Posted By Kelly Harding | 4 comments

Puppy’s First Year 

Month 6 

Spay Surgery

Current Weight: 5.1kg

Baby teeth: All gone – with a little help 🙂

House Trained: So far so good!

June 11th, 2018: Spayed

How can my puppy be six months already?

She’s halfway to being considered an adult dog!

I look back over my posts documenting my “Puppy’s First Year” and I’m reminded about some of the challenges I have been confronted with. Most notably was my previous post house training my puppy, where I discussed the frustrations I was having house training Edna.

Looking back, I realize just how far my puppy has come.

In just three short months my puppy has left her mom and litter mates, moved into a strange home that she now shares with my pug Edie and two cats. Edna has been crate trained, learned to wear a harness and be lead on a leash, and has taken her first set of puppy classes. Edna went through the teething stage and has now lost all her puppy teeth – with a little help. My puppy finally understands that peeing is done outdoors, and that she is to stay in bed and sleeps all night. Edna knows car rides are great fun and can lead to awesome adventures, but first she had to understand the importance and safety of quietly sitting while strapped into a car seat.

My puppy’s been for vet visits, had wellness checkups, booster shots, and now at six months, it was time for her to be spayed.

That’s a lot for a puppy to learn and experience in just 3 months!

Spay Day

The morning of my puppy’s spay surgery was a bit challenging – for me. Edna was to fast before her surgery. Normally fasting wouldn’t be an issue, but when you have multiple dogs and they eat at the same time, it’s hard to explain to a puppy why she’s not getting breakfast and her sister Edie is!

We arrived at the vet early in the morning of Edna’s spay day, allowing time to go over all the information the vet required and what I needed to know about my puppy’s aftercare.

I was confident that Edna was in good hands with my vet and the wonderful staff, but I can’t help being a concerned pet parent whenever one of my pets goes in for surgery.

Does the tooth fairy come for puppies?

My vet called while Edna was still on the surgery table – needless to say my heart skipped a beat, but Edna was doing fine, my vet just wanted to discuss her remaining baby teeth. Some of Edna’s adult teeth had pushed through but the puppy teeth still remained, so I made the decision that while Edna was still sedated to have those puppy teeth removed.

What have you done to me and what is this thing on my head?

Later that day I picked up a little groggy puppy who was looking all sorry for herself and wearing the famous “Cone of Shame”. While many dogs manage and behave themselves without wearing a cone, it was decided that with Edna being such a rambunctious and active puppy, she would wear a Cone until her followup visit. I must say, I was surprised and amazed what a dog will get used to. Edna acted and ran around as if the Cone was part of her!

Edna’s Spay followup appointment: (June 19, 2018)

If my puppy could talk, I’m sure the first question Edna would ask the vet is:

When can my Cone come off?! 

Edna is healing up nicely and she got her wish – she is now “coneless”.  However, because Edna is extremely active and has a tendency to rub and scratch, if she irritates her incision, the Cone of Shame will make an appearance again. So for everyone’s sake, lets hope this will not be the case, because my shins have been knocked into enough by that cone 😉

A note about spaying:

Aside from the obvious reason of not wanting my dogs having puppies, spaying has health benefits which will help your pet have a longer, happier life. 

Dr. Ryan Llera explains the health benefits of spaying:

A uterus infection (pyometra) is one of the more common problems if a pet is not spayed and if it were to happen, emergency surgery is often necessary to save their life.  An unfortunate side effect of not being spayed is there will be an increased risk of ovarian, uterine, or mammary cancer.  Behaviourally, it could settle your pet down but more importantly you won’t have random males prowling around your home looking for a girlfriend.  While there are some counter arguments to having the spay surgery done, it ultimately is in the best interest of your pet.  You can talk with your veterinarian about the timing of the surgery to best achieve the health goals right for your pet.

Kelly is the proud pet parent to pugs Edie and Edna, and cats, Lily and Lloyd. Animals and animal welfare have always been my passion. I am a strong supporter of the veterinarian community and advocate for healthy pets. I believe in the importance of obtaining and maintaining healthy weight in pets and I openly share my experience of being a pet owner of a once obese dog.