Pros/Cons for spaying 8 yr old?

[Sarah]

Wow, no gloves seems really old school. Vets I worked for always wore gloves during surgeries.

[Misskiwi67]

Wow, no gloves seems really old school. Vets I worked for always wore gloves during surgeries.

We intereviewed a potential new doctor yesterday who has refused two job offers the past few months. One vet did not wear gloves during surgery, the other did not even carry pain medications in the hospital "because they are farm dogs, they don't need pain meds..."

There are some scary things out there still being practiced. I think your vet is likely very good though based on your description of several of your veterinary interactions in previous posts.

[Sarah]

Well, the vets I mostly see are not the same ones that spayed Tully. Tully was spayed at a different practice, where I went to get repro work done. They are much more affordable, but also more old school. Last year I had Tess spayed at my usual vets, but she didn't need teeth cleaned, so I didn't even ask about it. Couldn't have afforded it anyway, the spay cost about $400.

The old school vet sent home no pain killers after the spay (I gave Tully some tramadol I had received for her just a few weeks previous, when she was mauled by my neighbor dogs. I could tell she was in pain from the spay.) They also kept her overnight. My much more modern vet sent Tess home as soon as she woke up (which was very fast) with a ridiculous amount of pain killers; 2 different kinds. (I gave her all the doses of the stuff that came in syringes, but only some of the tramadol, she really didn't need that much)

[Misskiwi67]

Couldn't have afforded it anyway, the spay cost about $400.

Thats about what a spay costs at my practice too... we don't do very many spays.

Its not that our surgery costs are higher, we just have more monitoring stuff, with IV catheter, fluids and blood pressure monitoring. For the young healthy kids, it probably doesn't make a difference 98% of the time. For the higher risk older dogs, its a bigger deal.

[Leslie H]

I got quoted between $425-$475 to spay Soleil, including the pre-surgical bloodwork.

[Sarah]

I got quoted between $425-$475 to spay Soleil, including the pre-surgical bloodwork.

I'm thinking it might have been closer to $500 for Tess' spay. I blocked it out, it cost so much. I wanted to go to my usual vet, though, because it wasn't too long after Tess' kidney infection (about 4 months), and I knew they would take all the precautions; monitoring, etc.