i can tell you from my experiences from a vet tech we never lost a puppy during her spay because they were too small. Make sure your comfortable with your vet and you ask as many questions as you want. While any dog was undergoing surgery at the hopsital i worked at we made sure there were at least 5 machines hooked up to them to monitor their stats. Also before surgery, they only got preop blood if they were over 8 years. i don't agree with everyone here when they say to get puppy pre-op blood work done. I only thing its nesecary if there was something wrong previous to the surgery.
About 15-20 minutes before surgery the animal will get a sedative to relax them. Then they will get an IV dose of propoflo (most likely this drug) to knock them down. A Trache tube will be inserted and they will be hooked up to isofluorine. In most cases they will also get IV fluids during the procedure. Once the Iso is hooked up, the dog is flipped over, shaved down, eyes lubbed and then brought into the surgery room. They are then hooked up to an EKG plus another machine that checks CO in and out, respirations, pulse, and the amount of oxyen in teh blood. The surgery area is then sterilized. Next the surgery begins. The doc begins with making a small incision through the three layers of skin, tissue, and muscle. The fallopian tubes are then located. here the doctor finds the tubes, uterus, and ovaries, ties then off with suture and cuts them out. All ends are tied off tightly to prevent bleeding. this whole part usually takes 5-10 minutes. The doc then checks to make sure she got the ovaries completely out and that all the ties are not bleeding. The rest of the tubes are inserted back into the body and the closing of the three layers begins. The suturing is what takes the longest. Once the animal is closed up, the incision is cleaned, the animal is taken off the machines/iv/ekg and placed in a cage with a technician sitting with them to remove the tube when they wake up. They monitor to make sure the animal is still breathing and responding well. Once the animal starts swallowing and or lifts her head the trachea tube is removed. the animal is still monitored for a little while with a tech sitting with them to insure that they are fully awake. Then they are allowed to rest.
that's the whole procedure for you. At my clinic, after a spay or neuter the dog is sent home with pain meds and antibiotics. the pain meds are only to be used for the first two - three days, and the antibiotics for 14 days
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