Thank you for reassurance

[bigotis]

I would like to thank everyone who has shared their experiences about neutering. Otis especially liked the message from Penny and is looking forward to extra treats.

I am a little upset now because I just found out our vet makes him stay overnight. My sig. other's dog went to a different vet and came home the same day. Do you think they would let me bring Otis home if I make a really big fuss? Or should I just keep my mouth shut?!

Thanks again, to everyone who shared their stories with Otis and his mommy.

[Wienergal]

In my experience, different vets do it differently. Peaches stayed overnight, but both boys went in early in the morning and came home in the late afternoon. Since it is surgery, your vet may just feel that it's best to keep Otis under observation overnight.

But hey--it never hurts to ask. Or even beg! Did you ask your vet why Otis would have to stay overnight? If not, I'd ask. If the reason is something like, "That's what we always do"--i.e., no real reason--ask about taking him home at the end of the office day.

[Jennifer]

My vet told me that he always keeps the females overnight because it is a more complex operation. For the males, he makes the decision based on the activity level of the dog. He lets calm dogs go home the same day, but he prefers to keep the excitable ones overnight to make sure that they don't rip their stitches out right away. For example, he left Oscar, my dachsie who is very calm come home the same day. But he made my very hyper lab/border collie mix stay overnight.

[Oscar's Mom]

Oscar came home the same day. They said he could go home once he was alert enough. He got one of those cone collars incase he started picking at it, but he really just slept the rest of the night. Our vet used surgical glue so he wouldnt have stitches.

[Penny's Aunt]

A lot of the time it depends on how awake the dog is. They would rather keep him in a cage where he can't hurt himself if he is still woozy. And how awake he is often is determined by how early his surgery is done. Lots of vets do surgery around noon, & the dogs are kind of dopey for a while.

AND they have learned that just because they TELL people not to let the woozy dog up on the furniture & the people PROMISE, the dog is often unsupervised, gets on the furniture & falls off. If he breaks his leg & the vet ends up in court, the dog's owners will SWEAR on a 50'-stack of Bibles that the vet never told them not to let the dog on the furniture. And the judge tells the vet: "As a professional person of reasonable intelligence, you knew, or should have known, that the dog would try to get onto the furniture where he could hurt himself. So, you get to pay the dog's owners $5000 for their pain & suffering."

And THAT'S why dogs go home the next day.

[Little Freddie]

Penny's Aunt,
You made a very GOOD point! Some Vets would prefer to be safe than sorry. You can't blame them!

*BigOtis*,
My male dachsie stayed overnight. Of course I was concerned<IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm31.gif" border=0>but there was NO need to be, as everything went smoothly, and Freddie was just FINE!http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/smile.gif Of course, if the dog does stay overnight, you WANT to be assured that there will be someone close by for observation. My Vet used the glue too instead of stitches. Don't worry, Otis will be just FINE!http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/smile.gif

Susan

[Buddy's mom]

My vet has you call around 4pm and if the animal is feeling OK and alert you get to take them home that day. If not they stay over. The last time I took one in for spaying was my daughters kitten. The kitten wasn't awake enough to come home that night so the vets office asked to keep her over night even though it was a weekend. They assured me I could call the anwsering machine that night and make arrangements to pick her up the next day. Only problem with that is they forgot to turn the machine on. She was there all weekend while I was frantically trying to reach someone to get her out. Monday morning I was there first thing to pick her up. She looked great and felt great and I didn't have to worry about any complications since she had been under her vets care all weekend.

[Roxane]

Hi:
Just a word of reassurance. About 3 weeks ago our little Baylea was spayed. Had to stay overnight. While I was mourning, she was sleeping. It was harder on me than it was on her. Either way, he'll be just fine. Roxane

[LisaH]

I think it's probably best if the dog stays overnight so they can check him out several hours after the operation. He'll probably be asleep the whole night. You can find out what's the EARLIEST time you can pick him up the next morning, then bring him home and feed him ice cream and let him watch Animal Planet. <IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm28.gif" border=0>

[Sue&Reu2]

When Reuben was neutered he did not have to stay overnight. I had to have him at the Vet very early and I was able to pick him up by 3:00 p.m. My Vet did laser surgery on him. It cost us $100. Reuben had no stitches. They glued the incision with some type of pet bond. Our beagle was in heat at the time. Reuben was let out for a few minutes too long one day and busted the incision. I freaked out, took him back to the Vet, they gave him a shot for infection
and bonded him again. Got him home with one of those collars, but it did not help he licked the incision open again. I called and the Vet said not to worry that the incision would heal on its own. Just watch it closely. I did, and we had no problem. It healed fine and all is well!<IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm12.gif" border=0>