I had my 5yr old ridgie neutered yesterday. Although I was a bit nervous I didn't expect too many problems with a 'routine' op.

Yesterday I rang to check on her and ended up speaking to the vet. He said that my bitch had bled and extraordinary amount and he had never seen that amount of blood from a bitch spay and suggested that she may have a clotting disorder!

I collected her and she returned home last night and although in obvious discomfort we had a fairly quiet night. She had a dressing on her which is best described as a body wrap. I returned to the vet today to have it removed and the vet said that the wound looked clean and he was happy.

Upon returning home she stood up to get out of the car and she started dripping blood from the wound. By the time I returned to the vets my car looked like a blood bath. The vet examined her again and has redressed the wound and put another wrap on her but said that it was the blood from yesterdays op coming out as it was not clotting therefore was not fresh.

I am very concerned about the amount of blood that she lost today and also the possibility that she may have a clotting disorder. This is the 1st op that she has ever had and has never had any injuries apart from a few cuts and as a youngster she split the end of her tail (wag injury) which healed well. I would have thought that if she had a clotting disorder then I would have noticed it before now.

The vet sent off blood samples to rule out any clotting disorders but we won't get the results back till Monday (pm).

Has anyone had any experience of post spay bleeding/clotting disorders that may help either ease my mind or make me worry even more.
Many Thanks

I know of a dog recently diagnosed by their vet as poss clotting disorder. Strange as no problems when he was neurtered or when he was teething.  anyway they thought that perhaps he had had access to a small amount of rat posion and was put on vitimin K. they will retest his bloods in a few weeks.  I do hope your bitch is ok

This may be of interest: http://rrcus.org/rhodesianridgebackhealth/resources/overviewgeneticdesease.html it coudl be Von Willebrands.

Thanks, that article is very interesting. The vet did consider poison and also Von Willebrands. There is no history of Von willebrands in my bitches line but then again it is not something that Ridgies are tested for so I guess that its a possibility?

Hopefully the blood results will be able to shed some more light when they come back. I was just shocked with the amount of post op bleeding as previous dogs that have been neutered have only had a tincy amount of blood & have all healed with no problems. I thought I had planned it well by having her neutered on a friday so I would have the weekend with her and my parents are off next week so they are going to dog sit but now I wish I had it done mid week then I would have got the results back quicker!

I haven't, but I know someone who has, they were told it could be one of three things:

Von Willibrands disease
Lungworm related
Genetic disorder related to Vit K and inability to make it.

I think from memory they found their bitch had Von Willibrands, and I have heard of another, unfortunately fatal case, where a dog died after being neutered.  Neither of these dogs had shown any signs previously to having a clotting disorder. 

Fingers crossed you get to the bottom of it quickly and your girl is home with you quickly. 

Thankfully my girl is home with me at the mo & she seems ok in herself, her tail is still wagging so that it a good sign. She is eating and drinking well & is currently snoozing in a nice comfy duvet. I have total trust in my vet & I know that he would never have let her go home if he was not confident that she is ok. Cant help but worry & monday is such a long way away!

Problems with hereditary bleeding disorders is surprisingly common in some breeds of dogs, please do not be too alarmed as a little blood goes a long way. Had the vet been concerned they would have put her on a drip so I would think although it looked a lot it is in no way a life threatening problem. However if it continues the vet may wish to put her on a drip.

your bitch COULD be a carrier of heomaphilia (spelling),  if this is the case she would have shown no symptoms when teething ect but may have bled a bit heavy when she was in season.  the problem could arise when you had your bitch spayed as this can cause excessive bleeding. when i had my carrier bitch spayed the vet kept her in for 2 days just in case.
dont know if this is a problem in your breed but it could always be a mutant gene.

> your bitch COULD be a carrier of heomaphilia (spelling), 

Why would this make the bleed a carrier is not affected, and haemo only affects males???

It's far more likely to be VWD which has been found in the breed.

Thank you for your replies. Took my girl back to the vets today and she had her dressing removed. I was asked to take her for a little walk then returned for the vet to have another look. Thankfully no more bleeding and the wound looks clean. With any luck there will be no more problems! Just need to wait till tomorrow for the results of her basic blood test. Hopefully it will not be anything too serious.

Why would this make the bleed a carrier is not affected, and haemo only affects males???

this sentence does not make a lot of sence ?

hoemophilia does not only affect males you can actualy get a bitch that will bleed if she is bred from an affected male and a carrier bitch, it doesnt happen very often but it is possible.  i was not saying that the bitch had got hoemophilia just that she could be a carrier, thus showing no signs untill she was speyed.

a carrier bitch is more likely to bleed excessively when she has any operation that involves her reproductive organs.

greart news that there is no more bleeding and good luck with your results.

haeomophilia, can effect females it is just as far as I'm aware never as bad as in males.

Thanks for the info, we have had a terrible few days. Thought everything was healing nicely & now she has a swelling above the stitched area. Vet seems happy that it is just excess fluid and said that the best thing to do is let the body reabsorb it. My bitch is very uncomfortable and just trying to control the pain now.

1st lot of blood tests came back and they seem to be ok just waiting for the results from the Von Willebrands (unsure of the spelling), so with any luck we should have those by next week. So fingers crossed!

> we should have those by next week

Good luck and let us know how she gets on.