Effects of spaying on older female?
Next week is the big day and Madison is going to get spayed! I know it's routine surgery, but I am the tiniest bit worried because she's nearly 5, she's had a litter, and that litter was a C-section, so I think her recovery might be a bit slower than it would be for a young pup. The upside is she is past the puppy crazy stage, and as long as you don't wave a ball or frisbee around outside (in which case she goes crazy for it) she is easy to keep calm. She pens and crates well, so we will simply confine her when we are not there to keep her from jumping on furniture. She's not a frapper so that's not a concern either.
But those are just the basic issues. My question is if I can expect any changes to her behavior. I know that with a young dog who does not have its mature personality, the answer is usually "no." But with an adult whose hormones are fully functioning, I wonder if anyone can tell me if they have experience with this and have seen any changes? I know that many women and quite a few female horses are affected by their changing hormones and their moods can change accordingly. I wonder if the hormone changes resulting from spay will have any impact.
Of course Maddie has only been with us a couple months and we haven't seen her go through a heat cycle, so we don't have much to compare with. She is basically a pretty easy dog with an outgoing personality and a nice energy level (always eager to go for a walk or chase a ball, but content to lie around at night if you're just hanging out). She has no real problems. She is, however, a bit sporadic when meeting other dogs. She's never aggressive, but she's a bit quick to snark for perceived slights. She also most definitely does NOT like having her backside sniffed. I had read, long before we got her, that some females, especially intact females, will not tolerate dogs sniffing their privates if they are not in season, and that is certainly true with her! With Jack she never snarks, but she lives with him and is used to him (and he has learned to stay away from her backside!)
I would appreciate anyone's experiences, with either a young female or most especially an older one who had already reached full maturity.
Thanks!
But those are just the basic issues. My question is if I can expect any changes to her behavior. I know that with a young dog who does not have its mature personality, the answer is usually "no." But with an adult whose hormones are fully functioning, I wonder if anyone can tell me if they have experience with this and have seen any changes? I know that many women and quite a few female horses are affected by their changing hormones and their moods can change accordingly. I wonder if the hormone changes resulting from spay will have any impact.
Of course Maddie has only been with us a couple months and we haven't seen her go through a heat cycle, so we don't have much to compare with. She is basically a pretty easy dog with an outgoing personality and a nice energy level (always eager to go for a walk or chase a ball, but content to lie around at night if you're just hanging out). She has no real problems. She is, however, a bit sporadic when meeting other dogs. She's never aggressive, but she's a bit quick to snark for perceived slights. She also most definitely does NOT like having her backside sniffed. I had read, long before we got her, that some females, especially intact females, will not tolerate dogs sniffing their privates if they are not in season, and that is certainly true with her! With Jack she never snarks, but she lives with him and is used to him (and he has learned to stay away from her backside!)
I would appreciate anyone's experiences, with either a young female or most especially an older one who had already reached full maturity.
Thanks!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Stephanie on
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the only problem Bear had was diarrhea, so keep an eye out - I think it was the stress and the meds.
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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Thanks! I am definitely watching for tummy upset. I did give her yogurt with her food the last three days before the spay, to get her digestive tract in good order (hopefully).
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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
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Ahh, poor Maddie! There is nothing more pitiful than a pitiful corgi.. Hope she feels better soon. Since she is an older girl she might not bounce back as quick as the young corgis. I know you will give her plenty of TLC.
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Yeah, Jack came out of the vet a little wobbly but within an hour he was trotting around like nothing happened. I do know that a neuter is way, way easier than a spay as far as invasiveness goes, but I can't help but think part of it is the age. I remember how quickly I healed from minor injuries as a kid, compared to now. And a work colleague had her appendix out a few years back when she was in her early 60's and missed several months of work; when I was in school the kids who had their appendix out they only missed a couple weeks.
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Permalink Reply by Alice on
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I don't have a female dog so I have nothing to offer other than my best wishes for a speedy recovery. :)
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Permalink Reply by Kristin, Honey, and Hooch on
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My Honey came out of a shelter, is apparently around four and has had at least one litter (her past is a mystery, as she was a stray, but you can tell she's had pups), and her spay went very well! We were told she might have a rough recovery because of the affects of a late spay after having pups, but instead she was totally out of it for about a day and a half and after that she seemed to be back to normal. There were no problems with her recovery at all, and her scar has healed beautifully! The only thing I noticed that seemed even slightly peculiar was that it took her a while to grow back the hair on her belly, but I suspect that may have been more of a corgi thing than an older female thing. ;) I haven't noticed anything in the way of her behavior changing, to be honest.
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Thank you! I hope we have as quick a rebound. I took tomorrow off work so I can keep an eye on her.
Right now she is very, very sore. I was going to wait til tomorrow for the Rimadyl, but I gave her one now. At about 8:30 I figured she must need to pee. I managed to coax her from her crate with a leash and a treat. Once she was out, she got out to the front porch ok. I handed her leash over to my husband as I didn't have shoes on, and went back inside, and she balked on the porch and kept looking back to see where I'd gone. So I had to put on shoes and go out with her myself; I guess she figured she'd do it if I said she must, but not for anyone else. Then we brought her back and she went right back in her crate.
Poor thing.
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Permalink Reply by Judi, Dawn, Soffie & Griffyn on
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Oh Beth, sorry I missed all your posts earlier. I've been busy moving our business from one location to another and our computers were down for awhile and the rest of the time I was actually doing some work for a change! LOL!
This will be a quick post as I'm burning the midnight oil and I really should be off to bed. But I want to let you know I'm keeping Maddie in my thoughts and hope that tomorrow will be an easier day for her!! Poor little girl.....
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Oh, good luck moving the business! When I was in my early 20's I worked for an independent bookstore (the best job ever, but the worst pay ever!) and we moved. What a nightmare that was! Packing up an entire bookstore and all its related equipment took quite a lot of time, then our new location wasn't ready when we had to be out of the old one. Ugh.
Hope your move goes better than that one did! LOL
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Awww, I hope she recovers quickly! It's a good thing the surgery itself went well. though. :)
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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Oh Beth, I bet you're glad it's over and that things get back to "normal" soon. I did have a 4 year old rescue spayed and after a couple days she was doing much better and she was fine She was adopted about 3 months later but I keep in contact with them and she is great! I bet Maddie will be glad you have off tomorrow too and I bet Jack will be glad when Maddie is ready to play again! Good luck to both of you! OK, to you too Jack!
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Well, Madison looks much brighter today. My husband got up earlier than I did, and when I heard him getting Jack out I asked if he needed help with Maddie. He said "yes" but then by the time I got up just a couple minutes later, he already had Jack in and Maddie out. I looked out the window and was very pleased and surprised to see her trotting up the sidewalk. He said he tried to keep her going slow but she kept looking up at him like "What the heck?"
You can see she's sore. I'm keeping her penned most of the time and bring her out once an hour or so for a nice neck rub and some cuddle time. This is one of the rare occasions where two dogs make things more difficult. If it were just her, I'd leave her loose and sit by her on the living room floor to keep her from jumping on the furniture, but I'm afraid Jack will barrel into her or get her excited so I think she's safest being confined to her ex-pen for a couple days. Her crate is attached, so she can move from one to the other as she wants to.
The biggest issue we are having now is that I gave them each a new sterilized beef bone, and Jack is very upset he can't get into her pen to steal hers. He periodically stands outside the pen and barks at her bone.
All-in-all, she's looking much better today than I thought she would. The incision still looks clean with no swelling yet. So far no tummy upset and she's eliminating normally. As I said, she's looking better than I thought she would.
Thanks everyone for the well-wishes and stories of your own experiences!
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