I've been thinking more and more lately about when we are going to spay Cricket. It's ridiculously expensive to spay out here it seems... Way more expensive than it would be if we were still in New Mexico.
My questions:
1. How do you deal with the fear and anxiety of having your dog put under for the surgery? I guess I'm just worried that Cricket may not do so well or have a reaction to the anesthesia or something. I'm sure she would be fine, but I can't help but get worked up worrying about how she would do.
2. One of our clients recommended we look into the local shelter out here that does more affordable spay/neuter. They take your dog to a vet that does the surgery and you pick up your dog the next morning. They have the vet listed that they take dogs to in case people want to contact the vet themselves, but its a program they operate to help people S/N out here and it not be $500 like my vet quoted me. With that said, what are your thoughts on a program like this. Is this something I should look into or should I be leery? My main concern is that I want an experienced vet to do the surgery and not a vet student since I would rather someone not operate on my dog that is learning.
3. For female dogs that tend to mark.... Did your female stop/decrease marking after being spayed or did they continue to mark all the time? Cricket marks a lot outside, but has been marking in the house recently... I think she is going to go into heat again soon.
4. Did you notice any other differences in your dog after being spayed? Temperament? Weight? Etc.
I'm getting closer to wanting to spay Cricket, but I don't want to jump into it without first making sure it's something I want to do. We managed her last heat really well so I know we can handle her being intact, but when she is in heat we miss out on a lot and we have quite a few classes coming up that she wouldn't be able to take if she is in heat since my trainer is very adamant about no dogs in season in any classes ever. Right now I'm crossing my fingers she doesn't go into heat in the next few weeks since we are getting ready to take her CGC test, lol. I probably won't spay her until after another season at the very least and I may wait even longer, but right now I'm just trying to do my research and weigh the pros and cons.
My questions:
1. How do you deal with the fear and anxiety of having your dog put under for the surgery? I guess I'm just worried that Cricket may not do so well or have a reaction to the anesthesia or something. I'm sure she would be fine, but I can't help but get worked up worrying about how she would do.
2. One of our clients recommended we look into the local shelter out here that does more affordable spay/neuter. They take your dog to a vet that does the surgery and you pick up your dog the next morning. They have the vet listed that they take dogs to in case people want to contact the vet themselves, but its a program they operate to help people S/N out here and it not be $500 like my vet quoted me. With that said, what are your thoughts on a program like this. Is this something I should look into or should I be leery? My main concern is that I want an experienced vet to do the surgery and not a vet student since I would rather someone not operate on my dog that is learning.
3. For female dogs that tend to mark.... Did your female stop/decrease marking after being spayed or did they continue to mark all the time? Cricket marks a lot outside, but has been marking in the house recently... I think she is going to go into heat again soon.
4. Did you notice any other differences in your dog after being spayed? Temperament? Weight? Etc.
I'm getting closer to wanting to spay Cricket, but I don't want to jump into it without first making sure it's something I want to do. We managed her last heat really well so I know we can handle her being intact, but when she is in heat we miss out on a lot and we have quite a few classes coming up that she wouldn't be able to take if she is in heat since my trainer is very adamant about no dogs in season in any classes ever. Right now I'm crossing my fingers she doesn't go into heat in the next few weeks since we are getting ready to take her CGC test, lol. I probably won't spay her until after another season at the very least and I may wait even longer, but right now I'm just trying to do my research and weigh the pros and cons.