Regarding spay sx, the older, the bigger, the better. Is your vet experienced with small dogs and/or Yorkies?
and general Yorkie surgery info:
Yorkshire terriers (as a breed) are sensitive to Anesthesia (especially those weighing 4.5 pounds or less). Only use gas inhalants isoflurane or sevoflurane. They recover from it faster. You may have to request and/or insist this be done, and the vet may want to charge you more because it's more expensive. They may have an allergic reaction to anesthesia. Discuss this with your vet, so that they can be prepared. There are many breeds of dogs and vets sometimes forget which ones have which problems.
Spaying a female dog is a major abdominal surgery as opposed to a neuter, where the incision goes only skin deep. Gas inhalants iso or sevo only. Spaying and neutering dogs will prevent cancers later in life, ie prostrate, mammary tumors, and pyometra (infection of the uterus). It helps with behavioral issues also.
Spaying and neutering used to be done when the pet was a year old. They changed this because many dogs were becoming pregnant in their first heat, and owners would forget to schedule the surgery. So to avoid many unwanted puppies, they started to do these surgeries earlier. It is okay and safer to wait until your pup is older.
Have pre-op bloodwork done. This checks the overall health of your dog, esp check the liver enzymes. If they are high, your vet may cancel the surgery. The liver is what removes the anesthesia from the dog. If these enzymes are high, this could indicate a liver problem, and make recovery difficult or impossible. This problem will need to be resolved before surgery or dental treatments. If you can not afford to have the bloodwork done, don't have the surgery done. Save your money until you can do the bloodwork. It is that important.
Do not combine surgeries. You don't want to keep a dog under anesthesia for too long of a time. Multiple short surgeries are safer than one long one. Pulling a few retaining baby teeth is fine, and it depends how the dog handles the anesthesia as to whether your vet feels confident and comfortable with adding on another procedure.
Please do not assume your vet knows everything. Nothing against vets, but sometimes they get busy. If your chart has a big sticker on it that says 'anesthesia sensitivity' or allergies, it will get noticed, and special procedures for Yorkies should be followed. Ask your vet if they have experience with small dogs, Yorkies in particular and what special procedures they have in place for small dog surgery? What precautions do they take to insure a successful outcome? If they think you are being overprotective or weird, I would find another vet. |