Sophie is being spayed on Monday

Hi, Bob's missus here. Sophie is booked in for her spay on Monday morning. She is 14 months and had her first season in September.

She has developed a complete freak out for some reason at the vets and they have been brilliant. Instead of us taking her at 9 45 and her being kept until they are ready for her at lunch time they have suggested we take her at 11 30. She will immediately be given an APC injection to relax her and will be 'done' first on their list. Also, they have agreed it would be best for her to come home as soon as they are happy to release her preferably still a bit dopey.

What can we expect for the first few days and how long will her recovery be?

Poor little girl. Is she always like that at the vets or is it a one-off do you think? It's good of the vets to do it that way, they often won't.

She'll be rather dopey & sorry for herself for the first 24 hours I should think. She may not want food, but try to tempt her with something tasty; just small amounts spread out so that you don't overtax her stomach. Make sure she has access to fresh water, though cause the anaesthetic may make her thirsty. Don't be surprised if she's a bit sick the first evening.

She'll be a little sore for a couple of days, but you'll have painkillers for that. After that she should start to pick up & your main problem will be keeping her quiet!

I'm sure she'll be absolutely fine & back to her old self really soon! Let us know how she gets on.

aw bless her. lemmy's in on tuesday and i think its monty on here thats in on wednesday. god imagine what the forum would be like if the dogs could type. they would be moaning and comparing notes on thursday

Hi Carryll, we have no idea why she has freaked out at the vets the last couple of times. She always loved going but when we were on holiday in Derbyshire Sophie had her first season. She started wee'ing without realising it was happening so we took her to a recommended vet up there. The vet did nothing except take her temperature in case of an infection but Sophie worked herself up into such a state she collapsed on the floor.

A month or so ago, we took her to our own vet as her anal glands were impacted. Again she worked herself up so much, the vet had to take her from us and deal with her glands in the treatment room as he thought she would need oxygen.

At least they have recognised her anxieties and will be ready to receive her and look after her. They have said to arrive at the end of morning surgery and to let them know we are there. She will be whisked in the back way from their car park and they will be be ready for her to eliminate as much stress as possible for us, Sophie and them

Other than her first vaccinations and microchipping she has never had any other invasive treatments, though when she was tiny she developed a skin condition and had to have Promeris Duo which is a fluid on the back of her neck which made her very poorly for a couple of hours. She has Advocate every month which has no physical effect but she still quivers and shakes as she thinks it is the Promeris Duo again

Poor little thing, I wonder if it was the excitement of being on holiday & then going to the vet?

When she's recovered, I'd ask them if you can just pop her in there once a week for a while just for a fuss & some treats. Maybe that'll help.

I'm sure that won't be a problem. One of the vets at the practice takes her own dogs there every day. They sit in the waiting room and greet all the dogs.

One is a sheepdog type and the other is a british bulldog that wears nappies indoors. The vet kept him for herself as he has been incontinent since birth and she knew nobody else would take him on. The first time we went there we didn't realise and thought it was a fashion statement

Everyone in the town has nothing but praise for this particular practice.

Wow you are very lucky to have such an understanding vet, but then I guess they have to be. I hope I can work for one as good as yours.

_julie_ wrote:aw bless her. lemmy's in on tuesday and i think its monty on here thats in on wednesday. god imagine what the forum would be like if the dogs could type. they would be moaning and comparing notes on thursday

that's hillarious!! Winston and Jethro would be typing "Quick, run for your lives!!"

anyway hope she gets on okay..be a brave girl for mummy and daddy!!

Your vet sounds fantastic. Will be thinking of Sophie on Monday.

Bob's missus here. Well, we are waiting for 11 30 Sophie is nil by mouth and unaware of what beholds her today. The vets is only less than ten minutes away in the car so we will wait until just before 11 20 and phone to confirm they will be ready for her. I am really starting to get twitchy now.

Wonder how dopey she will be when we go to collect her. Once I know she has the APC injection in her to relax her I will be much happier. Also wonder how long she will be at the vets.

fingers crossed

hope everything goes OK, please let us know

hope everything goes okay with Sophie today!

Hope all goes well.

Hi, Bob's missus here. We dropped Sopphie off as arranged at 11 30. They were ready to 'do' her. When we left, they were going to give her the ACP injection to calm her down.

They said they would call in a couple of hours. We left it until 2 20 and as we hadn't heard anything we phoned them. Apparently Sophie was still extremily sleepy and to call back at 3 30. I did that and she is still out of it. They have said they will call when she comes round but to call them if we haven't received a call by 6pm.

They did say the surgery went fine though. I know a sleepy staffie is a happy staffie, but this is not quite what we had in mind.

Will keep you posted. ><

They probably have a duty of care to make sure the dog has woken and had a drink before they allow her to leave. She may just be sleeping too heavy still, so they wont want to try until she's more awake.
I remember Kita bumping into the walls as she walked down the hall at the vets after her desexing, she could hardly stand up when I went to collect her.

yes they will just be making sure that she is okay to come home..she may have to sleep it off abit at the vets..

make the most of it while you can!

Glad she came through ok. Being sleep post op will be a good thing - she wont strain herself and you get a little quiet time

Sophie is home at last, we picked her up at 6.
When she heard our voices at the vets she started squawking like only she can, but when she saw us she just laid down and waited to be picked up and taken to the car.
Since getting home she hasn't moved from her bed by the radiator, she's very sleepy so we're letting her rest.

Pleased it went well and she is home

Enjoy the peace whilst it lasts Xx

pleased she home you can relax now. a good nights rest and she will have perked up in the morning just trying to get her to relax more is going to be fun for you

Glad she is back home with you. Good luck keeping her quiet for the next week.

Bob's missus here. Sophie had a pretty good night. We were told to give her a small light meal last night, but she was too far out of it. She did manage a ginger biscuit and a mouthful of milk though

She was totally out of it but we got her comfy on her bed beside the radiator and covered her for the evening. At bed time she went out for a wee and we snuggled her into her crate which is beside our bed. We dithered about whether to put her lampshade on but decided she was still too sleepy for it to be necessary.

Around 3am she stirred and we found her sitting in a funny position looking at her scar but just said "Sophie, down" and amazingly, she snuggled back down again until about 6 45am.

Took her out for a wee and popped her back in her crate where she dozed off again. She has had a tiny drop of milk and a rich tea biscuit. We know she shouldn't but until we offered her a mouthful of milk she had refused to drink anything and we were getting concerned about her getting dehydrated.

She is still snuggled in bed with the doors open between us (bungalow). As soon as she stirs we will bring her through and snuggle her down by the radiator for her duvet week.

We are both home from work this week and she will have our undivided attention.

Also, son who is a big butch weightlifter (deadlifting over 35 stone ) worships her and is treating her like porcelain. He was very helpful yesterday as he can obviously lift her so easily and carefully, particularly getting her from the vets to in the car and back into home as we were so conscious about her tummy, being she was such a dead weight.

She won't take advantage of being spoilt rotten this week though, will she?

glad everything went ok, we spoily billy when he was done, i slept with him on the couch for a couple of night, he was mortified by the cone

I think she should take advantage of being spoilt#

She can milk it for as long as she likes Honestly though she will be back to herself in no time and it will be you pulling yoour hair out trying to keep her still! Xx

aw bless her its amazing how the bigget and toughest of us can turn to putty in the hands of babies and animals keep us updated.

Aww bless her, glad it all went well. We have all of this to come, and I bet Tinkerbell will also milk the attention

Happy to hear she is home and getting all that attention. Nothing wrong with being spoiled when your poorly

Oh gawd, she has gone bonkers. She is on a lead permanently in the lounge for the moment. I have also already been to the vets for some mild tranquilisers

One of the three of us is permanently attatched to the lead as she already made it onto the sofa. She thought she was going walkies and worked herself up into a right stress making her usual 'dolphin' sounds she does when excited. She also worked herself up into such a state when we put her bucket on we had to take it off again

She managed half a tin of tuna for breakfast and (don't tell anyone) but a saucer of yesterdays shepherds pie for lunch

We are hoping now she has something in her belly and a tranquiliser we may have a less fraught afternoon.

billy went the opposite with his bucket, he just stood there shaking. Hope this afternoon passes well with no incidents

My two didn't wear a cone post desexing. Maybe she'd be ok without it, less stressful.
Kita had a growth removed from her cheek a few years ago and the vet put a cone on her and she kept banging into everything. In the end it was less of a bother to her to leave it off.
I wont tell you what she did the day after her spaying or the day after a 4 hour op to remove a granuloma that had encapsulated her jugular vein when she was nearly 3 years old....

yes neither of my two would tolerate the cone.. Winston went berserk and nearly knocked himself out shaking his head violently when he had it on... he was a good boy and didn't worry about his stitches. phew!

and when Jethro had his operation he was so distressed with the cone the vet put on him we took it off before we put him in the car!

oh my what a girl. hope she doesnt do too much now she has amild sedative bles her. hope she has a speey recovery for all your sakes.

Hi all, have posted an update on the new 'How is everyone thread,' kindly started by Julie ><

Oh Gawd. All was going so well. One of Sophie's stitches came away this morning. Her wound was nice and clean and knitted well together.

Until now.

She has a 'line' of blood along the wound. We have phoned the emergency vet and she advised us to tease the wound and see if it is likely to come apart. Thankfully, this didn't happen but we are aware we have taken a few steps back.

We emailed pictures of her wound to the vet and she was happy that it will settle down but we are still on red alert.

No idea what caused this. She has just had a mild tranquiliser and hopefully that coupled with some chicken and rice she will settle and allow herself to heal overnight.

Will keep you posted. ><

Must have been a worry and it made my toes curl when you mentioned teasing it open! Hope its just settling down so to speak. ><

hope everything is okay now !! yes the thought of teasing it open made me queasy too!

what a fright you must ahve got. poor girl. hope all goes well but like you say if the vet has seen pictures and is not too concerned then i wouldnt worry too much if i were you (easier said than done i know).

The missus here. Well, Sophie has officially been given the all clear. Don't laugh, but because she is so hyper at the vets we were concerned that her 10 day check would be so stressful she may damage her tummy muscles etc. We had a chat with the vet and suggested as it was just her wound they were checking on could we just take some close up photos of it to show the vet. Knowing that they would get a much better opportunity to see the scar they readily agreed. We took said photos and they are totally happy with her healing process and have said she is back to normal (dopey staffy was nice)

She is now sitting sunbathing in the sun up on the sofa. She has had her ball and tuggy toys returned, though we will still be a bit cautious with overstretching her.

She is also totally relaxed and has an air about her that says normal service is resumed.

We are going to hang fire until tomorrow before she goes out for a walk though.

Many thanks for all your kind thoughts and suggestions. >< >< ><

BTW the vet (from their satelite surgery) owns two bull mastiffs and a staffy. He said his staffy didn't calm down until he was seven

so glad Sophie is going so well after her op.....yes we told you to enjoy the dopey staffy while it lasted!!