Examination

Preanesthesia

Anesthesia

Maintenance and monitoring

Surgery

Recovery

Home care

Possible complications

Dog spay operation

Any operation involving general anesthesia follows the same pattern:  preanesthetic evaluation, anesthesia, surgery, and post surgical care.

examination

Naturally, we need to know if there are any health problems that might affect the surgery.  We perform a brief  physical examination, explain the operation, and answer any questions you might have.  If your dog is more than two or three years old, we may recommend a pre anesthetic lab panel.

preanesthesia

Before the operation, we administer a preanesthetic tranquilizer/sedative. The timing and dosage depend on how calm or upset your dog may be.  We also give a pain control injection at about the same time .  We want our patient starting into surgery relaxed and contented, but not heavily depressed.  The timing and dosage of these drugs should ensure that the patient will require a minimal amount of general anesthetic and be relaxed and comfortable during recovery.

anesthesia

We induce anesthesia with intravenous injection of a drug combination intended to create unconsciousness, muscle relaxation, and facilitate a smooth relaxed recovery.  After our patient is asleep, we put a breathing tube into the windpipe and switch over to isoflurane, an inhaled anesthetic. For our smallest patients, we use a breathing apparatus made for premature infants.

maintenance and monitoring

Conscientious veterinarians have used surgical monitoring devices for many years.   Traditional devices monitor pulse or respiration, sometimes both.  With gas anesthesia this is not enough, because carbon dioxide levels can rise to life-threatening levels with little warning.  Today, progressive practices use a pulse oximeter, which  continuously  monitors the blood oxygen level.  The pulse oximeter sounds an alarm if there is even a small change from normal levels, allowing the veterinarian to respond before serious problems develop

surgery

We carefully clip and scrub the abdomen, then move into the surgery room.  The surgeon makes an incision in the middle of the abdomen, locates the reproductive tract, ties off the associated blood vessels, and removes the ovaries and uterus.  The medical name for the spay operation is ovariohysterectomy (OHE).   

	spay anatomy		spay operation

In  thin, young medium-sized dogs the surgery is straightforward, even if  the patient is in heat.  With big overweight dogs the surgery is more difficult and time consuming.  (see OHE cost considerations).  When an old overweight dog is also in heat or has a uterus infection, the spay operation becomes serious surgery with important risk concerns.  Recommendation: don't wait that long.

We finish the operation by closing the incision in three separate layers:  abdominal wall,  subcutaneous tissue (the loose tissue just under the skin), then the skin itself.  Although each veterinarian has his or her own way of doing this, practically everyone closes the abdominal and subcutaneous layers with suture material that will eventually dissolve.  Instead of using traditional catgut, we prefer the newer synthetic suture materials used for human surgery.  They are stronger, dissolve at a more predictable rate, and create much less inflammation and swelling.  As you may have guessed,  the synthetic suture materials are a little more expensive.

recovery

After surgery, we will check your dog's ears, clean them if needed, and trim her toenails.  There is no charge for these things.  By the time we've finished the nail trim, she will already be starting to wake up.  Because we gave pain control drugs before surgery, she will be comfortable and because of the tranquilizer, unworried.   An hour or two later, she will may be getting a little uncomfortable and will receive another pain control injection.

home care

By the time you dog leaves the hospital, she will probably have already had some water and a light meal, and be feeling ok.. (Since we have started giving pain control injections routinely, young dogs often bounce out the door as if nothing had happened.)  When you get home, offer only small amounts of food and water at first - give your dog some time to settle down.  After that she can do whatever she feels like doing.  Do not allow other pets or children to pester her if she doesn't want to play.  Do not bathe your dog or allow swimming for the first ten days after surgery or until after her skin sutures have been removed. 

possible complications

Although general anesthesia and surgery always involve a certain amount of risk, it is very unlikely that your dog will have any serious trouble with the operation. If we are going to have problems, they are likely to be from licking at the suture line.  Even though we can eliminate most incision chewing by careful trimming of the hair (to reduce clipper irritation), gentle scrubbing and thorough rinsing of the skin (to reduce soap reaction) and the use of modern suture materials (to reduce inflammation) some dogs are going to lick their stitches, and a determined dog will lick the sutures out no matter what we do.   If we see persistent licking at the hospital , we'll put on a big lampshade collar. A little licking is normal, but if your dog seems to be really after those sutures, bring her in:  we will check her incision and probably fit her with a protective collar.