106. The best spay I had - a smooth operator

When the dog owner is well informed, a spay operation in the female dog can be a very smooth operation taking less than 30 minutes.

Today was such a day. The Miniature Schnauzer, born in Dec 3, 2005 was on heat 4 months ago. She was spayed today Nov 23, 2007 as the owner was advised to do so 3-4 months after heat.

My assistant Mark talked to the dog as he put the face mask over her muzzle. She did not struggle and went to sleep under 8% gas anaesthesia within 10 minutes. No tranquilisation. I inserted the endotracheal tube to connect her lungs to the anaesthetic machine, maintained the anaesthesia at 1.5%.

Incision was 2.5 cm from the umbilicus. 1 cm incision cut. The spay hook was inserted towards my right at 45 degrees posteriorly. It hooked out the left uterine horn. I pulled the left ovarian ligament. Pulling caused the dog to breath much faster as he felt the pain.


I increased the gas to 8% for a minute so that he had more gas. The minimal amount of gas given will lead to no deaths and that was why I used 1.5%.

No more rapid breathing observed. I cut the ovarian ligament with the scalpel. Clamp the ovarian stump. Ligate the stump.



Pulled the left uterine horn out of the body and saw the right uterine horn at the uterine body junction popping out. Use forceps to pull it out.

Then I pulled the right ovarian ligament and repeated the same procedure. No bleeding but the blood was normal red with oxygen. The dog was breathing regularly. The uterine body was pulled out and clamped.

The skin and muscles were stitched up. Anaesthesia switched off as I stitched the skin. No bleeding from the ovarian and uterine tissues at all as the dog was no longer on heat.

The dog woke up smoothly after 3 minutes. An Elizabeth collar was given to prevent licking of wound.




QUESTIONS THE OWNER ASKED:

1. Bathe the dog? Yes, but make sure the plaster is not wet.
2. Can the dog eat any food? Yes.
3. When to come back to remove the stitches. No need. The absorbable stitches will dissolve and fall off in 14-28 days.
4. When to remove plaster? 7 days later.
5. Can give antibiotic tablet crushed and mixed with water inside a syringe? Yes. 7 days. Normally I don't give antibiotics but lately, I do so as the dog may lick her wound or irritate it.

Overall, this was a most satisfying spay I had ever done. I had time for the first consultation at 10 a.m