Labradoodle & Goldendoodle Forum
Biba had her spay surgery today. The doctor just called me and told me the following things:
1. her uterus and ovaries were 1/4 or 1/5 of the usual size expected in a 6 month puppy
2. they were also more pushed back (towards the tail) than usual
3. her spleen had a tear
4. her intestines looked thickened but otherwise normal (spasming and good blood flow)
5. they want to monitor her tonight at the hospital to monitor the spleen / make sure there is no internal bleeding. She will be free to go home tomorrow if the night passes without incident.
Spleen tear:
The vet said that EITHER the spleen tear could be because something bad that she ate could have protruded out of her intestines and poked the spleen OR her recent GI issues could have caused some inflammation that results in organs to be 'sticky'. The vet might have caused the tear as spleen was sticking to the other organs and with the small ovaries/uterus, it required more looking and manual movement of internal organs. The vet said there was no way to be sure. My husband thinks it has to be something that happened during surgery since a dog with a tear in her spleen couldn't be running and playing and eating happily like she has been doing. There has been no blood in her stool. Since she started eating the Iams (see 'other background' below) about 3 or 4 weeks ago, her stool has been very consistently dark to medium greenish-brown but very well formed. He wants to question her more thoroughly to understand what happened. I don't know what fighting with the vet or assigning blame will achieve for Biba. He wants to change vets since she seemed antibiotics-happy during the diarrhea issue, didn't give us a confirmed diagnosis on the diarrhea issue and prescribes Iams as a good food for dogs with GI issues.
Other background:
Biba had an non-painful but large umbilical hernia, vaginitis and has had GI issues (consistently soft stool or diarrhea for about 4 weeks or so). The diarrhea could have been due to a mix of eating something bad and the effect of antibiotics. We never found out but the poop improved almost immediately after we moved her from boiled chicken and rice to Iams Low Residue + probiotics. Prior to the diarrhea, her poop was average to bad on Taste of the Wild. The doc had suggested an intestinal biopsy during the spay but since her poop had been good over the last 2 weeks, I declined the biopsy.
I'm going to go and pick her up from the clinic and take her to the hospital in a few hours. Does anyone have any questions that I should ask or similar experience or ideas? I'm trying to not think too much about it other than trying to research and read about these issues but keeping having unpleasant and negative thoughts.
Thank you for any suggestions, questions and prayers.
UPDATE AS OF FRIDAY PM:
We got her back from the hospital. She seems good, very happy to see us, not groggy at all though shes on a sedative called Tramadol. I have to add in the Rimadyl which helps with pain and inflammation. The Tramadol is to be given on as needed basis. The hospital asked us to feed her 3-4 smaller meals and about half the usual food (2 cups of chicken and rice for the day). The hospital doc said probiotics are OK.
We need to watch for lethargy (that will be confusing since she will be on pain meds), vomiting, diarrhea, pale gums. We have to keep her totally calm and inactive for the next 2 weeks. Luckily, we will have a quiet week with July 4 and my SIL is coming on Tuesday and will be staying with us for a month so someone will always be at home to watch her.
The hospital surgeon was backing up the whole sticky organ ("adhesion") theory. He did say that its very rare and has happened to him before too..Our usual vet talked to the hospital a couple of times since yesterday and asked me to give her an update tomorrow.
Also, is there any thing I can do to make the skin around the sutures more comfortable so she doesn't have the urge to lick them?
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I'm so happy to hear that she's home and starting to feel better.
So glad she is better!
This is good news!
I am sending hugs and prayers for a full recovery your way. We are pulling for you Biba!!
Hoping things are looking up!
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