hi there, ive never used this site before but am hoping for some advice for my brother . he is very worried as he took his 11 month old collie cross ( cody) to the vet to be castrated on the advice of the dog welfare centre he had rescued him from 4 weeks ago. the vet assured him the procedure had gone well and he took cody home the same day but then an hour later he started bleeding quite a bit from the wound. he contacted the vet and was told to take him back in . the vet said that codys bleeders under the skin were not healing properly and the stitches were done again. he was allowed home but went back the next day for check up. this time the vet noticed one of his testicles ( the patch where it had been) was colder than it should be and the blood was not circulating the way it should to that area. they are now wanting to operate on him again on monday or tuesday and have taken a blood sample from cody as well. my brother has been given 10 vitamin k tablets a day to give him to thicken the blood before the operation. my brother is really worried about cody as this should have been a straigtforward procedure and the vet says this is the only time in 8 years he has seen this with a dog after castration . has anyone came across this before ? can anyone offer any advice i can pass on to my brother as he is very worried that there is something very wrong with his blood etc to cause. also, should the canine rescue centre have checked this before cody was put up for adoption? please help

Sorry to hear about your brother's dog, think this is more of a complication following surgery rather than castration. Could be that the vet was clumsy but I am inclined to think that the dog has other problems that are either adding to or are totally the cause of its problems. All operations have risks but most these days are not a problem, it is difficult to say anything that will help in this situation and as long as your brother has faith in his vet he can only do as that vet has advised. Hope it all turns out well in the end.

I wonder if it could be von willebrands???  This bleeding disorder is more common than haemophilia and often isn't noticed until the dog has surgery.  I know that dobes are commonly affected, but it is known in other breeds, so of course could well be in a mixed breed too.

When vets castrate a dog the major veins but just cauterise the smaller ones. Years ago I had a dog where one of the ties came adrift and had to get the vet out at about 10 o'clock that same night. He was taken back into surgery and was re-operated on to retie the vein. On returning to the vets the next morning to collect him I was told that he was running a temperature and he finished up spending four days in the vets (at no extra cost.)

It is common to say that castration is a nothing operation when compared to spaying a bitch but believe me, there is plenty that can go wrong!

Regards, John

we have had a few problems when nutering rescue dogs one that was rehomed some weeks ago is having big problem its not as simple as we think
hope the dog is ok   xxx

Know only too well some of the problems that can follow castration but most have nothing to do with the actual operation. Did feel as does Brainless that in this case it may be a problem with the dog although as John points out mistakes can happen.