Livi had to rushed to the vet just now...please keep her in your thoughts!

[mimimomo]

Is that blood on the bandage? Poor Livi...but I'm so happy to hear that she's eating, even tho you have to hand feed her. That's what I did for Mimi. I hope Livi's uterus heals & shrinks so she can continue to nurse her precious babies. Sending continued prayers & get well wishes.

[BamaFan121s]

Awww...I know you are exhausted Tammy, but thanks for taking the time to update anyway. As you can see, you and Livi have been in a lot of people's thoughts today. Glad you are getting her to eat some. Hope she is feeling even better tomorrow and I hope you get some rest at some point.

[yorkiegirl2]

Looking at those pics you couldn't tell she has been through so much.
She is such a little cutie.
Glad to hear she is eating and nursing.
My moms also expect breakfast, lunch and dinner served to them in bed for about the first 3 days.

Hopefully the nursing will cause her uterus to shrink back to normal and you
can hold off on the spaying until after the pups are weaned.
I hope you can get some rest tonight.
Keeping you and Livi and the babies in my thoughts.

[TammyJM]

Originally Posted by mimimomo

Is that blood on the bandage? Poor Livi...but I'm so happy to hear that she's eating, even tho you have to hand feed her. That's what I did for Mimi. I hope Livi's uterus heals & shrinks so she can continue to nurse her precious babies. Sending continued prayers & get well wishes.

In the first picture?? Yes, that's blood. She was a little messy when she came home yesterday...meds, blood. The blood on the bandage I can only assume that is right where the needle is for the IV....in fact, you CAN feel it in that spot...my poor baby. She actually limps with that leg because I'm sure it feels weird, but I bet it's sore. I asked before we left today why she still had it...it's because the vet is leaning towards her having to come back in the morning It all depends on tonight and how well she does here. I was just hoping that once we paid yesterday and today's bill this afternoon, we would be told thanks, see ya next year for shots.

[peanut]

Hang in there Tammy, we are all praying for her!

[luckylady]

Tammy, I'm glad to hear that Livi is eating some for you and hope that she will be able to hold off on needing the spay done right away. She looks adorable in the picture with the matching bandage & hair clip.............even after all she's been through. You are a wonderful mom to her and grand-mom to her puppies............you're doing an awesome job. Thanks for keeping us updated. Hugs.............

[mjharpst]

Tammy, I am glad to hear that Livi is back home and is eating for you! I hope she continues on her road to recovery, if the spay is necessary you'll figure it out... I will keep you in my prayers that her uterus will heal on its own. Hugs to Livi, pups, and you!

[cj125]

Yea - Livi's eating!!!!
Keeping you both in my thoughts and prayers!

[TammyJM]

Question for breeders (or anyone that might know). I had someone say that she won't nessicarily lose her milk if she does end up needing to be spayed. I can ask my vet tomorrow why he feels that she would, but thought you guys might have some answers for me.

Thanks!

[brendah]

I have read that they keep their milk, but I am NOT a expert just letting you know what I have read. I will research and see if I can find more information on it,

[brendah]

Re: spaying after c-section
When I had the bulldogs I had a bitch that I wanted spayed after delivery. I opted to do it at the time of the C-section for the obvious reasons. Sabra had an unusually large litter (5 pups) and she was under a goodly while. We went ahead with the spay and she had a little bit of difficulty with recovery (common for a bulldog) but other than that, she was fine. I was glad I did when I did so she didn't have to go through another surgical procedure (and I didn't have to bust out the wallet again!)

I think if I had a normal section I'd do the spay again at the same time since I didn't have a any negative outcome whatsoever. I saw no changes in Sabra with respect to hormonal changes, except maybe a wee bit of additional shedding.

She's the only bulldog I spayed at the time of delivery and I don't breed Rottweilers.
__________________
I found this on another site, it was a long one to paste the whole thing and a differnt breed, but it might help, they talk about the no hormonal changes

[My Sophia]

Glad to hear that Livi's eating. She's like all of us, prefers Mom's home cooking to hospsital food. Kiss those babies for me.

I found a couple of articles that specifically refer to spaying a lactating dog, answers below. And found several on cats as well. The articles did say that it takes weeks for the hormones that cause lactation to work their way out of the female's system. They don't instantly disappear when the uterus is removed. Vets are more concerned with getting milk into the incision area and also with excess bleeding because the blood vessels in the mammary area are larger. One article mentioned doing a side incision spay to avoid this.

Q.Is it okay to have my pet spayed if she is still lactating?
A.Spaying a lactating (producing milk) female is generally not recommended. Even if the puppies or kittens are weaned, the mother may still be producing a small amount of milk. In most circumstances, veterinarians will wait to spay the mother until she has stopped milk production (usually about 2 weeks after the young are weaned). If a female is spayed while still lactating, the incision in the abdomen may cut into some of the mammary tissue, resulting in milk flowing into the incision site. This can interfere with visualizing the internal organs and may complicate the healing process. In addition, there may be additional bleeding because of the larger blood vessels in the area of a milk producing gland.
8j. FAQ 5 - My pregnant dog needs a caesarean (C-section) - can she be spayed at the same time?
It is possible to desex a female dog after the puppies have been removed by caesarean section, however, a lot of veterinarians don't like to do this if it can be avoided. Most vets prefer to close the uterine incisions and close the dog's abdomen as soon as possible and have the female dog return to the vet clinic in a month or two for dog spaying surgery. The reason for this is that the extra dog spaying surgery does add greatly to the caesarean section anaesthetic time, which might be risky in an animal whose health has already been somewhat compromised by placental blood loss and by a period spent trying to give birth prior to the C-section being started. The longer surgery will also increase the dog's post-operative recovery time and may potentially affect her ability to mother her puppies. Additionally, performing a dog spaying procedure on an opened uterus does increase the risk of fetal fluids and uterine contents entering the animal's abdominal cavity, which could increase the risk of the animal developing peritonitis.

[xxmxaxrxyxx]

i am so glad to hear that she is back home with you...i will keep her in my thoughts and prayers that she will overcome this!

[linda44]

Kalani had a c section, so we had her spayed right then, it was her first and only litter and she did wonderful. She had lots of milk and two very healthy babies. The spay did not affect hormones at all.

[blancla]

Originally Posted by TammyJM

Question for breeders (or anyone that might know). I had someone say that she won't nessicarily lose her milk if she does end up needing to be spayed. I can ask my vet tomorrow why he feels that she would, but thought you guys might have some answers for me.

Thanks!

Tammy, I had a Shih-Tzu that had an emergency c-section and was spayed. She didn't loose her milk at all. The vet explained since it was already coming in, as long as the puppies continued to suckle, then the milk would stay. It was true and she did fine.