Spaying your pet is so important for many reasons. It is not common that pet owners know what the procedure is when it comes to this common surgery. Since World Spay Day—February 23—is approaching, we want to help educate all of our pet owners! Take a look at the steps involved in spaying your female pet.

 

Step 1: Your pet is placed under general anesthesia

A spay is a major abdominal surgery that requires general anesthesia to keep your pet pain-free and unconscious throughout the procedure. Before surgery, we evaluate your furry pal’s health status and create an anesthetic protocol tailored to their needs, and then prepare them for surgery by inducing anesthesia with an injectable agent.

 

Step 2: Your pet is prepared for surgery

After your pet is safely anesthetized and hooked up to their monitoring equipment, we prep them for surgery by shaving their abdomen and scrubbing their skin with a surgical disinfectant to remove dirt and bacteria. We layout the necessary surgical instruments, drapes, gloves, and gown for our veterinarian, who will perform surgery, and help them into their gown, so they remain sterile and contaminant-free.

 

Step 3: Our veterinarian performs the spay procedure

Once your pet is covered in sterile drapes, our veterinarian will use special surgical instruments to make a small incision in their abdomen through the skin layers and the body wall. They will navigate through your pet’s fat and other tissue until they isolate the uterus and ovaries and can tie off the blood supply feeding these reproductive organs. They will carefully remove the uterus and ovaries and then close the abdomen with several layers of internal sutures. Depending on your pet, we may use external sutures, surgical staples, or skin glue to close the outer skin layer. After we complete your pet’s procedure, we recover them from anesthesia, closely monitoring their vital signs until they are fully awake and alert. 

 

If you are unsure how old your female pet should be when spayed, give us a call. We are here to help!