# Spaying your Golden



## Micki's Mum (Jun 7, 2009)

I am trying to decide which vet to take Michaela to for spaying. My vet clinic provides iv fluids and pain meds to go home. The total cost is $370. The other clinic I am considering does not do iv fluids and only sends home pain meds if they feel it is necessary, $300. This vet has an excellent reputation and I took my rabbits to him for their spay and neuters.

I really like my vet but they seem to be the most expensive around. Also, I felt like my vet was giving me a guilt trip (which seems to be working) about the iv fluids and pain meds.

I don't have a problem spending the necessary money on any of my pets. I'm sure I'm still paying for Quincy's epilepsy (8 1/2 years) on my credit card and we lost him in June. He was worth every penny and I miss him dearly!

What I don't like is feeling like I'm paying more than the going rate and being guilted when I question it. :no:

I appreciate any feedback you can provide. Thanks for listening!


----------



## CarolinaCasey (Jun 1, 2007)

I replied to your post in the "spay" thread, but will here too in case you didn't see it.

I think fluids are an "extra." At the vet hospital where I work, we only give fluids to older animals, ones with known medical conditions, and those that warrant it due to pre-surgical bloodwork. We include it in our "package" and is free if needed along with anal gland expression, nail trim, and ear cleaning. Ask your vet if she could forego the fluids. Usually they only cost a nominal amount too, since LRS is pretty cheap. Some vets follow their "standard of care" and won't do a surgery if you don't follow things "their" way because they want to be sure nothing every comes back to get them. (re: malpractice, losing animal on table). 

Surgery is painful, I would highly recommend at the very least a pain injection. Take home meds would be nice, too. However, thousands of shelter animals just get the pain injection (if they're lucky) and turn out just fine. 

At the end of the day, trust your vet. They went through 4 years of school and $100 K debt because they love animals, not to turn a profit.


----------



## Riley's Mom (Jul 6, 2008)

When I had Riley neutered he was 28 months old. Very healthy and active. I opted not to have pre-op bloodwork. His surgery went fine and they gave him a shot of Metacam before he went home. I was given 1 Previcox pain pill for the next day. What I didn't pay attention to was his water consumption when I brought him home. I gave him his pain medication the next afternoon and he seemed fine. I chose a "cheaper" vet to do the surgery.

Long story short by Monday he was consuming huge amounts of water and peeing like crazy. I took him to my regular vet who had no idea I had taken him someplace else for his neuter. I explained what happened and she got his vet records from the other vet. Bloodwork was done and his Kidneys were not functioning properly. The vet that did the surgery did not give Riley IV fluids. My vet was very surprised by this. She told me they always give IV fluids when they do surgery. What I think happened was that Riley got dehydrated and pain medication was giving to him. When I started doing research on the pain meds everything I read said not to give to a dehydrated dog. 
Needless to say maybe if he had had fluids or NO pain meds (which I don't usually do) I think he may have been ok. 
So I actually ended up spending more money than I would had I just gone to my vet that I really like and trusted :no:


----------



## goldensmum (Oct 23, 2007)

All of mine have all been spayed (except Ralph & Quinn and they were castrated), and only Quinn & Reeva have been sent home with a couple of days painkillers (they were both done in the last couple of years). We have never had any problems, after the first night's sleep they have been up and ready to go the day after. 

I trust my vet implicitly to do what he thinks is best for my dogs, I guess you have got to go with what your instincts tell you


----------



## AquaClaraCanines (Mar 5, 2006)

I have never even heard of giving a normal, healthy dog an IV for a spay. I also don't give pain meds for a routine, uneventful spay. No problems due to lack of those things, and I've had countless dogs altered.


----------



## AquaClaraCanines (Mar 5, 2006)

Mine do get the pain injection, but not the pills. I have tons of rimadyl lying around because I don't give it to them for that. A little pain helps keep them from running around and hurting themselves.


----------



## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

I think they gave MacKenzie IV fluids the day of the surgery.

They did send her home with pain meds, I only only gave them the first day. She did not appear to need them at all. She was as hyper as ever.

I would definitely do the blood work before hand, I always do no matter what the age of my pet. If something were to happen to them during surgery, I would never be able to live with myself thinking that if I had done the blood work, it might have been prevented.


----------

