what a heart murmur was) and she said if she operates the risk of her dying on the table increases. Obviously we didn't go through with it and my unaltered girl lays here under my legs.

Now I'm freaking out about her heart because she has been so lethargic lately (which until recently we chalked up to her growing pains). We have another appointment Monday to check her heart again. The vet said it could have been the premeds and it's probably nothing to worry about, or she could have some sort of heart disease.

I'm worried.

I'm so sorry you're having such a difficult time! Heart murmurs can be very scary. Did she say what grade it is? Our vet said my girl has one too and her's is like a 2, which isn't bad. She said we could always take her to a specialist and get a second opinion and they could also prescribe medication. She has been perfectly fine with it, but we do monitor it every time we go for a check up.

These are the step's I would take if I were you.

1. I would find out as much information about the murmur from you're current vet
2. Find a new vet, for them being so rude
3. Talk to a specialist

Now that I think no she didn't say what grade it was. I'm definitely going to find out on Monday if I can.

Hopefully the murmur was just due to the premeds and everything is fine.

Heart Murmur, those words haunt me. We bought our first husky and waited 8 weeks to pick him up, (grey white w/ blue eyes, really looked wolfish lol). Took him to our vet to check him the next day and she found a grade 4 heart murmur, found out the little guy had never been seen by a vet, needless to say he had to go back. We found another breeder who actually took the litter twice to be seen by a vet. This time all was fine.

It is my understanding that some heart murmurs that are present can also disappear after some time. I know that some medications can make it sound like one is present when it is not. I do know that my sister has a min schnauzer with a heart murmur and he was neutered with no problem. Wait and have her rechecked by your vet, and if necessary get a second opinion.

Snow White wrote:

Now that I think no she didn't say what grade it was. I'm definitely going to find out on Monday if I can.

Hopefully the murmur was just due to the premeds and everything is fine.

A good Dr would never per-med without doing a pre exam before sedation, which includes listening to the heart and lung sounds. And during induction the Vet or technician should be monitoring the pulse rate to make sure there are no changes. I'd say find a new vet. Big red flag. And they always explain the grading of heart conditions. Weird that he didn't tell you the grade. Definitely get a second opinion.

I'd find a new vet, to be honest. If she had a congenital murmur your vet would have found it as a puppy but murmurs can also be the result of disease and aging.

I agree with Brooke - something is SUPER fishy - especially without having done a pre-exam to ensure that she was healthy enough before meds/sedation.

Bella was diagnosed with a grade 3.5/5 (some vets grade on a level of 5, some on 6) murmur at 12 weeks old. We waited awhile as puppies often have what's called "innocent" or "flow" murmurs and they go away by 6 months of age but hers never did and we had to go to a cardiologist to have an echocardiogram of her heart done to find the cause. The result for Bella is Subaortic Stenosis or SAS.

If you go for a second opinion and the murmur is still heard - they'll grade the severity of the murmur and you'll have to see a cardiologist to determine the cause of it.

Quote :

The blood squirts through in a turbulent fashion which creates a sound known as a “heart murmur.” While any cause of turbulent blood flow can be heard as a murmur and a murmur does not always indicate disease is present...

Find a new vet immediately and get a second opinion! The murmur could get worse it is already a bad one that needs medication. If it is a bad one the other veins can harden and eventually go bad themselves. This happened to my cousins boxer and they told her that if they had found it sooner and put her on meds they could have prevented it from happening. Now they only give her boxer 2 years max. to live. It also can't do hardly anything active.
Hers has a 4/5 heart murmur. not trying to scare you just want your Sura to live a long happy life.

Hope everything turns out great!! That vet should have immediately talked to you about heart murmurs and the grading and the receptionist is an idiot haha.

+1 Change vets

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

I did think it was a bit fishy that my vet didn't listen to her heart until after the meds were in her. Maybe it was a money grab to get me to run more tests?

Anyway, I'm determined to find out whats up with Sura's heart this week. Keep your fingers crossed for her.

Okay, I made an appointment with a different vet for today at 5:30.

I'll keep you updated!

Good luck at the new vet!!

Good luck with the new vet. Keep us posted..

Good Luck! I know how you feel though, spaying Delilah was a really nerve wrecking experience for me. It will be okay!

UPDATE!

So we just got back from our appointment with a different vet and he listened to Sura's heart for a very long time. He said it sounds great and he couldn't hear any problems. So yaaaay! Sura's got a clean bill of health!

Overall the staff was great, friendly and knowledgeable. The techs played with Sura and fed her treats. The Vet was on the floor with her letting her lick his face as he checked her over laughing the whole time.

My one only concern was that their price for a spay is twice what it is at my old vets. They ask $640.00 for a laser spay with blood work, meds etc.

Does that seem like a bit much to you guys? How much did you guys pay for a spay?

Well that's good! Glad to hear she doesn't have a problem!!

I don't know the price for a laser spay - my vet quoted me at $388 for a normal spay on Bella (40-70 pounds).