Has anyone else ever had this happen when they had their dog castrated?

I had my 2 and 1/2 yr old Staffie Charlie castrated last Thurs (3rd Feb) and when I went to bring him home he still looked like he had "his bits".

Mark (our vet) told me that when your under anaesthetic your blood pressure drops very low and in Charlie's case when his blood pressure rose again it bust a small blood vessel so basically his bits have blood in them which will re-absorb back into his system over the next 3 weeks!!!!!!!!!

He explained it like if I hit my finger with a hammer and then my nail turns black/blue with the blood under the nailbed.

I also have a 4mth old female Staffie (Molly) and I couldn't decide who to get done first when fate stepped in last Thurs. Poor Charlie cut his paw pad on glass and had to have stitches in so as he was having an anaesthetic I got him castrated as well. Then this happens, according to Mark it's just one of those things that can happen sometimes.

I've tried searching for more information on this problem but as I haven't got a "specific name" as such I've drawn a blank. Hope someone here can enlighten me please.

Deirdre,Charlie,Molly and the Cats

From what people have said on here in the past is that immediately after the surgery you can't see that anything has been removed! The swelling apparently goes down after a few days and you can see that yes, they have gone. So it sounds like Charlie is the same as their dogs.
:)

I had exactly that with a dog I had castrated. Unfortunately in his case it got rather more serious because he started haemorrhaging and I had to rush him back to the vets who operated on him again at about 11-00 at night!

Obviously you dog has got well past this point so you have no problem. (His was on the same day that he had been operated on.)

It's generally said that to neuter the dog is easier than the bitch but in the only case I've had which caused any problems it was the dog with a problem!

Regards, John

Thanks for your input, to John, I was actually supposed to pick Charlie up at 5pm but as we were discussing his home care Mark noticed that Charlie was spotting blood from his wound and said he would need to stay a while longer so he could put a cold compress on the bleeding so I had to go back for him again at 9pm (their closing time). Sorry to hear about your boy, how old was he at the time?

Is there a name for this problem so that I could do a search for some information on it?

My Vet said it doesn't happen very often, just my poor Charlie's luck, although he doesn't seem to be in any obvious pain. He's just hating the lead walks as he would normally be over the park playing fetch or frisbee and so would I.

Deirdre, Charlie ,Molly and the Cats

What happens Deirdre, is that when the vet operates, there are several veins and blood vessels he has to cut. The vet ties off any major veins and cauterises the minor ones to seal them off. Sometimes one weeps slightly for a while. If it's only very minor then it's of no account and no doubt your vet just decided to keep him around for a while to make sure it sealed. In the case of mine it was actually one of the ties on a major vein which had come adrift which necessitated opening him up again to tie it off properly. Something which in a perfect world should never happen but of course this world's not always perfect. He was pleased to see me when I went to collect him so it was quite likely the over excitment which did the damage.

Regards, John

Thank You for explaining it to me and yes indeed the vet did say it was a small vein that was the problem.

I usually bring a friend with me to the Vets because, in any other situation my memory is fine but for some reason when I have to take any of my clan to the vets my mind just goes blank.

Deirdre, Charlie, Molly, and the Cats

I was very surprised when Hudson came back from the vets following castration as he looked like he still had ALL his equipment :) The vet took the testes but left the sac and it took a few months for the sac to be fully absorbed back into his body

Hope your chap is okay

Yes Charlie's is exactly the way you describe Hudson's, he still has the sac, so all of the sac is absorbed back into his body!!!!!!!  Wow, I thought it was just the blood in the sac. So it's nothing to worry about then? Thank You you've put my mind at rest. 

Deirdre, Charlie, Molly, and the Cats

I have 5 boys...4 have been castrated.  3 of them have no sac left at all and one does.  All were castrated well over a year ago (more for some).  I would think it would depend on the dog, if your dog still has a small sac after a bit, no worries.

Yes, Hudson had the sac still but not any more :)