Sorry this is kind of long, but I have to let you know this... When I took Summerlin to be spayed, I took her to the low cost clinic in our county. I asked questions and I met the vet (a woman) who was to do the surgery. I decided everything would be okay. When I went to pick her up, a guy came out to let me know how things had gone. He said that she had done very well, and should recover nicely. I asked to speak to the vet, as I wanted to make sure she was comfortable with the way things looked as far as the surgery went and Summerlin's bloodwork. At that point, the man told me he had done the surgery; that he was required to do a certain percentage of them each week, as he was still a student and was training. Can you imagine how unhappy I was? A student!!! Operating on my baby??!!
They gave me pain meds and antibiotics. Six days go by, her incision starts to turn really pink, so I take her to her regular vet, as the low cost clinic doesn't offer follow up care. Dr Lea (regular vet) is very upset - Summerlin's stitches were too tight, and would not allow all of the skin to heal properly and completely. She had to take them out early, and Summerlin had to take more antibiotics.
Plus, after her surgery, she seems unable to jump up onto the bed any longer. I posted a while back about that, and someone reccommended I have her checked for luxating patella (sp?) so when I took her in for her booster shots last week, I explained about the jumping, and I asked them check for that. (Sorry I didn't post an update on my other thread
) Dr Lea said she didn't see any signs of it. Then she told me that the sutures that the low cost clinic put on the inner layer of her skin could be the same way the ones on the outside were - too tight, and it may be causing problems inside. Her muscles may not heal properly. Her suggestion was to wait a few more weeks to make sure that Summerlin is not just refraining from jumping because she "might" hurt herself, and if she does not improve, she may need another surgery to correct it.
Now, I have said all of this. Let me be the first to tell you that I am all for low cost clinics - they allow people who otherwise would not be able to afford or would not pay the amount for the procedure to have it done. My advice to you is to make sure - absolutely sure - that the person you talk to in the beginning is the one who will actually do the surgery. I thought I was doing the right thing, by asking questions and talking to the vet at the clinic, but it turns out now that it may not have been such a good idea. I don't want to scare you or anyone else, I just want you to know that sometimes things do go awry in the clinics. I hope this all helps you to decide what is the best for your baby
