How long does spaying a dog take
By: Chewy Editorial Published: December 19, View all in be inspired. View all in be generous. Dog Spay Surgery from Start to Finish. What are the Benefits of Spaying a Dog? What Is the Process of Spay Surgery? If her bloodwork is normal, they will inject your dog with a sedative to reduce her anxiety and pain. An intravenous catheter will be placed in her leg. Your dog is then placed under general anesthesia.
The hair on her abdomen is clipped and the skin will be surgically prepped for sterile surgery. An incision is made through the skin into the abdomen below her belly button. Depending on the age and size of your dog, this incision may be small or large. The surgeon uses a tool called a spay hook to find the uterus and bring it up and out of the abdomen.
After the ovaries are visualized, the surgeon will clamp off the ovaries with a surgical tool. Using sutures, the surgeon will tie off each ovary, remove it using a scalpel or laser, and then, depending on the surgery technique used, may leave the uterus in the body or will clamp off and remove the uterus as well. The surgeon then checks the attachments for bleeding. If everything looks good, the surgeon carefully places the uterine and ovarian attachments back inside the abdomen.
Lastly, the abdomen is closed with three layers of suture or staples. The sutures usually are under the skin and dissolve after a set period of time.
This has two benefits: It eliminates the need for suture removal, and your dog is less likely to bother buried sutures. After surgery, your dog receives an injection of pain medication and wakes up in recovery. While any size dog can be spayed, larger dogs are more of a challenge during the procedure, so again, having your vet involved in the decision process is essential.
On the other hand, if the dog is having recurrent urinary tract infections from puppy vaginitis I would have them spay earlier. You and your vet will simply account for her heat cycle before scheduling the procedure, typically 2 to 3 months after the heat cycle has passed. While this procedure is not inexpensive, the cost is likely less than having to care for a whole litter of puppies and a lifetime of other health issues.
Just like a human surgical procedure, your puppy will receive some pre-procedure instructions from her vet. Your dog will not be allowed to eat eight hours before surgery begins as the anesthesia could make her nauseous. Your vet will also do pre-surgery blood work to screen for any issues that impact which anesthesia is used and indicate any other health issues that could impact the procedure.
On the day of the procedure, your dog will be anesthetized —which comes with a very low risk of complications—typically through an IV that also gives her fluids during the operation.
The vet will also insert a breathing tube to provide oxygen and any gas anesthetic needed. Nichols notes that you should ask if your veterinarian offers minimally invasive surgery as an option. The whole process takes anywhere from 20 to 90 minutes. You may have to encourage her to eat a little bit. Once she is up and moving—slowly—you can take her on brief walks on a short leash.
Absolutely no running or jumping. You want to make sure her incision does not get wet, so no swimming or bathing. If you notice any discharge, call your vet right away. Depending on what type of stitches your dog has, they may dissolve on their own, or you may need to visit the vet for follow up and to have the stitches removed.
Also, reach out to your vet if your dog seems to be in excessive pain as there are some pain medications that can be prescribed. We just wanted to let you know that there is method to our madness and demands. Most average cats and dogs take fourteen days for their incisions to heal. Although two weeks seems like forever when you have a rambunctious puppy or kitten, it is very important to follow our directions for the full two weeks. If your pet is not completely healed and you allow for unrestricted activities, it could result in a complication that could cause you to have to restrict them for even longer!
One of the main reasons you need to keep your pet restricted is too much activity and movement at the surgery site results in the sutures popping open. If the sutures open completely in female pets, there will be nothing to keep the intestines and other organs from coming outside of the body.
I think it goes without saying that this could result in the death of your beloved pet. For male pets, excessive movement can result in bleeding that will fill up the empty scrotal sac.
This can even result in rupture of the scrotum if enough pressure builds up — also extremely painful as you guys can imagine!