What a day! We spent it at a veterinarian hospital for an emergency surgery on Skye. Any life threatening operation is stressful enough, but add to it a fearful dog who is under socialized and cannot be restrained, and you get a ginormous dose of cortisol and adrenaline concentrated in one day!
Let me back up a bit.
It all started on July 1st, Skye started to have some vaginal discharge and her vulva was swollen. There was some blood in it and we simply thought that she was in estrus.
During the following 2 weeks, we noticed that she drank more than usual, ate less, and slept more. We didn't worry too much since we were going through a heat wave (we reached the record temperature of 104F) and we were very much doing the same thing.
But then we noticed a lot of licking and a lot more discharge than in an usual estrus, and it was really stinky. Skye most probably had an infection. We called our vet, explained the symptoms, and she immediately suspected pyometra. We looked it up, it's an infection of the uterus that is often deadly if not treated in time. Luckily, Skye had the kind where the pus was leaking out instead of building up inside her body so we were able to notice it early. We started her on antibiotics right away.
After 2 days antibiotics and no sign of improvements, we talked to our vet again. She strongly recommended we bring her to the hospital for full examination and possible surgery. As you all know, we can't take Skye places. She doesn't wear a collar or harness, and cannot be touched by anyone (except by Peter and I when she wants to). So the idea of bringing her to an hospital is extremely stressful. We asked her to wait one more day to see if the antibiotics would kick in. She still went ahead and made us a surgery appointment for the next day, and told us we could decide the next morning. That day, Skye started having high fever and shaking uncontrollably.
We talked to Abbie, our dog trainer, and started to create a plan of action. We have been working on getting Skye into her wire crate and closing the door, so we could crate her. She will most probably hate the crate after that, but we were working on that for emergencies and this was an emergency. In the evening, she was panting in pain and we made the decision to go forward with the surgery.
Today, 10:30 am. We gave Skye a strong cocktail of trazodone, acepromazine, and gabapentin with some wet cat food. And then brought her in the crate with hardboiled eggs as during training, I then closed the door and locked it. Skye wondered what was happening. We've never locked that door before. I felt terrible. I betrayed my dog and just destroyed 2 years of training in a few seconds. Peter helped me cover the crate to reduce her stress. She settled down rather quickly which is good, but showed the helplessness she learned at the farm.
11 am. We loaded the crate in the car and drove to the hospital.
11:30 am. We checked in and are brought in an exam room.
11:50 am. We explained Skye's situation to the vet techs who had heard that she needed special handling but didn't really realize it meant no handling until fully sedated. The problem was that they needed an accurate weight before being able to sedate her. Luckily, Abbie who was on call had the great idea of looking up the weight of the crate online so we could subtract it from Skye's weight within the crate. Everyone agreed about the methodology and we got her weight.
12:20 pm. We talked to the vet. She is a friend of our regular vet. We explained her the whole situation, our concerns. She understood and offered to do a full exam including teeth, complete bloodwork, vaccinations, and even nail trimming while Skye was sedated. Skye was alert but seemed quite relaxed in the crate.
12:50 pm. The nurse who is Fear Free certified came to sedate Skye. She agreed to sedate her through the crate, so we lifted it a bit so Skye's backside was against the wire. She gave the injection and we waited until it took effect. Skye started closing her eyes, but every time the nurse came back, she reopened them and even stood up!
1:20 pm. Skye wasn't sleeping yet, so the nurse gave her a second injection.
1:30 pm. Skye wasn't out still! They wanted to put an IV in her to sedate her with another drug. We went in the prep room, closed all the doors, and got Skye out. I was super stressed that she was going to escape. One vet tech held her with a towel on her head, she was struggling. Nobody was expecting Skye to still be so awake with all the drugs she already had in her. I stepped in and helped holding her. Skye was trying really hard to get away. The nurse and the vet tried to put a catheter but couldn't find the vein due to low blood pressure. They decided to give the injection in the muscle instead. Then they waited and it still didn't help. They then started to prepare the final anesthetic drugs and struggled to find a vein. When they finally did, they injected 2 drugs that finally put Skye out! And they immediately intubated her.
2 pm. The vet did a thorough exam and we went to the waiting room.
3:30 pm. The vet came out to tell us that it's almost done. They removed her whole uterus and found a huge cyst on one of her ovaries. We gave permission to send it to the lab to see if it was cancerous.
4 pm. We were called back to be with Skye as she was removed from the respirator. I helped bringing her back into the crate. We waited till she regained consciousness to remove the intubation tube. We put a soft cone around her neck in the hope it will prevent her from licking her scar open. The nurse showed us the scar and what they removed from her abdomen!
4:20 pm. We waited until Skye was fully awake in another room. As soon as she was able to stand up, she removed the cone! I put it back and tied it tighter. She let me as she was still groggy.
5:15 pm. We left the hospital. Skye managed to remove her cone again!
5:45 pm. We arrived home. I put the cone back before letting her out of the crate. She removed it as soon as she got out! I guess that she won. She immediately went to her bowl and had a big drink. Then wobbled outside for a quick pee, and finally crashed down in her safe place in the living room.
Yay! We've done it. We saved her life and she is spayed as a result. No more false pregnancies!
Now, our challenge is going to prevent her from licking her scar so it doesn't reopen or get infected. Peter is getting the first shift of spending the night by her side.