Prepping for Surgery

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lolanu

The Clueless
Joined
Jul 1, 2011
Messages
154
Location
Billings, Montana
This spring/summer we'll finally be able to afford Caboose's spay surgery to get rid of her uterine infection. It's been kept to a low with Baytril so far, but she can only get more sick from here and I need to stop putting it off because of bad neutering experiences. Every relapse of the infection is worse, we're crossing our fingers that she won't need an emergency surgery before we can get some money stocked.

Basically, I'm just wigging out because Eve died two days after his neutering, and need to know what to stock up on prior to the surgery so that I'll feel more at ease and Boose will be cozy. I'm thinking about ordering some herbs from Fuzzie's Kingdom since I'm a big believer in nature's cures and will definitely get a syringe feed, her cage will have all of the ledges and such removed and a new bed provided, should I switch to an anitbiotic other than Baytril since she's been on it for so long off and on?

Honestly, I may just faint when I take her to the vet I'll be so nervous, but my vet is very good with small animals and she'll probably be up all night with Boose while she's there. I can't make her get sicker just because I'm afraid.

Any new info helps! Thanks guys!
 
I hope everything goes well for your baby. Can the vet work out a payment plan if you can't afford it right now? My vet was willing to take half now, half later for the more expensive procedures. Also I know here I can get on a plan called "Care Credit" for animals as well as myself and if approved you can get 6 months same as cash. Could something like that maybe be a possibility?

I have nothing but good things to say about Tanya's supplement and her hay with herbs mix. My girls absolutely devoured the hay with herbs sample she sent them with their fleece items. Due to the fact the herbs are more tasty your little girl might also eat more of them even if she's not feeling well. Do you have something to handfeed her with just in case? I know with my little malo guy the vet if keeping him overnight would keep him through the next day if they thought he could use more supervision. Is keeping her with the vet a bit extra an option?

You'll be in my thoughts and prayers. I know what it's like to be worried about a chin. Hopefully she'll be better in no time and making mischief as chins are known to do.
 
She does take CareCredit and has been waiving xray and some testing bills, but we have an elderly Malamute with seizures that we're also paying CareCredit on right now. Until I graduate and can get a job I'm not sure there's much I can do, both my dad and I are on Social Security and can't make extra money at the moment.
 
That makes sense. Money is hard to come by these days! Myself I am a grad student living on loans and my parent's goodwill. In the fall I hope to be teaching and able to support myself. I was lucky to have surplus loans to cover my malo guy when he got worse overnight. I paid about 600-700 in vet bills for him right before he passed. Poor little guy. I used all my CareCredit paying for a root canal for myself. Silly teeth.

I hope graduation comes soon along with a well paying job! Then you can fill your place with chinnies! *grins*
 
do you have critical care? Is she getting probiotics to counteract the baytril's effect on her gut? I've heard baytril can be hard on a chin's appetite. My girls both had this pink antibiotic called "trisul", which they absolutely loved the taste of (it tasted like aniseed) and took voluntarily. The pink stuff probably has a different name over there though...trimethiprem sulphate (?) I think was its chemical name.

Good luck with the spay surgery: I've had two girls that went though this, a year apart from each other. One had pyometra, and the other was diagnosed with pyometra, though in the end she turned out to have a persistent vaginal infection rather than infected womb.
The surgery is hard on them, but with adequate pain relief, like metacam, plus lots of critical care feeds, they'll get through it.

My girls had their surgery in the winter, so I also gave them a heat pad (just warm- not hot), and they seemed to enjoy sitting on that. I think it eased their tummy pains a bit.
I also spent a lot of time feeding them hay: strand by strand, as they both had to wear cones as they both tried to bite the stitches at first. Luckily they loved the critical care as well, so I didnt have to force feed them...they just sucked it right out of the syringe!!

best wishes for the surgery, I really hope Caboose recovers quickly
 
She's gotten a motility drug for her belly, I'll look into probiotics instead. And I'll definitely ask about the other antibiotic, Baytril is vile stuff and it's a war getting her to take it, stresses us both. I'll be getting a syringe feed either from my vet or Tanya.

I'm going to wait until I'm graduated so I have endless time to devote to her, be a paranoid mum.

And this should have gone in Health, not Diet, sorry. Just noticed I stuck it here... odd.
 
you should probably weigh her daily while she's on the antibiotics, just to see if she's losing weight. weigh at the same time each day. If she's losing weight you may want to start feeding with critical care straight away, as you want her in the best condition possible for the surgery. Keep an eye on her poops too.

hope it all works out xoxo
 
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