Lots of Spaying questions??? HELP! - YorkieTalk.com Forums

bellasmomok · 10-26-2008, 05:33 PM

I've finally made up my mind to spay (yes, I know all the good reasons to do...I was hesitant for my own reasons, but I'm on board now!) So now what I need to know is, when is the best time to do it, as far as getting all of it done at once rather than having to go under anesthesian multiple times. She's going to have to have her left front dewclaw re-done since part of it grew back, but the vet wanted to wait until all her teeth are in before doing that so that we can have any extractions that need to be done, done at the same time. The vet said that all of their teeth are usually in by 8 mo., but that I should probably wait until 10 mo. just to be safe. HOWEVER, they usually have their first heat between 6 and 10 mo., and it's best to spay before the first heat. At this point, I'm thinking I'll wait as long as possible, but use the spay as the most important point of reference. She turned 6 mo. on Oct. 14th.....would it be okay to wait until the end of Nov....or should I not chance it?? (Also, it looks to me like she has 2 sets of bottom canines right now, though every thing else looks single. The outer bottom canines are very thin and pointy, while the inner ones are much thicker and possibly not in all the way?? I sure wish I had a picture of what a dog's teeth are supposed to look like so I'd have a frame of reference!!!)

Anyway, what should I do?? I want her to only have to be put under once if at all possible....I just want to make the best possible decision for her.

Also, someone on here has said something about doing a test to see if their allergic to the anesthesia or something like that......can anyone tell me more about that? I want to do anything I can to make sure this is a SAFE process.

And, does she have to stay overnight (I haven't even asked the vet about this, but I will), or can I bring her home and just keep an eye on her? I don't like the idea of her staying overnight......

Bizzymammabee · 10-26-2008, 06:39 PM

Take a deep breath. I think you will be fine to wait until the end of Nov. I had my girls done at the 7 month mark hoping to get their teeth done as well.

The doubles they will take out while she is under and do the dew claw for you. It's my preference to do it before their first heat.

In the interim I suggest you give her lots of hard things to chew so she can remove or loosen up some of those double teeth.

Good luck. As for the over night I usually bring mine home the same day. I am not sure what your vet requires but if there is no one there all night then I suggest you bring them home. Why leave them there if it's only that the vets will have someone make a check once a night.

Brooklynn · 10-26-2008, 06:43 PM

It's ok to spay her now at 6 months and they can pull any retaining baby teeth at this time as well. Some vets require over night but I've left them and brought them home after surgery and I do prefer them coming home when they are able in the evening of the surgery. I'm glad to hear you are having her spayed. I do recommend "HIGHLY" to have her spayed before her first heat and 6 months is a great time to have it done

Donna Bird
Brooklynn's Yorkshire Terriers

bellasmomok · 10-26-2008, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bizzymammabee

Take a deep breath. I think you will be fine to wait until the end of Nov. I had my girls done at the 7 month mark hoping to get their teeth done as well.

The doubles they will take out while she is under and do the dew claw for you. It's my preference to do it before their first heat.

In the interim I suggest you give her lots of hard things to chew so she can remove or loosen up some of those double teeth.

Good luck. As for the over night I usually bring mine home the same day. I am not sure what your vet requires but if there is no one there all night then I suggest you bring them home. Why leave them there if it's only that the vets will have someone make a check once a night.

Thank you for that....I do tend to get worked up and worry over nothing

What kind of hard things would you suggest...right now she has lots of plush toys, a rope toy, and a flexible nylabone chew. I have a nylabone that is more rubbery in the middle and HARD on the ends, but she was tending to chew only on the ends...and I read something on YT that said those were too hard for their teeth and could break them. Maybe I should give it back to her for now?? And try to play tug with the rope toy more too?

Thanksgiving is what I'm worried about (as far as when to do it)....she will be around an unaltered male then (my dad's) that is much bigger than she is (boston/rat terrier mix). They play well together, but just as much as I want her to NOT be in heat by then, I also want her to be healthy so it won't hurt her to play. If you think 7 1/2 mo. will be okay, though, I think I'll wait until just after Thanksgiving so she'll be healed well before Christmas???

Anyone know anything about the pre-anesthesia testing that can be done?? I've heard Yorkies in particular sometimes have problems with aneshesia, so I want to do whatever I need to do before then.

Bizzymammabee · 10-26-2008, 07:03 PM

Normally the vet will do a pre-op blood test to check if they will be fine to put under. Make sure they do that. Also be sure to ask for pain meds for her to come home with. Some vets rather they suffer so it keeps them still but I rather them get their drugs to not feel so much pain.

Honestly if you have the $$ now then I would do it now and not wait.

Oh we all worry they are our babies...so believe me I know it's ok. I just had Toby neutered ten days ago...so it's all fresh in my mind.

Give her anything hard that she will like and play tug.

Ellie May · 10-27-2008, 03:26 AM

Because there are some unknowns about about the best timing for spay/neuter and nobody seems to agree, that is a personally decision.

There are no tests that I know of to see if a dog is allergic to anesthesia. There are tests (preop blood work) to make sure that the organs are doing their job and the CBC is normal. I would most definately get preop blood work. You can take this a step further and do a bile acid test to look specifically at liver function. I would do this also...some other people would not. Since it should be done on all Yorkies anyway, six months and before spay/neuter is a good time in my opinion. There are other screenings you can do like fecals and urinalysis to make sure she is perfectly healthy but these aren't usually recommended before surgery.

As Beth said, insist on pain meds. Some vets will tell you that if the dog is in pain, they will take it easy. Well, if the dog is on pain meds they may be sleepy which is good. I think that it is so sad that some of them do this.

Toy breeds lose body heat quickly. Surgery should be done on a heated surface.

Isoflurane or Sevoflurane anesthesia should be used. Usually they will do the induction with something else. That is okay if you are happy with the drug that they are using. Sometimes it is Propofol.

Sometimes they are kept overnight and sometimes they are not. If they want to keep her and there is someone there awake all night, then I would comply. If they want to keep her but nobody is there watching or they only come in a couple times a night, I would not leave her. Ellie's vet is staffed 24 hours and they let me take Ellie that night (she also had a liver biopsy) and while Ellie couldn't really even stand, everything was fine.

Then there are things like intubation that you can insist that the vet does (may be common practice for your vet already) instead of a tech but the techs should know what they are doing... If there is more than one vet in the practice and you would feel more comfortable if one of them acted as an anesthesiologist (instead of the one vet doing everything or a vet tech helping), you might be able to pay extra for that. I've never found that necessary but maybe it would ease your mind.

bellasmomok · 10-27-2008, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ellie May

I would most definately get preop blood work. You can take this a step further and do a bile acid test to look specifically at liver function. I would do this also...some other people would not. Since it should be done on all Yorkies anyway, six months and before spay/neuter is a good time in my opinion. There are other screenings you can do like fecals and urinalysis to make sure she is perfectly healthy but these aren't usually recommended before surgery.

As Beth said, insist on pain meds. Some vets will tell you that if the dog is in pain, they will take it easy. Well, if the dog is on pain meds they may be sleepy which is good. I think that it is so sad that some of them do this.

Toy breeds lose body heat quickly. Surgery should be done on a heated surface.

Isoflurane or Sevoflurane anesthesia should be used. Usually they will do the induction with something else. That is okay if you are happy with the drug that they are using. Sometimes it is Propofol.

Sometimes they are kept overnight and sometimes they are not. If they want to keep her and there is someone there awake all night, then I would comply. If they want to keep her but nobody is there watching or they only come in a couple times a night, I would not leave her.

We will do the pre-op blood work, but he said we can't do the bile acid test on the same day as the surgery (like we can the other blood work), so I think we're going to save that one for later if we need to....as far as I know, she doesn't have any signs/symptoms that she may have a liver shunt, yet anyway.

He is going to send her home with pain meds (as well as giving her injections while she's in the clinic)....shoot! I should have asked what kind!!!?

I asked if the surgery is done on a heated table, and he said the table is insulated but not heated. He said that besides vitals, they also monitor core body temperature (not rectal) during the procedure, so if she were to get cold, they would warm her up before proceding.

I asked about the type of anesthesia they use.....they induce with KETAMINE and VALIUM (until they get her intubated) and then continue with isoflurane during the surgery. He also said, that the ketamine and valium is pretty standard. Does anyone (Crystal?) know if this is okay to use? I always thought ketamine was a horse tranquilizer, but I guess if you greatly reduce the dosage, it would work on a much smaller animal...the question is, how safe is it?

AND, she will not be kept overnight!! YAY!

The reason I'm using this vet is that he is the one who removed her litter's dewclaws, and he will re-do the one that grew back at no charge. Also, he practices about an hour and a half away (close to where the breeder lives)from where I live, but he actually lives in the same town as me....and he said that it would be no problem for him to pick her up in the morning and take her in, and then I could choose to pick her up at the end of the day, or he would bring her back with him. I'm leaning toward picking her up myself, but I think it would be a HUGE help if she could just go in with him that morning.

Last, but not least, since she's staying there all day but not overnight, should I go ahead and do the bordatella nose drops just to be safe? Or should I not??

Ellie May · 10-27-2008, 08:34 AM

He sounds like a good vet.
I would hesitate about the heated surface thing but as long as they are watching, it is probably okay.

I don't know if ketamine and valium are the safest but that seems like a common pre-surgery comlbination. Since he is using Iso to maintain, I would probably just trust him with the rest of it. Ellie is masked down with Iso because it is better for her liver, so I don't have to think about the other drugs used. It is not always best to mask down though, so I'm not recommending that it is done in your case.

Ellie has stayed at the vets all day without bordatella and never got sick.
I would not do it but that is just an opinion.

Patti · 10-27-2008, 02:04 PM

Both my Cali and Roxie came into heat at 8 months before I could spay them. I would rather have had them done before their first heat. The heat cycle can be hard on them and Roxie went into a false pregnancy after her heat. Sounds like the vet is using the right things. I am glad she can come home the same day. I had to sign a release to bring mine home but no way would I have left mine alone over night. My vet knows how nervous I am when leaving them so she calls me as soon as they are out of surgery and then again a few hours later to update. I know she will be fine!!!

bellasmomok · 10-28-2008, 06:40 AM

I went ahead and scheduled her for this Friday......I'm a little nervous about it, but hopefully it will all go smoothly! I figured it was better to do it sooner rather than later....don't want to risk her coming into heat, my dad will be stopping over NEXT Friday night (with his dog)--I'll have to keep an eye on her since it will have been only a week, but I'm hoping by then she'll already be at the very least on her way to being healed, AND I want her to be fully recovered before the chaos that is Thanksgiving (for her so she can play to her heart's content, and for me so I don't have to guard her against playing with other pups--not like I ever take my eyes off her when she's in the room with lots of people and/or a dog that's bigger than her anyway!)

Thanks for all your help and suggestions! I really appreciate it!!

To recap, she will be getting spayed, her left front dewclaw redone, extractions (I think 2??), and possible micro-chipped (if they can get the Home Again....otherwise we'll have to do it sometime later--they used to do Home Again but now do Res-Q, which I do NOT like!) That's a LOT for such a little girl, but I'd rather she only have to suffer throught it and "go under" once instead of multiple times. Please keep her in your thoughts....I'm sure I'll be a bundle of nerves all day Friday!!

10-26-2008, 05:33 PM	#1
bellasmomok ♥ love my girls!! ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: OKC area Posts: 1,140 Blog Entries: 1	Lots of Spaying questions??? HELP! I've finally made up my mind to spay (yes, I know all the good reasons to do...I was hesitant for my own reasons, but I'm on board now!) So now what I need to know is, when is the best time to do it, as far as getting all of it done at once rather than having to go under anesthesian multiple times. She's going to have to have her left front dewclaw re-done since part of it grew back, but the vet wanted to wait until all her teeth are in before doing that so that we can have any extractions that need to be done, done at the same time. The vet said that all of their teeth are usually in by 8 mo., but that I should probably wait until 10 mo. just to be safe. HOWEVER, they usually have their first heat between 6 and 10 mo., and it's best to spay before the first heat. At this point, I'm thinking I'll wait as long as possible, but use the spay as the most important point of reference. She turned 6 mo. on Oct. 14th.....would it be okay to wait until the end of Nov....or should I not chance it?? (Also, it looks to me like she has 2 sets of bottom canines right now, though every thing else looks single. The outer bottom canines are very thin and pointy, while the inner ones are much thicker and possibly not in all the way?? I sure wish I had a picture of what a dog's teeth are supposed to look like so I'd have a frame of reference!!!) Anyway, what should I do?? I want her to only have to be put under once if at all possible....I just want to make the best possible decision for her. Also, someone on here has said something about doing a test to see if their allergic to the anesthesia or something like that......can anyone tell me more about that? I want to do anything I can to make sure this is a SAFE process. And, does she have to stay overnight (I haven't even asked the vet about this, but I will), or can I bring her home and just keep an eye on her? I don't like the idea of her staying overnight......

10-26-2008, 06:39 PM	#2
Bizzymammabee Luvs Lulu Donating Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Queens, NY Posts: 6,931 Blog Entries: 1	Take a deep breath. I think you will be fine to wait until the end of Nov. I had my girls done at the 7 month mark hoping to get their teeth done as well. The doubles they will take out while she is under and do the dew claw for you. It's my preference to do it before their first heat. In the interim I suggest you give her lots of hard things to chew so she can remove or loosen up some of those double teeth. Good luck. As for the over night I usually bring mine home the same day. I am not sure what your vet requires but if there is no one there all night then I suggest you bring them home. Why leave them there if it's only that the vets will have someone make a check once a night. __________________ Lulu will always be in my heart

10-26-2008, 07:03 PM	#5
Bizzymammabee Luvs Lulu Donating Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Queens, NY Posts: 6,931 Blog Entries: 1	Normally the vet will do a pre-op blood test to check if they will be fine to put under. Make sure they do that. Also be sure to ask for pain meds for her to come home with. Some vets rather they suffer so it keeps them still but I rather them get their drugs to not feel so much pain. Honestly if you have the $$ now then I would do it now and not wait. Oh we all worry they are our babies...so believe me I know it's ok. I just had Toby neutered ten days ago...so it's all fresh in my mind. Give her anything hard that she will like and play tug. __________________ Lulu will always be in my heart

10-27-2008, 03:26 AM	#6
Ellie May And Rylee Finnegan Donating Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Metro Detroit, MI Posts: 17,928	Because there are some unknowns about about the best timing for spay/neuter and nobody seems to agree, that is a personally decision. There are no tests that I know of to see if a dog is allergic to anesthesia. There are tests (preop blood work) to make sure that the organs are doing their job and the CBC is normal. I would most definately get preop blood work. You can take this a step further and do a bile acid test to look specifically at liver function. I would do this also...some other people would not. Since it should be done on all Yorkies anyway, six months and before spay/neuter is a good time in my opinion. There are other screenings you can do like fecals and urinalysis to make sure she is perfectly healthy but these aren't usually recommended before surgery. As Beth said, insist on pain meds. Some vets will tell you that if the dog is in pain, they will take it easy. Well, if the dog is on pain meds they may be sleepy which is good. I think that it is so sad that some of them do this. Toy breeds lose body heat quickly. Surgery should be done on a heated surface. Isoflurane or Sevoflurane anesthesia should be used. Usually they will do the induction with something else. That is okay if you are happy with the drug that they are using. Sometimes it is Propofol. Sometimes they are kept overnight and sometimes they are not. If they want to keep her and there is someone there awake all night, then I would comply. If they want to keep her but nobody is there watching or they only come in a couple times a night, I would not leave her. Ellie's vet is staffed 24 hours and they let me take Ellie that night (she also had a liver biopsy) and while Ellie couldn't really even stand, everything was fine. Then there are things like intubation that you can insist that the vet does (may be common practice for your vet already) instead of a tech but the techs should know what they are doing... If there is more than one vet in the practice and you would feel more comfortable if one of them acted as an anesthesiologist (instead of the one vet doing everything or a vet tech helping), you might be able to pay extra for that. I've never found that necessary but maybe it would ease your mind. __________________ Crystal, Ellie May (RIP), Rylee Finnegan, and Gracie Boo🐶

10-27-2008, 08:34 AM	#8
Ellie May And Rylee Finnegan Donating Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Metro Detroit, MI Posts: 17,928	He sounds like a good vet. I would hesitate about the heated surface thing but as long as they are watching, it is probably okay. I don't know if ketamine and valium are the safest but that seems like a common pre-surgery comlbination. Since he is using Iso to maintain, I would probably just trust him with the rest of it. Ellie is masked down with Iso because it is better for her liver, so I don't have to think about the other drugs used. It is not always best to mask down though, so I'm not recommending that it is done in your case. Ellie has stayed at the vets all day without bordatella and never got sick. I would not do it but that is just an opinion. __________________ Crystal, Ellie May (RIP), Rylee Finnegan, and Gracie Boo🐶

10-26-2008, 06:43 PM	#3
Brooklynn Donating YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Texas Posts: 4,280	It's ok to spay her now at 6 months and they can pull any retaining baby teeth at this time as well. Some vets require over night but I've left them and brought them home after surgery and I do prefer them coming home when they are able in the evening of the surgery. I'm glad to hear you are having her spayed. I do recommend "HIGHLY" to have her spayed before her first heat and 6 months is a great time to have it done Donna Bird Brooklynn's Yorkshire Terriers

10-27-2008, 02:04 PM	#9
Patti Donating YT 30K Club Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Illinois Posts: 35,509 Blog Entries: 6	Both my Cali and Roxie came into heat at 8 months before I could spay them. I would rather have had them done before their first heat. The heat cycle can be hard on them and Roxie went into a false pregnancy after her heat. Sounds like the vet is using the right things. I am glad she can come home the same day. I had to sign a release to bring mine home but no way would I have left mine alone over night. My vet knows how nervous I am when leaving them so she calls me as soon as they are out of surgery and then again a few hours later to update. I know she will be fine!!! __________________ Cali Pixie Roxie : RIP Nikki; RIP Maya;RIP my sweet Dixie girl 1/17/08 http://callipuppyscastle.bravehost.com/index.html

10-28-2008, 06:40 AM	#10
bellasmomok ♥ love my girls!! ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: OKC area Posts: 1,140 Blog Entries: 1	Appointment scheduled.... I went ahead and scheduled her for this Friday......I'm a little nervous about it, but hopefully it will all go smoothly! I figured it was better to do it sooner rather than later....don't want to risk her coming into heat, my dad will be stopping over NEXT Friday night (with his dog)--I'll have to keep an eye on her since it will have been only a week, but I'm hoping by then she'll already be at the very least on her way to being healed, AND I want her to be fully recovered before the chaos that is Thanksgiving (for her so she can play to her heart's content, and for me so I don't have to guard her against playing with other pups--not like I ever take my eyes off her when she's in the room with lots of people and/or a dog that's bigger than her anyway!) Thanks for all your help and suggestions! I really appreciate it!! To recap, she will be getting spayed, her left front dewclaw redone, extractions (I think 2??), and possible micro-chipped (if they can get the Home Again....otherwise we'll have to do it sometime later--they used to do Home Again but now do Res-Q, which I do NOT like!) That's a LOT for such a little girl, but I'd rather she only have to suffer throught it and "go under" once instead of multiple times. Please keep her in your thoughts....I'm sure I'll be a bundle of nerves all day Friday!!