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 Nicole, Stanley and STELLA! on
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Hi Beth,
I'm happy to hear that Maddie is feeling better already! I know what you mean about *trying* to walk her slowly. I think that corgis only have one speed! Even when Stella was really sick from the pain medicine, she still was super high energy. I also had the issue of keeping Stella and Annie separated. Stella is constantly in play mode even when Annie isn't, and I didn't want her jumping. It's probably more frustrating for Jack right now than Maddie. How many doses of the pain medication (Rimadyl) are you going to give her? Stella didn't get sick from it until day 3. I think it built up in her system by then. If I could do it over, I would have only given her two doses instead of 4.
I hope she continues to do well! Keep us posted on her progress.
Nicole
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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They gave me 8 Rimadyl pills with instructions to give her one AM and one PM "as needed" for pain, for up to four days. She had one last night and one this morning. I will probably give her one tonight and one tomorrow morning and then stop. I don't want her to feel too good and start bouncing more, for one. And two I know it can be hard on the system for some dogs. She had all the liver and kidney function panels done beforehand, but I still worry.
Thanks for letting me know how long it was before Stella got sick. I'll definitely keep that in mind when I'm deciding whether or not to give her a pill.
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Permalink Reply by Kristen on
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good news about Maddie. Tomorrow you will have trouble keeping her calm!
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She already wanted to jump on the couch. I could see her tensing her back end to spring and I stepped in. I picked her up and put her next to me for awhile, but then back in her pen she went! I don't want any ripped stitches or, worse, internal bleeding!
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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
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Yeah, when Misty was spayed and lived with my son she ripped hers open and they had to restitch her. That was not good.
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It's been a week and a day since Maddie was spayed, and since the weekend it is getting increasingly impossible to keep her calm! Every day that goes by she is more and more on her toes. She is getting normal walks every day, but without that release of running around and playing she is full of herself.
Her incision looks great and is almost healed, but it's still a week til the stitches come out and I'm meant to keep her quiet til then. The poor thing spends a lot of time in her pen because I cannot keep her and Jack from wrestling, and with each day that goes by they go at it sooner. LOL Today I came home at lunch to take them out and came in and sat down to eat (usually food keeps them both distracted) and they immediately started. If they were just chasing each other I'd probably let it go at this point, but I think wrestling is a bit much til the stitches come out. I just locked Jack up to give her a break, and he's in there woofing and wondering why we forgot to let him out.
So, recovery was not nearly as long as I thought it would be. She had the surgery on Tuesday and by Friday she was walking normally and by Saturday or Sunday she was ready to run and play. She is practically running on her walks, she's so eager to go. I can't wait til her stitches are out and I can take them out and throw a ball for them or something.
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Well I guess that answers the question about how spaying will effect an older female! Glad she is doing so well.
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Hi Beth,
I was just wondering how Maddie was doing! The last week before the stitches came out seemed to drag on forever for Stella, too. Sometimes Annie would play with her and chase her outside of her pen. I took Stella on extra walks to make up for the time she was in the pen inside. She was running and frapping, too, even on the leash. I, too was really careful not to have her out to wrestle or jump on Annie, because I thought that might be potential trouble with pulling her stitches. But as for the running and frapping, once she made it past that first week and the incision looked clean and healed, she didn't have any problems. I was also worried about her appointment to get her stitches out, but it took a matter of seconds! One vet tech held her up on her back legs and another made 3-4 snips and they just fell out. No pulling or anything! Hopefully, it everything will go that smoothly for Maddie.
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Thanks! I hope the stitches removal goes well too. She's usually easy to handle so I think it should.
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I just wanted to add that the only thing of note to happen so far is that she is blowing her coat at an incredible rate, even by Corgi standards.
I knew that the hormone change post-spay can cause females to shed, but this happened within a day or two of the spay so I thought it was a bit soon to be hormone-based.
I did some looking online and found quite a few sources saying some dogs will blow coat heavily after anesthesia for any reason, and it seems like our Maddie is one of those. It's positively absurd. I comb her once or twice a day, and stop not because she's done losing hairs, but because I fear if I keep going, she'll be bald. LOL
At this rate, I'll need to buy her a sweater for winter..... And her coat was fabulous before. She's fluff-factored, and there are those who say that gives a luxuriant coat. Whether it's true or not I don't know, but she does have a lovely coat. Had. Had a lovely coat.
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Permalink Reply by Deanna on
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Beth, so glad to hear Maddie is up and around and doing well. When Topaz was spayed, there were no visible stitches -- the vet said they were "dissolveable," so I never saw them. But she was up and going for walks in the park right away, but I couldn't keep her down at the time and leave her behind because I had so many others to care for as well. Topaz may have blown her coat as well, I just really don't remember -- it's been 2 years. Good for you and Maddie.
As far as Jack -- well, is he neutered? If not, just tell him "Just wait, Jack, you're next!" LOL! He'll leave Maddie alone!
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