Advice please...Help!!

[Baroness]

Teddie went in to get neutered this morning, by all accounts the vet office said they would call me at 2pm and let me know how everything went etc. They just called me and said Teddie is out of surgery and doing ok, but they said I wouldn't be able to pick him up until tomorrow morning. They never told me about this overnight business when I discussed neutering with them, or dropped him off this morning.

Their issue is a spay a while back opened up their incision and they ended up with a medical emergency on their hands. My issue is Teddie is having issues with separation anxiety lately, an issue the assistant blew off and said "we will medicate him so he doesn't have anxiety." 1. I don't want my dog locked in a cage overnight when he is not used to it. 2. If they don't have staff stay overnight how is it better to keep him in a cage then it is to have him home with his family to watch him? I'm confused by this logic.

The vet assistant said he would call me at 4 or 5 this evening to let me know if the vet thinks Teddie is well enough to come home. (he was attitudal) Even after I told the assistant that it was unacceptable to keep my dog overnight for no reason.

Has anyone had to deal with this before? Is this a new thing? How do I get around this roadblock to get my Teddie home?

[CesarTheGreat]

Originally Posted by Baroness

Teddie went in to get neutered this morning, by all accounts the vet office said they would call me at 2pm and let me know how everything went etc. They just called me and said Teddie is out of surgery and doing ok, but they said I wouldn't be able to pick him up until tomorrow morning. They never told me about this overnight business when I discussed neutering with them, or dropped him off this morning.

Their issue is a spay a while back opened up their incision and they ended up with a medical emergency on their hands. My issue is Teddie is having issues with separation anxiety lately, an issue the assistant blew off and said "we will medicate him so he doesn't have anxiety." 1. I don't want my dog locked in a cage overnight when he is not used to it. 2. If they don't have staff stay overnight how is it better to keep him in a cage then it is to have him home with his family to watch him? I'm confused by this logic.

The vet assistant said he would call me at 4 or 5 this evening to let me know if the vet thinks Teddie is well enough to come home. (he was attitudal) Even after I told the assistant that it was unacceptable to keep my dog overnight for no reason.

Has anyone had to deal with this before? Is this a new thing? How do I get around this roadblock to get my Teddie home?

I had Cesar within a few hours of dropping him off and he did fine.

They said there was no complications yet want to keep him overnight for a routine procedure? Sounds kind of odd to me. Perhaps this is just a cautious vet and he's looking out for the best interest of the dog.

I wouldn't worry about separation anxiety. That is probably more in your head than it is in the dogs head, I'm sure he will be fine staying over night.

It's just incredibly odd to me that he would have to stay overnight for a routine neuter... Makes no sense. Just go in there and talk to the vet himself and get answers, that's what I would do. Perhaps something went wrong that they're not telling you.

I was afraid of getting Cesar neutered and I took him to a place that guaranteed me he would not die, as others could not guarantee me that and they kept saying the smaller dogs run a higher risk, so I walked out. Perhaps Teddie died on the table and was brought back to life and they want to monitor him. Not trying to be a jerk or scare you but it does happen....

My grandma dropped off her Yorkie Billie Jean and by the time she got home there was a message on her machine that he passed once he was put under....

Just go in and get answers.

[kjc]

Glad he had a good surgery... I would ask to speak to the vet and tell him that you will assume responsibility for watching him overnight, as you had planned. Tell him you have the ERvet on speed dial should an emergency arise, and that had you known he would have to stay overnight unattended, you would have cancelled his surgery and gone elsewhere.

You may have to wait for him to call you back....

[Ellie May]

He shouldn't stay if nobody is there. If there is, then it's not a bad idea because they can continue to watch him come out of anesthesia.

You go pay the bill and tell them you are taking your dog home. You hired this doctor to do a surgery. There is no insurance ivolved on your end, so he is yours to take. If a dog insurance is paying for it, things may be a bit different. they can't hold your dog unless you don't pay or perhaps if he bit somebody. Jut simply say that he is not staying if you don't want him to.

If nobody is there at night, they should not just be drugging him to keep him calm. Monitoring for at least the first or second dose would be pretty important. I never give new drugs to Ellie and just leave her.

[Baroness]

Thanks for your responses, I will try this route. If it was an issue of something having gone wrong that they wanted to monitor him for, they should say so. If the whole premise is to keep the dog overnight to make more money, wrong answer. As I said it makes no sense to keep him overnight when there is no physical person there to monitor him. If he breaks open his incision overnight who will attend to him? I know I would if he did it on my watch.

The assistant just told me if something happened to Teddie it would be their fault, I corrected him and said if Teddie opens his incision because of something I let him do in my home, under my care, it would be on my head. How obtuse can someone be?

[Baroness]

Originally Posted by Ellie May

He shouldn't stay if nobody is there. If there is, then it's not a bad idea because they can continue to watch him come out of anesthesia.

You go pay the bill and tell them you are taking your dog home. You hired this doctor to do a surgery. There is no insurance ivolved on your end, so he is yours to take. If a dog insurance is paying for it, things may be a bit different. they can't hold your dog unless you don't pay or perhaps if he bit somebody. Jut simply say that he is not staying if you don't want him to.

If nobody is there at night, they should not just be drugging him to keep him calm. Monitoring for at least the first or second dose would be pretty important. I never give new drugs to Ellie and just leave her.

That is what shocked me. The answer to a pet who has anxiety is to drug him to keep him calm, in a hospital overnight with no supervision. That is NUTS! This hospital is looking to be fired...they may have experience with the small breeds, but I like my other three dogs vet better at this moment.

[TresCutePiggies]

When I found out there was no one there overnight, I insisted that Rory would be coming home with me at the end of the day of her spay. I told them I would be happy to bring her back in the morning, so they could look over her, if that was the issue. They told me that wasn't necessary unless I noticed a problem.

I just felt much more comfortable knowing I could monitor her at home and if she had a problem get her to the ER vet than having her being crated in a strange environment, unattended, after a surgery overnight.

I made them aware of this ahead of time, so it wasn't a problem for me to come and pick her up.

ETA: I'm glad Teddie's surgery went well. I would head over there leaving a bit of time before they close, pay for the neuter and insist that they give you your boy.

[Ellie May]

I'm sure many will disagree, but the whole small breeds vet thing is a little bit, well, unnecessary. I mean, I would hope they have done surgery on Yorkies before, but seeing large dogs and cats also does not mean they can't be a good small breed vet. Drug dosing is different. Not much else is. Ellie's vets aren't small breed specialists at all and I wouldn't waste my time with one unless I like them as a doctor.

[gidget529]

This is the first I've heard of this, so I'm a little perplexed (hope that's the right word). There is noone there at some vet's offices at night, yet they've admitted an animal? My vet has staff there w the animal all night - drs stay well into the night and come in early in the am before office opens. I would not want to leave my dog sick enough to be admitted and not monitored.

Does this happen a lot in vet med?

[Ellie May]

Sure does.

Usually the vet wiill make you transfer to a 24 hour ER if they are concerned about the animal losing its life during the night. Really crazy. Happens all the time. I wouldn't do it nor recommend it. Occasionally vets feel like they have to do it because it's expensive to have somebody there at night and most owners can't just (or won't) afford to admit their animal to ER.

Always have to ask before hospitalizing... The bigger the facility, the more likely somebody will be there.

[Patti]

My vets like to have them stay overnight, after a spay. There is no one there so I always sign a release and take mine home. They know I live 5 minutes from the 24 hour er vet and will stay up all night and watch mine. It makes no sense to me to keep a dog where there is no one to watch them. If there are complications they should be transferred to a facility where someone is there to watch and treat them if needed. I would talk to the vet.

[Baroness]

Originally Posted by Patti

My vets like to have them stay overnight, after a spay. There is no one there so I always sign a release and take mine home. They know I live 5 minutes from the 24 hour er vet and will stay up all night and watch mine. It makes no sense to me to keep a dog where there is no one to watch them. If there are complications they should be transferred to a facility where someone is there to watch and treat them if needed. I would talk to the vet.

My other dogs vet is 2 miles from my home and he handles ER situations, so that kind of issue I am not worried about. The assistant talks to me like I am dumb when I bring up that it makes no sense to keep a dog overnight that will not be monitored, via bringing him home where he will be monitored. He reiterated again that the vet will re-evaluate Teddie between 4 and 5 and make the decision whether or not he will release Teddie to us to bring home. I even brought up how I have a pom, had him neutered, and cared for him without incident...he just said "uh-huh." Not liking the assistant now at all. He mentioned again how they could administer drugs to make Teddie sleep through the night. Not kosher, no warm and fuzzy there.

[gidget529]

Originally Posted by Ellie May

Sure does.

Usually the vet wiill make you transfer to a 24 hour ER if they are concerned about the animal losing its life during the night. Really crazy. Happens all the time. I wouldn't do it nor recommend it. Occasionally vets feel like they have to do it because it's expensive to have somebody there at night and most owners can't just (or won't) afford to admit their animal to ER.

Always have to ask before hospitalizing... The bigger the facility, the more likely somebody will be there.

I swear, I am always learning something on here! If I change vets, I will remember to ask about overnight staff - good to know!!

[My Sophia]

If there would be someone there overnight with them then I can see them keeping him overnight, but I would have BIIIIIG problem with a vet keeping one of my babies overnight and in the same breath telling me that no one will be there with them AND they'll be medicating him to keep him from stressing. Nope, not happening. Our vet refuses to keep pets overnight. If they can't be sent home that day, then they have an arrangement with one of the local E-vets and the babies are transported directly there for overnight monitoring, then transported back to the regular vet the next day. It's one of the reasons I like them so much. They believe just as strongly as I do that if one of our babies isn't well enough to go home then that baby needs to be monitored, not just stuck in a cage and left alone all night.

[gidget529]

Originally Posted by Baroness

My other dogs vet is 2 miles from my home and he handles ER situations, so that kind of issue I am not worried about. The assistant talks to me like I am dumb when I bring up that it makes no sense to keep a dog overnight that will not be monitored, via bringing him home where he will be monitored. He reiterated again that the vet will re-evaluate Teddie between 4 and 5 and make the decision whether or not he will release Teddie to us to bring home. I even brought up how I have a pom, had him neutered, and cared for him without incident...he just said "uh-huh." Not liking the assistant now at all. He mentioned again how they could administer drugs to make Teddie sleep through the night. Not kosher, no warm and fuzzy there.

I think I would start taking this dog to your other dog's vet. Not sure why two different vets - maybe I missed that somewhere on the thread?

I agree w you, if there is noone there to monitor an animal post surgery, what's the point?

You might also want to tell the vet how the office staff are not giving you the warm and fuzzies - on the way out the door to the other vet. I'm not sure if the vet even knows you are being talked to like this or being given this information.