Question about Spay/Neuter

KFontaine04KFontaine04
edited October 2008 in Food, Nutrition, & Health
Okay, so Miso was REALLY easy with his neuter, no need for an e-collar, didn't care about the wound at all, acted just like himself (even though we kept telling him he needed to limit his activity, shiba's you know, selective hearing).

Since I have never had a female puppy before (all other dogs were from rescue so they came spayed/neutered) I am coming up with some questions and since I found this forum I know this is a great place to ask.

1. Miso got neutered at 6 months old, is it the same for females? I know some vet's in MA do it earlier, but is it safe?

2. How large is the incision site?

3. How long does it take for recovery? I am planning to take a few days off so I will be home with her after surgery, but how many days? When can she be trusted to be left alone for the 8 hour day?

Your comments are always welcome, appreciated and passed on! Thank you so much.

Comments

  • tsukitsunetsukitsune
    edited November -1
    Tsuki was done at 6 months and 1 week of age. She did fine.
    The incision isn't much bigger than a male's, just a small site, but their surgery is more invasive so you have to take care to watch for any infections/licking/etc.
    Recovery is at least a week, just because of the procedure itself, they probably keep her overnight, so there is one day down, and at least 5-6 days where you refrain from letting her do shiba hurdles on the couch, etc.
    Tsuki was 'back to normal' in a day or so, but I still kept her restricted. She didn't bother her incision site at all.
  • sunyatasunyata
    edited November -1
    Bella was spayed at 6 months, and Nola will be spayed 4 days before 6 months. The incision is about 2 1/2 - 3 inches long (at least with Bella it was, if I am remembering correctly). And Bella did not bother with it much, no e-collar was required. After about a week of keeping her fairly inactive, she was back to normal. The first couple of days I stayed home with her, then we left her to her own devices for a couple of hours at a time. I am very lucky that I am able to come home a couple of times during the day if needed. Of course she had a silly shaved belly for about a month. :)
  • NekopanNekopan
    edited November -1
    6 months is the traditional age for spay/neuter, but research now is showing that there may be more benefits to doing it earlier. Younger dogs show a faster recovery time. Ask your vet what s/he is more comfortable with doing.

    Here's an article about early age spay/neuter. http://www.chai-online.org/en/companion/overpopulation_sn_early.htm
  • KFontaine04KFontaine04
    edited November -1
    So I went to the vet and they said they absolutely don't do spay/neuter surgeries before 6 months. So Sake's apt. is scheduled for her 6 mo birthday.

    I have heard that there are other vets that will do it at 4 months, but I haven't been to them and my vet did such a great job with Miso. Plus they keep them overnight (it's an emergency hospital too so there are people there 24/7) and make sure they don't have any adverse affects to anesthesia.

    I guess Sake is getting the same 6 mo birthday present as Miso did :P Hopefuly he doesn't spill the beans and tell her it's not all fun and games.
  • heem_infiniteheem_infinite
    edited November -1
    my male shiba is 4 months old and im planning for his prcedure. the vet said i coulddo it with or without bloodwork. is the bloodwork necessary?
  • RomiRomi
    edited November -1
    I always thought bloodwork before a surgery was mandatory? If your vet is giving you the option - I would do it. it's only like 30-40 bucks and it will provide information to make sure your pup is healthy to have the surgery.
  • dlrobertsdlroberts
    edited November -1
    Ditto to Romi's comment.
  • JessicaRabbitJessicaRabbit
    edited November -1
    That bloodwork can save your dogs life. Say for instance your dog was heartworm positive. If you did not have the bloodwork done you wouldn't know and your dog would die on the table.
  • heem_infiniteheem_infinite
    edited November -1
    ok, thanks for the advice. the spay/neuter clinic charges $55 without bloodwork and $175 with. it sounds like its necessary though.
  • ddowdemersddowdemers
    edited November -1
    That seems pretty high. Can you find another opinion?
  • JessicaRabbitJessicaRabbit
    edited November -1
    I paid $400 for a spay. I was thinking that was the bargain of the century for a non rescue
  • dlrobertsdlroberts
    edited November -1
    I don't think $175 is high for a spay/neuter, but charging $120 for bloodwork is absurd. I think I paid about that when Lucy had her blood sent out of state to a special lab for a full workup. A simple CBC, etc, that they do before a surgery should be no more than $60.
  • baantonbaanton
    edited November -1
    We were so naive with Josephine we let her go to about 7-8 months... surprise, she went into heat! We thought it would happen after one year! That's about another month wait because of pre-estrus, and the actual heat and the post-estrus...(never-mind keeping her quarantined from intact males, and any other type and gender of dog who will get all crazy just because of the heat!)... Then the vet will want to make sure all of the female organs have returned to their normal, non-heat size which seems to take quite some time, too. All in all, I think Josephine was about a year or just a little less when she was spayed.

    I would definitely pay for the bloodwork, and some of the so-called extras. Around here we pay about $400 or so, perhaps a bit more for spaying, so the prices you all are quoting sound abundantly reasonable. We did shop around, asking for comprehensive lists of the procedures, meds, etc. and then sought advice of our favorite brother-in-law, the Oregon vet, to make sure we knew what was superfluous and what was necessary for Josephine's health and speedy recovery.

    Seems like she healed really fast, although she stayed overnight at the vet clinic, and was required to be fairly still for a few days afterward. After that, it was as if nothing had happened. I recall her incision was quite long (a large number of stitches) but the healing seem to be quite rapid for her, and no complications with infection, etc.
  • RomiRomi
    edited November -1
    Hmm..that's kind of odd. Bloodwork for both Ninja and Portia was $35.00 - it may be because my vet does the bloodwork in house. I think I paid 450.00 for Portia's spay and 350.00 for Ninja's neuter. Most places over here charge by weight.
  • lindsaytlindsayt
    edited November -1
    Jessica, in the Oregon, Washington and Montana clinics I have worked at, the standard per-op panel ($40) which most vets perform in-house on a vet-test machine does not include a diagnostic test for Heartworm. I would expect that to be a seperate charge as a Snap test ($40), however, maybe in the Southern states and North East or endemic areas it's routine to just view a slide prep to look for the microfilaria so it's included in a pre-op? But I agree, pre-op testing is optional, but can discover things like heritable liver shunts and renal damage. How do they do it in your shelter?
  • JessicaRabbitJessicaRabbit
    edited November -1
    My shelter is municipal so they do not preform any of the medicals, they simply drop off adopted animals to the same vet I take my dogs to. They don't even vaccinate dogs. Their reasoning being why spend the money on dogs who may not be alive soon. That vet does a full blood work up including heartworm for about $40.

    Actually when I went to take Miko for her spay the woman ahead of me (in her Ralph Lauren purple label suite and Hermes bag, @$12-15k) actually said "just get it done as cheap and fast as possible" I couldn't bite my tongue, I accidentally blurted out, "wow. you make me sick."

    oops.
  • KFontaine04KFontaine04
    edited November -1
    Miso's neuter was approx $300 and that included bloodwork and a heartworm test. I think Sake's will be around $400 including the bloodwork.

    I would always get bloodwork done before, just in case there is something you didn't know about going on with your furbaby.
  • ljowen123ljowen123
    edited November -1
    I'll count myself lucky for still living in a "rural" county. Jazz's spay & bloodwork came to $110.
  • brandon_wbrandon_w
    edited November -1
    If it is a low charge spay/neuter clinic they might be upping the price of blood work to help offset the costs of all the cheap spay and neuters they do.
  • lindsaytlindsayt
    edited November -1
    See, that's what I don't like :The cheap clinics that charge for otherwise gratus services and try to get basically uninformed clients to do extras they really don't need. Such as: chart fee, new client fee, lab disposal fees, triage fee, ekg monitoring, bandage changes, suture removals, rechecks...Then the hidden costs present in the "estimate" you are told your pet might die if these things aren't done :every vaccine every year regardless of age or health, bi-yearly blood work for a healthy pet, bi-annual vaccination, IV fluid, antibiotics, hospitalization for routine procedures, etc. Anyway, the procedure itself is only a small part of the actual cost, it's the largly un-needed extras in the case of routine spay and neuters that blow the overall charge way out of the water and is unfair to pet owners. It gives people a bad impression of vet hospitals when there are really ethical Vets in practice that don't believe in "get em in the door then rake em over the coals".
  • tsukitsunetsukitsune
    edited November -1
    We just payed $45 for a full blood panel/heartworm/etc for Hanzo this morning at a clinic.

    But Brandon is right, a lot of low cost spay/neuter clinics have to offset that cost with other procedures.
  • KFontaine04KFontaine04
    edited November -1
    I know mine is expensive, but I have pet insurance to cover most of it.

    I have pet insurance on both Miso and Sake but I only keep it for the first year, then I just open an ING savings account and put the $$$ I would have paid the insurance company in there. I figure the most costs come in the first year (Puppy shots, spay/neuter), plus you are still getting to know your dog so you don't know their escape habits or "what can I eat today" habits. Miso's is up in March so I will just not renew and start saving money, but since he is an overall healthy boy I don't think he needs the insurance coverage.
  • brandon_wbrandon_w
    edited November -1
    Better to have low cost spay and neuter places available than nothing at all. The more people that can afford to spay and neuter their pets the better. Not everyone has the means to pay $400 for a spay procedure, but they might still have a dog.
  • KFontaine04KFontaine04
    edited November -1
    We have quite a few low cost spay neuter places in MA.

    My husband is in construction and buit a vets office two years back and knows the owners/vets VERY well and they always take super good care of us and Miso and Sake. They are on the pricey side (probably because they just renovated their offices for $120K) but I feel very confident in their care.

    The low cost clinic's in MA are great, and I actually donate to some of them each christmas (Angell Memorial Animal Hospital, Animal Rescue Leauge of Boston and Hull Seaside Animal Rescue) because they do such great things for animals. Plus I send collars, leads, dishes, etc. to rescue groups that I have been a part of (NorSled Husky Rescue in CA and Tails of the Tundra Husky Rescue in PA).
  • lindsaytlindsayt
    edited November -1
    Low cost for the animal sake (rescues, memorial hospitals, shelters) I would put in a different category than just plain being cheap and shoddy to the point of bad care but then trying to make money on the back end (certain franchises, vets for less). The services shelters, rescues and memorial hospitals provide can't be mesurred.
  • ljowen123ljowen123
    edited November -1
    We have several low cost places around us, as well - their charge for spay/neuter is $45/55.
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