I’m glad to hear she is healthy. 3.5 pounds is small, but not as fragile as some of the super tiny ones I’ve seen advertised. And she may grow a bit more.

Is there any particular reason you’re considering waiting on the spay surgery? My vet had the same recommendation for Jax: do his neuter and remove any retained baby teeth at the same time. It was planned for him to have it done at eight months, although we were a little late due to covid closures. Still, I’m very glad they were done at the same time. He’s a little over four pounds, and I would hate to be worrying over another anesthesia & surgery — one was nerve wracking enough!

I would spay her at the same time. There really is no reason to wait. It’s much better to just do it at one time.

Welcome back and thank you for the update. Sophie sounds like a healthy little girl.

Spaying before first heat is always advised by vets. For each heat a females has puts her at risk of getting Pyometra which can be fatal and Mammary gland tumors. This COVID-19 from my readings can take 18 months to 2 years to be gone or a vaccine to be used. Sophie will be over 2 years old by then and possibly came into season 3 or 4 times putting her at a higher risk of getting Pyometra and Mammary tumors at a early age.

It is best to spay early and have baby teeth removed at the same time, also less stress on wee lil Sophie.

Thanks for the suggestions. I just felt like I am putting her thru too much at once. But I have not thought about the fact that putting her thru anesthesia twice is worse. I just spoke to the vet's office again and they strongly suggest that I spay her... So, I am convinced that I should do them together. She will need the teeth removed, nails trimmed(I cannot do this) and Spay surgery. I think I will have to take a few days off from work... She is so active. She chases bunny, squirrels and birds(anything that moves) And I remember my last dogs had collars to put on after the surgery. Hopefully they will have small sturdy ones for Sophie. thank you all.

Most yorkies end up having to have baby teeth pulled so it’s very normal. All four of mine had to have them removed. Callie lost almost none of her baby teeth on her own so most of them had to be pulled when she was spayed. Because they are baby teeth they don’t have roots so it’s not a huge thing. You also might want to think about having a microchip placed when she is under also. I also did that with all of mine.

You're doing right by Sophie doing spay now not later. Less stress on your baby to spay and remove baby teeth at the same time.

We just had a member post they used premi baby Onesies when her girl was spayed, no cone was needed. They also have inflatable collars.

Good news to hear that she will only have to be under once. As far as aftercare, my boys used onesies, but for the first few days we had them sleep in collars...just in case. Our vet supplied us with a collar made for kittens, and it worked very well.

I’m glad you’ve decided to do the necessary procedures at the same time. As others have said, the removal of the baby teeth is minor; Jax had three removed, but the vet said they were so loose they were about to fall out on their own. He also had his nails trimmed and a microchip implanted at the same time; those only take minutes under anesthesia. Probably the worst thing (other than the rare bad reaction to the anesthetic) about tiny dogs and surgery is that they usually have a difficult time maintaining body heat under anesthesia, so it’s better not to put her through that if it’s not necessary.

Jax absolutely hated his e-collar. He refused to eat, drink or potty while wearing it — and within three days he had learned how to get a paw into the tie and untie it, then paw it off over his head. It was a full week battle, trying to keep it on him, but luckily he never showed the slightest interest in his incision.

spayed & happy
 

Sophie got spayed last Wednesday. She had 3 teeth pulled and nails clipped. When I picked her up she seemed to be drugged or in pain. Just not herself... I had to stay next to her the entire afternoon and night.

Vet gave 2 doses of pain medications for her to take for 2 days after the surgery but she end up taking just one because she seemed to have recovered in full the next day. The recovery rate for this small yorkie was just amazing.

just a minor trouble...We had to cut around the ecollar because the one the Vet gave was just too big and they had to wrap 2-3 times around with a tape around to secure it. Her head was falling down constantly because of the weight of the ecollar. And she was a very itchy little girl. Everyone in the family was poked by ecollar to give scratch service. Overall the experience was good as she recovered so fast.

She is now chasing the birds and bunny at the backyard. And she runs around the park in full speed. Not sure if this is normal since it's been a week only.

I am glad it is done and over with. Eventhough she recovered fast, putting a dog under general anesthesia seems like an invasive procedure. I just could not believe how sick she looked first day. I hope she does not need to go thru that again.

And her weight seems to be stable for a full month eventhough she has a huge appetite and I still have to separate her food morning, lunch and dinner time(+ many snacks in between:). watermellons & chicken breats & bunny poop in the backyard(we are trying to stop her from eating them). She cannot control the appetite yet. But she kept her weight of 1600 gram/3.5 lbs for a month. So, I think she will soon become an adult dog.

I bought another bag of Royal Canine Puppy food so she can have 1 more month of puppy food(she is now 9 month old).

I just hope that she will learn to control the appetite soon. I tried giving her the two meals portion in the morning to see if she will eat half way and stop but no... she finished it in like 5 seconds and asked for more...

Other than that, she is just being the tiny terror Sophie and rules the house.

Great that the surgery went well, and yes these dogs are amazing for bouncing back so quickly after surgery. I would not worry about over feeding, she is a puppy, high energy, she will burn off a lot of calories, I would feed more in the mornings because she is so active all day, dinner you can give a bit less, there is no such thing as over feeding a puppy, they burn it off.
Sophie sounds like a true terrier, chasing down prey. Enjoy that little diva girl, its wonderful to be owned by a yorkie ;).
Thank you for Sophie's up date.

I am so glad that she made it safely through her surgery! They certainly are challenging to manage during the recovery period with their high energy levels.

Regarding feeding, have you ever considered free grazing? I have always allowed our dogs to self-regulate, and I have never had an overweight dog. Our two now are extremely healthy, and our vet says he has never seen a stronger, more muscular and lean frame on a dog than on our parti, Tyrone.
We realized after we got him home that Tyrone was denied food by his "breeder" in order to market him as a smaller yorkie. He did over eat for a few days...I am sure that he thought that it would be taken away if he didn't finish immediately. Within a few weeks he learned that it would always be there when he was hungry, and he settled in at a larger, but healthy, weight.

I am sure that she may "pig out" at first, but she may surprise you and learn fairly quickly to eat the appropriate amount. We start the day with shredded chicken on top for breakfast, which they quickly gobble, then they have a small amount of kibble. They both are hilarious about having lunch and dinner at the same time that we eat. As soon as I go into the kitchen to prepare meals, they follow and eat mouthfuls of kibble which they carry over from their bowls and eat at my feet! If I am late starting a meal, they go into the kitchen and bring a mouthful of kibble into the family room to remind me that it is time for diner, lol.

I know that this approach will not work for every dog. I am just suggesting that you might want to give it a try.

Good news! Like Sophie, Jax was pretty droopy on the first evening after his surgery, but he recovered quicky after that.

One note, since it’s only been a week since the surgery, be careful about letting Sophie overdo. There’s a good reason vets say to restrict activity for the first two weeks post surgery. She might be feeling great, but she’s still healing internally. You don’t want something to rupture and cause internal bleeding because she’s being too active when she’s not fully healed on the inside.

Nanajoy's free grazing is my next goal for Sophie! One more task added to my To Do List. I will try this from this weekend and see how it goes with Sophie.

I also found inflatable collar which Matese mentioned. that would have been whole lot better than this giant puppy umbrella. but I was not able to order that on-time for Sophie. I think I will be much more prepared if I have to do this again for another dog.

Oh, and I have just learned that there are many different types of yorkies; traditional, dark traditional, parti, dark parti, chocolate, chocolate parti, sable, sable parti, merle... I don't know what type of Yorkie Sophie is... She is mostly dark with very little tan. Her dark color looks black but under the sun, I can see brownish color on her dark fur.

thank you all for many useful informations...

Those are just different colors not necessarily different types. There is not Merle though that is not in yorkies most people claiming Merle yorkies are spammers or they are claiming a mix breed as a yorkie. Chocolates have brown noses and light brown/ hazel color. My Ollie is a chocolate yorkie Joey and Penny would be considered traditional even though Penny is black but her head and legs are tan and Joey is tan and grey. In the Yorkie world colors can be controversial because The Yorkshire Terrier Club says it’s taboo and fault. I rarely used a collar on my dogs after they got fixed except at night when I couldn’t watch them. I used a soft collar by a member here but her website isn’t working.

Good luck with your plan to try free grazing!