Spaying Complications with Puppy – (Long sorry)

[ckrott]

Last week we got our 9 month old puppy spayed and had to take her to Emergency Animal Care Monday (last) night around 9pm. Long story short, she somehow got to her stitches (keep in mind this is with an Elizabethan Collar AND some tranquilizers to keep her calm) and the omentum (some net like part of her gut) was trailing out of her. We were advised at that time by the Emergency Care Vet that our options were to:
A) to has them operate immediately to remove the exposed area to prevent any infection to the abdomen or
B) administer Antibiotics and temporarily bandage the area and we can take her to our regular vet in the AM. And oh by the way, if you choose option B, we will need you to sign a waiver saying that you understand the risks to your pet’s life.

Both my husband and I are newbies at dog ownership, but are trying to learn and do the best for our dog. We tried contacting the breeder, but wasn’t able to make contact with her until this morning. Since we didn’t want to risk anything happening to the pup, we went ahead and authorized the Emer Care to operate at a cost of between $1500 to $3000 (that was their estimate)!

Prognosis: The dog was trying to get at the stitches because the area inside was irritated. When they reopened her surgical area, they found that her body had rejected the dissolving sutures within 3-4 days. The ended up using staples instead.

Our concern:

When we did talk to our breeder, she did say that the dissolving sutures were standard practice for both people and pets because ideally, you don’t want to leave things behind within the body. But there are times when dogs don’t react well to the sutures.
Our regular Vet confirmed that this is a likely event, although he says that he’s only seen 1-2 cases a year with this reaction and in those cases, it took the dogs 3-4 weeks for their bodies to reject the sutures. He was very apologetic for the complication and did wish that there was a way to know that she would react this way so they would have used alternative sutures from the start. He was very appalled at the Emer. Care charges and immediately asked for the vet, practice and their number. He’s going to be calling them to find out why the costs are so high. He was also of the opinion that they should NOT have presented the second option in such a way as to be misleading. In his opinion, this could have waited and he would have been able to help her first thing in the AM.

So who am I to believe? I have no idea whose opinion I should trust at this point. Up until this point, our vet has been great with our dog, but she’s never had any surgery before. At the same time, that amount of money that we were given for the estimate seem so insane and I just felt like they were preying on the fact that it was late at night and we had nowhere to turn for our dog.

Thoughts?

[Anne]

My dog also had an allergic reaction to the disolving suture material they used in the external incision of her ACL surgery. That surgery has not turned out as well as the surgery done on the other knee where she had no reaction to the sutures.

[RottyMom]

Emergency vets are WAY more expensive than your regular vet. I had an $800 bill for a less than 12 hour stay for pancreatitis. But on the other hand my regular vet said it would not have been ok to wait until the next day so....welcome to dog ownership.

[frontierrots]

We had a Staf Bull mix that had a reaction to the disolving stitches for his neuter and ended up with severed tubes hanging out ewwwwwww He too ended up with staples

[spidey]

I think your vet might have misled you a bit and/or he doesn't understand why the emerg. clinic has you sign a waiver (which seems unlikely). It's standard procedure that if the client does not wish to have a treatment done which will fix the problem, that they have you sign a waiver in which you agree that they explained things to you and you will not hold them responsible if something goes wrong (it's no different from people checking themselves out of hospital against medical advice). Emergency clinics are expensive because they are often the only game in town at that hour, so they can be, and because you pay a premium for service outside normal hours (the same reason that food from the convenience store is normally more expensive than food from the grocery store).

It doesn't sound to me like the emerg did anything out of the ordinary.

[MARYDVM]

The fatty omentum acts as a plug to close any small wound that penetrates the abdominal wall. I recently saw a feral cat that had been spayed and released that showed up 5 days later with a huge wad of omentum protruding from where her incision had been licked/chewed open. She was in amazingly good condition, and recovered after a second surgery and heavy antibiotic treatment. However, once you have an opening in the abdominal wall bacteria can get in, and abdominal organs may come out. I have also seen a dog totally eviscerate after a spay incision opened up - intestines dragging on the ground as she walked. That dog didn't survive. So it's possible your girl could have been fine for another 24 hours - or not. Resuturing the incision ASAP was the correct medical recommendation.

[ckrott]

Our vet did talk to the emer clinic vet who performed the 2nd surgery and he didn't disagree with what was done.

What he objected to was the WAY that our options were presented to us. His opinion is that they need to cover themselves and have you sign a waiver signifying that you've been given your options, but the way that they presented our options played on the emotional and that was the part that didn't sit well with him.

On top of that, the fact that high cost was something that he objected to and he is working with the emer clinic to work out something more reasonable.

Spidey - I agree that there's going to be a mark up and was prepared for that. Quite honestly, we would still have made the same decision for them to re-suture ASAP. But the presentation of our options was the part that I'm still having problems with, esp when after we authorized the re-suture, the vet also asked if we would like to have our dog's stomach stapled to prevent bloat while they were in the area. It felt like they were trying to up-sell.

[LUVMYROTTNBOY]

It sounds like you made the right decision to get the problem fixed asap, however I do feel that they may have charged a pretty high amount. I don't know how charges work in your area it may just cost more where you live vs where I live. I had my dog in the emergency vet 3 days and it did not cost over 3,500. She had 3-4 blood and one plasma transfusion as well as tons of other testing and an autopsy done. I do believe they do need to charge more to have vets in the office 24hrs a day and support the testing etc. Your costs seem very expensive compared to my 3 day nightmare. It could just be a cost of living difference between your town and mine.

I wouldn't feel bad paying the money though its a life your saving. I would not have taken any risks either, best to fix the problem early she could have had unforseen complications.

Pretty rotten that they wanted to up-the surgery with the bloat thing, thats just wrong

[ckrott]

Well, the good thing is that puppy's home and her lil' nubs wagging away while looking dopey with her Eliza. Collar. I'd do pretty much anything for her and I'm glad to have her home and on the mend.

And our vet is currently discussing the charges with the owner of the emer clinic.

Originally Posted by LUVMYROTTNBOY

Pretty rotten that they wanted to up-the surgery with the bloat thing, thats just wrong

As for the up-selling, when I told our breeder that, it was the first and only time I've heard her curse. Looooong and adamantly

[onyxdad]

Since your vet seems concerned witht the whole high price charges amybe he/she can make themself available if there's a future need. At least for a telephone consult, that way they can advise you. Maybe suggest an answering service if they don't want there phone # publicized. It's a small price to pay to remain loyal to their customers. My vet here in Florida allows personal calls, within reason. They truly love all animals that's why they provide us with great care. Also advise them maybe they can charge a small monthly fee for this access. I'm sure we could all part with a couple dollars to ensure we have 24 phone access to our vets.

[beledi]

So sorry to hear you and your pup had to go through this nightmare. Something new has been started in our area. A lot of our vets take turns doing call with each other, but, in April, we are going to have an emergency clinic open in our town. Thirty of the local vets got together to pay for it. They all have shares. It will have a staff of vets and vet techs and a receptionist. They will be open on holidays and Sun., and all hours when our regular vet clinics are closed. Hopefully it will save lives rather than having to wait for on call people to be notified and them to get back to you. It seems like an exciting new venture to help our pets and us through trying times. People can even call to get referals to other vets for large animals such as horses since we live in a country type community. Guess it was tried in a couple places on the Front Range of Colo., and has been quite successful.
Beledi/Erda's mom.
Did not mean to hijack the thread. Glad your baby is doing better. :0)