ok,i know im a wuss,but ive booked my gwen in for a spay on wed.Ive had dogs done before.,i know she ll be fine,but shes so nervy,i ll hate leaving her,can anyone reassure me?Anything I can do?Shes raw fed,theyll tell me cooked chicken and rice after,so,what can i feed her?
Also,im going to ask for a mild  sedative for her,for when i leave her,will they  do it?i did ask when i booked her in,but i have to ask the vet on the day.I know im being daft,but im dreading it!

I understand that many dogs don't tolerate rice, so an alternative could be cooked mashed potato. I would be interested to know what other raw feeders recommend as mine are raw fed as well, but so far (touch wood) have not been recommended the standard vet bland diet.

If rice is used it must be cooked to a mush or it will pass straight through (or you could use rice flakes, still available in some supermarkets in the rice or pudding dept).

Another alternative is Readybrek made up with water not milk - it's finely flaked oats, no additives at all. My vet tech friend told me about this as some vet surgeries use it as invalid food. But if yours has a grain intolerance or you just want to avoid grain altogether then mashed potato and cooked chicken should be OK for a short while, unless anyone has any other suggestions?

Good luck, I am sure she will be fine, but I do understand why you're wibbling, we all do!

Both of our have had general anaesthetic in the last couple of months so feel for you. If possible I ask if the dog can have his pre med with me as we sit and wait together, your not a wuss. Unfortunately ours have had more than their fair share of anaesthetics and I dread not being able to stay, just stay calm walk her in hand her over and walk out. Can't give ours chicken & rice as I know from past experience it makes any stomach problems worse, so I just give their normal food (a smaller amount) or scrambled egg. Good luck to you both for Wednesday, you'll both be fine.

Mine are raw fed, after I had my girls spayed I gave them fish and potato ( just plain boiled pots smahed up) one wasn't too bothered about eating, the other eat as if she was starved. Not sure about the sedative as my breed can be sensitive to anasethic so I just booked her in, handed her over and left as I knew my anxiety would rub off on her.

I am sure she will be fine but totally understand your concerns :)

thankyou everybody.

I agree with Lacy.  Hand her over and get out!  I am always concerned that my anxiety may rub off, and I dont want them to pick up my vibes.

So, nasty dog owner abandons her dogs as quickly as possible.

> So, nasty dog owner abandons her dogs as quickly as possible.

awwww no.... caring dog owner goes home confident, wibbles in private, and later on hugs the vet staff for doing such a good job.

heheh"wibbles"I love it,Im a great wibbler!.Glad Im not alone.Yes,Im also worried about her sensing my worry!Hope Im a good enough actor when it comes to it.thanks everyone.

I give my lot scrambled egg after any anaesthetic which noslly goes down well without being too heavy.

With my very nervous girl I spoke to the vet to arrange things.Rather than just bringing her to the surgery several hours before they would be ready for her I agreed with the vet she would be first on their list and I would arrive just before they were ready for her.
They would give the premed in the surgery and then I would wait with her in the car until they were ready for her.  I wanted to stay with her in the car as I knew she would fight the sedative if she was in the surgery.
They took her in when she was nice and woozy and I waited in the waiting room until they had got her anaethatised. I did pick her up as early as they were happy for me to take her but after the spay she was very sleepy from the anaesthetic so I wasn't so worried about her panicking.

The whole thing went a lot smoother that I had expected.

Mine are raw fed too but I just give them their normal diet. They don't get cereal, rice etc normally so I don't want to risk upsetting their tums by giving them stuff they are not used to.

Lilyowen what a great vets you have :-)  My own vet (I've since changed) where very inflexible when it came to neutering my Mr Beastly, I had to take him on a 80 min drive to a practice where my friend works as they were much more understanding. The vet came out and just quickly gave him his premed while I kept him looking the other way in the car, when he was sleepy he was taken in and operated on straight away. My friend stayed with him the whole time and phoned me as he came round. I stayed at my friends house that night and he was right as rain and running in the field the next day :-) Although he isn't nervy he was very beastly in those days and I wouldn't have been comfortable at all with leaving him at the vets all day.

yes they are a very good vets. They also do their own out of hours work and they have staff on the premises all night. They have always been happy to help me with my little girl but it is also in their interests as well. She is easier to manage if we do things my way and as my contributions practically paid for their extension I think they don't wan to lose my business!

I feel for you, one of mine is in at this very moment and i'm fretting like mad over him being distressed.

My vet will also allow me to bring my dogs in at the last minute and do them first so they're not hanging about, especially with Spud as he cries all the time, you can hear him as soon as you come in the door, and he gets all the other dogs worked up, he was so bad when he was neutered they phoned me as soon as he'd come round, I could hear him bawling in the background while I was on the phone !, he also peed on me when I picked him up again.

When my male dog has been in for an op I always ask for him to be sedated first because he can get very nervous and be a bit of a git about it.  My vets are happy to do this as they do it after his pre op check on the morning.  I also raw feed mine but for the first evening I give them some cooked brown rice and some cooked chicken then put them back on their normal food the next day.

i hope its all over and you have your dog back home now,and i hope he was ok.Ive got to go round picking bones up soon,as she cant eat after 8pm,Im always terrified theyll find food somewhere unbeknown to me!I should be used to this,the amount of dogs and cats ive had operated on over the years,but I dont find it gets any easier-each case is unique in the worry it causes you!Hopefully,this time tomorrow I should have her back here with me,and it will be all over.
thanks everyone for the ideas for first meals,and your experiences.

yep,shes fine,bless her.they did give her a sedative and allowed me to stay with her till they were ready for her.Half an hour after I left I got a call to say she d got an umbilical hernia and did i want it fixing?Then,after telling me to ring at 3,they rang me at 1.45 to say she could come home!Now the only prob Ive got is keeping her quiet!So- - PHEW!,and thanks everybody!Only River to go,now!- - -!

Hi,everything seems to be going well-keeping her still is impossible,though!  although ive had 3 bitches speyed in the past,I cant remember when I began to take them out,after!  Common sense says another couple of days then short lead walk somewhere reasonably clean and dry(!)?  She was done on wed-what do you all do?  Would it be better to wait for the stitches out(a week today)?

Lead-walking as usual (or else they go stir-crazy and leap around!) but try to keep the wound dry.

yes shes doing a bit of leaping around,so lm having to crate either her or the pup as they egg each other on!had a minor panic yesterday morning as the wound bled a little.I put her straight in her crate on a white towel,and theres been nothing since,so im thinking the pup may have scratched it,but it was a scarey time for a while.

beginning to think i was right to worry!Checked her scar as usual yesterday morning to see it had opened up slightly!Panic stations,off to the vets for a wound clean,and resticking.Shes got some antibiotics the size of a teaplate,have to break them into 4 so with her painkiller its like getting 5 pills down her!Poor girl,i bet she s wondering whats hit her!Especially now shes wearing a very fetching clear lampshade!And shes been so good throughout everything!The leakage  a few days before is apparently normal,the veterinary nurse tells me!
I do so hope its a clear run from here!

can anyone tell me when Gwen can start normal exercise again,please??she was speyed on the 14th,a wed,the following monday she had to have the wound cleaned and re glued as it was opening slightly,so thats a week ago today,she has had a short lead walk on each of the last 3days on the vets say so.The wound looks ok,it had scabbed a bit, but a lot of that has come off now.Would the inside bits be healed now?When can I stop worrying  she ll do herself some damage?Shes an extremely active dog and,like now,im having to crate her to stop her playing zoomies with her sister!

I keep mine off agility for at least a month. I let them have gentle off lead excercise before that but no ball fetching no jumping or tugging and no playing with the other dogs. When I restart agility I only do small jumps and not many at a time and gradually work up to where we were before over another month or so.
I would rather err on the side of caution when introducing excersise as I don't want to risk  putting too much strain on the incision.
I try to do mind games with my dogs to help keep them occupied when they can't run and jump. We do biscuit and toy hunts. Obedience training. tracking. trick training. Anything I can think of that uses the mind more than the body.

thankyou lilyowen,i cant believe ive had dogs speyed before,i cant remember anything!Age,groan!Its not that long since jess was done,but I dont remember all this angst,either!