Yesterday (August 27, 2022), we spayed our dog Kalu The Fifth at the Pet Connect Hospital and Shop. She is 8 months old. The ideal time for a dog to be spayed is a few weeks before she is expected to be in heat. When we took her to the vet first time, she was already in heat. Vet asked us to come back a few days after her bleeding is over.

On the day of surgery, she needs to fast for at least 12 hours. Her surgery was scheduled for 11 am. We gave her dinner the night before the surgery at 11 pm and took her to the vet the next day at 9 am. She was hungry the whole morning but didn’t complain too much. She enjoyed her walk to the hospital very very much. It went through the streets, railway lines, and muddy roads near construction sites. I had to lift her a few times to avoid her enjoying herself way too much in puddles. My wife was a bit irritated for not taking the normal road or the auto.

In the clinic, when the nurse try to take her blood out, she almost bit her and me as well. This time she did not like folks in the hospital a bit. Probably because a few dogs were barking there and it made her tense. I took her out for a walk and she calmed a bit I put a muzzle on her. He bit the muzzle a few times when I was trying to put it on her. In the end, I succeeded. She was mad! Always put the muzzle on the dog before entering the hospital. You can’t control everything around your dog and she might bite someone.

They took the blood sample. Surprisingly, most dogs there didn’t react to the needle. When the nurse put the needle in her veins, I didn’t see any expression on her face that said she was in pain. She also didn’t make any sound when the needle went in. Probably they don’t feel the needle as much as we do. As soon as the nurse took the blood and went away, I removed the muzzle and we ran out of the hospital only to be returned by 1 pm for the surgery (if the blood report didn’t show anything that means no). It’s been a very odd day for her😕.

The surgery

Before we walked into the hospital at 1 pm, I already put the muzzle on her. This time she let me put on the muzzle without much protest. Phew! The nurse gave her a sedative and we removed the muzzle ten minutes after the sedative was given. Most dogs would vomit after sedatives. She did too. The nurse shaved her a little around her tummy before the surgery.

Before the surgery, the doctor asked us to sign the consent form and asked us which sedative we’d like to use on her. There were two choices of sedatives. One is injected into the blood before the surgery. Once given, there is a fixed time after which the dog wakes up. There is not much control over it. The other option was to give sedatives mixed with breathing air. You can stop the sedative after surgery is over and the dog wakes up in a few minutes. We chose the latter. It is a bit costlier as well: Rs. 2000 extra.

The surgery lasted for 40 minutes. That’s the typical duration. They removed a few organs from her. The doctor offered to show us the removed organ. Honestly, I didn’t know that organs were removed🤷🏾‍♂️. I thought that they make cuts inside so that sperm or eggs don’t meet each other.

Kalu after the surgery. Still unconscious but breathing normally.

The removed organs: ovary and uterus. There are two of them in this container. The other one is from a larger dog.

When Kalu finally woke up she was in shock and try to jump out of the table. She was terribly confused as one should be. I tried to hold her and calm her down. Another mistake. Because in the stage of confusion, she could have easily bitten me or someone else. Fortunately, it didn’t happen, and the nurse put a cone on her. We brought her back home in an auto. She was in discomfort but not in pain.

I put her on the sofa. She peed all over her in the hospital and part of my shirt was also soaked in her pee. She became very calm as soon we were close to home: her familiar place. She slept on the sofa for an hour. We gave her some water when she woke up. Anu bought some tin food (most likely fish) for her from the clinic. She at a little bit of that too. During the evening, her body temperature was going up and down. Her nostrils were sweaty so I didn’t bother too much. She was also struggling with the e-collar she has to wear for the next 8 to 10 days. Oh well!

I lifted her from her chest and she felt the pain. I put her down on the soft and try to pat her head to calm her down. But she was still mad and she tried to bite me in a way that she never did before😔.

After a day of surgery, she is recovering well💪🏽. She has started behaving normally. Though she has not pooped in the last 24 hours. When Rocky — a friendly dog from the neighborhood — came to the house to play with her, she was in shock for a while. She sniffed Kalu slowly but kept her distance. She is not the Kalu she knows. Anyway, she can’t play (too hard) for the next 3-7 days. By then I hope Rocky will also be willing to play along.

Update: She behaved so well in the cone that we removed the cone after 3 days of surgery. She never licked her wound or tried to remove the patch that was on her skin. After removing the cone, Rocky started playing with her normally. Her health is normal and surgery doesn’t seem to impact her mood in any way.