A spay, or ovariohysterectomy, is the surgical removal of the ovaries and uterus. We commonly have the procedure performed on our pets in order to prevent certain medical problems, curtail some unwanted behaviors, and of course for population control. As a small animal veterinarian I have performed thousands of spays in my 15 year career. And I have to tell you that dog spays suck.
*** Warning - graphic surgical descriptions ahead ***
If you have, or know someone who has had, a hysterectomy (removal of the uterus only) performed as a person, you may know that the hospital bill was probably between $10,000 - $20,000. Most veterinarians charge between $100 - $500 for a spay, which is more difficult than a hysterectomy because it is much harder to remove the ovaries as well as the uterus. I don't know how it is that we vets feel we can only charge a few hundred bucks for this procedure. It is not an easy surgery, and for me it doesn't seem to get any easier with time.
Cat spays are different - they are pretty straighforward since cats have round abdomens and their reproductive organs can only get so big. Dogs come in many shapes and sizes, from a 2 pound chihuahua with which you panic over anesthesia to a 150 pound Great Dane, where it can take 20 minutes to even find everything in the huge abdomen. Also, if the dog has been in heat before, or had a litter, the reproductive organs tend to be large and fragile. If it is a young dog, the uterus may be hard to find because it is so little. Or, there's the spay combine with a C-section, where you're dealing with keeping newborn puppies alive, a big open uterus with a ton of fluid, and large blood vessels. Or there's the pyometra spay, where the uterus is huge and filled with pus. One wrong move and you can lacerate the uterus and get bacteria into the abdomen. Plus, the dog is fairly sick to begin with, so anesthesia is super fun. Or there's the big fat dog spay, where all of the vessels are hard to see because they're surrounded by fat, which also make your surgical gloves slippery so it's harder to grasp the tissue.
I love surgery, and as I've said, I've done a ton of spays. But no other procedure has resulted in more lost sleep for me than a dog spay. The vessels and ligaments that you need to tie off in order to get the ovaries out are tucked way up near the kidneys along the spine. You often need to break down the ligaments in order to expose and access the vessels. Then you need to get a clamp on the area, and then tie it off with 2-3 ligatures. The whole process can be maddening. The vessels can break, the clamp or ligatures can slip off, or you can inadvertantly tie off the ureter (the tube that brings the urine from the kidney to the bladder).... Ugh.
We do some rescue work for Greyhound Pets of America, so we spay a couple of greyhounds a month. This is probably the worst breed to spay because they are deep chested, making it difficult to access the ovaries, they are often shot up with testosterone on the race track, so their uterus is super small, and they have no abdominal fat. It is also hard to find the midline in the muscle wall in these guys, so I have spent 15 minutes on occasion trying just to get INTO the abdomen. Plus, anesthesia is tricky in this breed and they always wake up flailing no matter what drugs we give.
The main problem with a dog spay is that it is a technically difficult surgery but the expectation is high. The dog will do great or you're the worst vet ever. I can think of many non-elective surgeries that are much easier than a dog spay, but we somehow let our clients think that it is a routine easy surgery. On the other hand, removing a foreign object from the intestines of a dog is a far easier surgery, but we set the owner up for all these possible complications so we're heroes if the dog does well. Fortunately, I have had very few spay complications, but the risk is always there and I will continue to lose sleep every once in awhile. I know of many vets who have stopped doing surgery completely, and I believe that it is the fear of the dog spay that did them in.
So, the next time you see your vet, thank him or her for a job well done on your dog's spay. And also for only charging a few hundred dollars, which is probably the best bargain you'll get in your lifetime. For anything.
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