Spaying (Ovario-hysterectomy)
of Dogs and Cats
by Roger Ross DVM
What: This surgery removes the ovaries and the uterus. On the one hand this is a routine surgery in that we do so many, but in fact, it's a major surgery in that deep anesthesia is needed and we need to open up the abdomen to get to the female sex organs.
When: Shelters frequently spay kittens and puppies as early as 8 weeks old, but the very best time is after puppy or kitten vaccines have been completed, after the young pet's immune system is working well, but before sexual puberty. That means the best time is between 4 and 6 months of age for both male kittens and puppies.
The advantages:
This surgery means no unwanted puppies, no deadly uterine infections, no ovarian cancer, no mammary enlargement and no breast cancer.
And it keeps your dog from going into "Heat" and all the roaming, running away, mess and bother of being in heat.
It also prevents heat associated urinary tract infections.
The costs of treating all these potential problems are a lot more than the costs of spaying your pet, so another advantage is that you save money !
The disadvantages: There's only a few reasons not to spay your pet. Wanting to breed your dog is the most common legitimate reason. Spayed pets are more likely to gain weight. And of course, there are costs and medical risks but usually less so than unspayed dogs.
How Much? The total cost varies from $90 to over $200 depending on which options are needed or wanted. Keep reading.
Here's what to expect when it's time to spay your pet:
Check In: We usually ask you to drop your pet off during the morning before 11 am on an empty stomach. That means no solid food for about 9 hours prior to surgery.
Consent Form: At our clinic we ask you to sign a consent form. The main reason we do so is to drive home the idea that anesthesia and surgery is serious business. A responsible adult will be asked to sign a consent form designed to inform you that of course there are some risks and expenses involved.
Presurgical exam to make sure your pet is healthy prior to surgery. To make sure your pet's hydration, mucus membranes, heart rate, pulse strength, and so forth are all normal.
We want to make sure your dog isn't in heat ... this greatly increases risk due to poor clotting and a weakened immune system.
Pre-Anesthetic blood work: Highly recommended to reduce the risk of anesthetic problems in case of undetected diabetes, immune problems, kidney disease or liver disease:
Bathing and parasite control: only required if your pet is filthy or covered in fleas or ticks.
Pre-anesthetic sedation and pain medications: It's important to the health and comfort of your pet to spend a little extra for pain management.
Pre-anesthetic sedation has several advantages; it reduces the total amount of anesthesia needed, makes induction and recovery smoother, improves muscle relaxation, and makes the whole experience much less frightening to your pet.
Anesthesia: It's expensive to intubate, to use the latest in gas anesthesia, to have a trained assistant managing anesthesia, and to have monitoring equipment running. It's much less expensive to use injectable anesthetics. The less expensive route usually works out fine, but isn't as safe if things get complicated. This is just one reason that the fees vet charge for this and other surgeries can be so different.
The Surgical Procedure: I'll keep this basic; once safe and comfortable anesthesia and pain management is reached, and the surgery site is scrubbed and sterilized, we open up the skin and abdominal wall exposing the abdominal organs.
We inspect the visible abdominal cavity and organs for problems.
We then clamp off and ligate the ovarian arteries and veins, tie off the uterus and remove the ovaries and uterus. We then suture everything up
IV Fluids: Most young, healthy and robust pets do really well during spay surgeries and recovery quickly without IV Fluids. But surgical standards are rising and certainly no human doctor would perform anesthesia for a major surgery without an IV line open.
Open abdominal surgery causes major stress to the cells, dehydration, electrolyte changes, and fluid losses...all of which are minimized by running IV Fluids. Especially recommended for older pets, pregnant pets, and pets in heat.
Other extras and options:
Extraction of retained baby teeth, ear cleaning, toe nail trimming, and other minor requests
Dewclaw removal: this is a good time to remove unwanted dewclaws if you want.
Fluoride treatment: If the adult teeth are in, I like to recommend treating your pet's teeth with fluoride.
Additional pain medication to take home: You vet may dispense pain medication
Follow up recheck if there are any problems
Suture removal 10-14 days after the surgery
