Complications

Bailey was spayed on 4/17/2008. I picked her up the afternoon of the 18th. They told me to keep her as calm as possible (have any of these people ever owned a puppy?) and to call if I noticed any swelling or redness. She wasn't phased a bit... she still wanted to play and jump and we did our best to distract her to more sedintary activities.

But by the evening of the 19th, she had some minor brusing and some swelling. She was still acting fine, though, so we just kept an eye on her. I took her for a walk the morning of the 20th and we ran into a neighboor who is pretty dog-knowledgeable. She said she thought the swelling was a bit more than it should be and suggested I call our vet... it was Sunday so I called the ER vet and asked them what the charge would be to just look at her. Since it could be considered a "complication of surgery" there would be no charge even if the DVM had to examine her.

So we went in and the DVM felt her belly and said everything was still where it was supposed to be. There was, however, a build up of fluid, which is sometimes just a normal part of the healing process. But since fluid that just sits there can be a nice environment to foster infection, he wanted to put her on a profolactic antibiotic. I, being in the ear business and knowing doctors do the same for children with fluid in their ears, agreed that it was a good idea. They sent us on our way with a bottle of meds and said to call if the swelling got worse or if the area became more discolored.

My husband had been gone since the evening of the 19th so when he called the evening of the 20th on his way home, he was quite upset that I had taken her to the ER vet. He told me it didn't make sense that we weren't charged for the exam and that Bailey should be take to our vet sometime this week so they could look at her. Even after I explaimed that the 2 vets were linked, he still wasn't comfortable. So I called our vet this morning and they told me the same thing the ER vet did: try to keep her calm, give her the meds til they were gone, and let them know if there were any changes... and they did not need to see her since the ER vet just had.

So we wait and try to keep her from jumping onto and off of the bed and away from other dogs so she doesn't play too rough. I can't even imagine what my husband will be like when we have kids :-)

She weighed 49.1 on 4/20.