Spaying Your Pet
You are going to admit your pet for an elective procedure known as an ovariohysterectomy, commonly referred to as a spay.  We recommend this for all female cats and dogs for many reasons.  One reason is the prevention of unwanted litters of kittens and puppies.  The United States euthanizes 3-4 million cats and dogs every year.  Spaying and neutering helps control the unwanted pet population.  It also has long term health benefits.  This includes eliminating the possibility of a pyometra.  This is a life-threatening uterine infection; your pet can die from this or the potential complications of having this infection.  The bacteria causing the infection can secrete toxins into the bloodstream causing renal and/or liver failure.  It can also cause peritonitis (infection of the abdomen) if the uterus ruptures, this has a poor recovery rate.  It decreases the risk of mammary cancer (breast cancer) in both cats and dogs, by over 95% if spayed before their first heat cycle.  Remember, women have two breasts and cats and dogs have eight to ten.  In cats, mammary tumors are very aggressive and tend to spread to the lungs very quickly.  The best treatment is prevention. 
Pyometra Surgery
This is abdominal surgery.  An incsion is made through the skin and a second incision is made through the abdominal muscle.  This then exposes the contents of the abdomen, including the uterus and ovaries.  Thypically, then, the ovaries are located and the ligament attaching it to the renal capsule is broken down manually.  This allows 3 clapms to be placed on the remaining structure that contains the blood supply to the ovary and a portion of the uterus.  Suture material is then tied around the crushed tissue, once the clamps are removed.  These are called ligatures.  Two ties are placed on each ovary.  The tissue is then cut and the bundle with the ligatures returns to the abdominal cavity.  A similar procedure is performed on the uterine body at the level of the cervix.  The abdominal wall is then sewn with a suture material that will hold its strength while the muscle heals.  The skin is then sutured separately and these sutures are placed within the skin to discourage licking and chewing post-operatively.  This is analagous to a supracervical hysterectomy that women undergo.

Even though this is a surgery performed regularly, it is still a surgery that causes pain.  As a result, we administer pain medication prior to performing any surgery; this lessens the pain in the long run.  We also administer an injection of non-steroidal pain medication prior to starting surgery, this combines with the prior pain medication and provides relief for about 12 hours.  We then apply a pain patch, this provides a constant infusion of pain medication through your pet's skin into the bloodstream for about 3 days.  Some pets, however, do not get good absorption from this patch, if your pet seems painful please contact us and we will prescribe oral medication to compliment the patch.

Complications can occur with any surgical procedure.  While they are usually minor, they can also be extreme and even cause death (though this is very rare).  There is a risk of intra- and post-operative hemorrhage.  There is always some blood loss with surgery but it is usually not excessive.  There is a risk of ligatures becoming lose, resulting in bleeding into the abdomen.  The risk of bleeding and ligature slippage is increased if your pet is over one year of age, overweight, been pregnant and whlped, or is in heat.  We avoid performing spays while your pet is in heat (except for cats), to minimize this risk.  Excessive bleeding occurs in s very small number of cases and may require a return to the orperating room to identify and stop the bleeding.  Other complications are: the risk of infection, suture reaction, fluid accumulation under the incision, blood clots, abnormal electrical activity of the heart (arrythmia), damage to adjacent organs, strangulation of bowel, incomplete removal of the ovary and/or uterine body, dehiscence, herniation at the incision line, and death.  Dehiscence is tearing of the abdominal suture allowing abdominal oragns to exit the abdominal cavity.  A complication that can become apparent weeks to months after the surgery is incontinence, in dogs.  This is an infrequent occurrence and can be managed medically if it does occur.  All of these are very rare occurrences, and by making pre-surgical bloodwork, IV fluids, ECG, and oxygen level monitoring mandatory we decrease the chance of these problems occurring as much as humanly possible.  Some of these complications can be treated medically but others may require additional surgery to correct.  If any abnormalities occur after surgery, please call to inform us and we will schedule an apoointment to have your pet rechecked.