Staying overnight at vets - with no one on site?

Yeah, that's pretty common. Most people don't even think to ask so they never realize that nobody is actually at the office over night. IMO the only reason to keep a dog over night at the vets is if it is really sick, needs to be confined and on an iv/cath. When sick dogs are at home, they sometimes don't get the best rest. when my husky was sick last time she didn't even want to leave the vet office. I would go there to visit, take her outside to pee and she'd run straight back to the door of her cage to lay down again.

For typical spay/neuters, I would not keep my dog there over night. 

Our Vet takes her in early in the morning and lets them go home late that same day. I guess that way they can keep an eye on them for the day while they are there.

Lucy has to be there by 8 am and I pick her up at 6 pm

dcmidnight

However I find out today that our vet - who I trust more than my actual doctor - that their facility doesnt have 24 hour vets on staff.

It's the same at my vet. No one there overnight. My girls have all spent the night after spaying. They're pretty much out of it anyway and so they sleep through it. I would leave them without worry. By the time the vet leaves in the evening, the dog is out of the danger zone and just needs to sleep.

FourIsCompany

It's the same at my vet. No one there overnight. My girls have all spent the night after spaying. They're pretty much out of it anyway and so they sleep through it. I would leave them without worry. By the time the vet leaves in the evening, the dog is out of the danger zone and just needs to sleep.

 

Thanks. We found another local vet/hospital that is also a 24/7 care facility we considered switching too. While I am sure that we would find great vets there as well but we really love the vet we have now and feel like we shouldnt take the chance. They take him in between 7-8 am for the bloodwork and surgery and there are vets/techs there until 8 pm at night so my guess is he'll probably be conked out until the next morning anyway.

 
 

I have only ONE time left a dog overnite after a nueter and I'd not do it again.  No one is there so if the dog decides to rip the stitches out, well, no one is there.  There are just too many things that can happen for me to be comfortable leaving an animal overnite if there is not a staff to keep an eye on things.  I can crate at home just as easily and I WILL keep a close eye on the animal, including putting the crate in my bedroom and setting the alarm to check every couple of hours.  IF there is a problem, I can get my dog to an E vet rather than having someone discover the problem hours later. 

I'm in agreement with Glenda. I don't see any purpose to leaving my dog at the vet if it's going to be alone all night. I'd prefer to have them home with me so I can keep an eye on them. 

Years ago, I had my cats teeth cleaned and she didn't do well coming out of the anesthesia, so they wanted to keep her overnight. I asked if anyone would be there and when they said "no", I told them I didn't see the point. The vet was really understanding and said she would either take her home with her or take her to the 24 hr vet clinic for the night. It turned out that she ended up seizing in the early hours of the morning, the vet rushed her to the e-clinic but they couldn't save her. It was heartbreaking but I felt better knowing she wasn't just alone in a clinic when it happened.

dcmidnight

Thanks. We found another local vet/hospital that is also a 24/7 care facility we considered switching too.

 

I have found the worst, yet most expensive care to come from 24/7 clinics. Most of their doctors are new...because longer established docs, don't WANT to be on call at 1am. Rather like the ER.

I've also been at the ER clinic, and head a kennel worker shouting SHUT UP! At the dogs there barking...uncool. Just because 'someone' is there...doesn't mean that someone is competent, compassionate, or even a vet!

When my tiny puppy Hero was gravely ill he stayed overnight several days...and the vet would stop by very late and early in the am just to check, see if there's anything else that could be done, he turned in Dr House. THAT...is a vet, IMO.

If I were you I would sign the waiver and take your pup home. My parent's vet(who is only their vet b/c of how close to their house he is) requires dogs to stay overnight without anyone there. He is great with our animals, and provides excellent care, I use him with my puppy for routine things, but I cancelled my appointment for my dogs neuter b/c of that. I asked the receptionist "Why does he have to stay overnight?" And she told me so it would be quiet. (Yeah right, a bunch of dogs waking up from surgery not knowing where they are, are quiet?! No! They are all barking their heads off) I asked her if anyone would be there and she said no. So I asked her what if my dog pulled his stitches and laid there bleeding all night? And she didn't say anything. I cancelled my appointment and now she won't talk to me when I take my dog in for routine care. My vet lives 20 minutes away and DOES have staff overnight and I trust her just as much as the male vet. I paid $50 more for the surgery but I suspect I paid someones salary to be there all hours. I don't mind. When my girl pup is spayed in a month of two she will go to my vet that stays overnight, but for all her shots and routine care she was seen by the male vet that doesn't stay.

If anyone is going to leave their dog at a vet for a time period I would suggest that you check on them often and insure that they are getting proper care. 

Back at the end of May my GF's 14 year old dog Breezy came down with a severe Pancreatitis attack at 5am on a Friday morning.  She was rushed to the ER vet and then went to the normal vet later when they opened.  The vet wanted her on a IV for a couple of days so my GF not knowing how to deal with a IV in a dog took her back to the ER vet for the weekend.  We visited her every 3 hours to insure that she was doing fine.  While we where there I would look at her chart to insure that they were checking on her.  Well the tech saw me doing that and asked why I was looking at it.  I told her that we were paying very good money to have her cared for there and I wanted to insure that she was getting that care.  Well before the chart would just have a check and the time noted after she saw me reading the chart there was much more information on the chart like whether she was sleeping or awake, whether she was calm or whatever and a very precise reading about the IV usage.  I think that it pays to show the ER people that you are going to be checking up on their care and that they better do it correctly.

 Just as a after story Breezy started feeling better Sunday afternoon and hasn't had another problem since.

 

My vet's place is the same; after 8 pm no one's there; only the emergency vet place has anyone there most of the night. But I've never had a problem with it. The vet's at the place I go to do their surgeries in the morning until noon, so that the animals are pretty much out of the anesthesia by early to mid-afternoon (depending on who got surgery sooner during the morning and who had it done closer to noon) and they make sure they're all doing well before they leave for the night. We have the option of taking them home that night, unless for osme reason the vet feels it's better that they saty overnight and be checked again in the morning. Also, they have people who go in on Sunday to take care of all the animals and check on them, so no animal is left alone if they happen to be there over a weekend, or if someone has to pick up an animal they boarded on a Sunday.

 

We took her home on the day of the spay, they said if she had trouble waking up or anything she'd have to stay.  I'm not comortable leaving my dog unsupervised overnight.  I tend to be a bit paranoid about fire, so that's a big concern for me.  The other would be the stitches coming out or any other complication and not finding out until it's too late:(  I'd sign the waiver and take the dog home where you can supervise.

our vet calls us as soon as the dog starts to wake up so we can be there and take the dog home immediately, he says dogs recover much faster at home than terrified and alone at the vet's office. In my experience, the dog DOES NOT sleep all night especially after a neuter and someone needs to keep an eye on the dog for the entire first 24 hours just in case of bleeding out or a late anesthesia complication. Totally unacceptable to leave them overnight unattended at a vet's office.

I work for a vet clinic. We get our spays and neuters done in the morning to assure the pet is okay by 6 that night.  We personally haven't had a reason to keep any of them since I have been there...we do keep declaws for cats.   I would never leave my dog there without someone to watch her...and yet when I got Bubblegum spayed...I did and didn't think to ask if anyone was there.  I now know so much more.    

At our clinic..a few times our vet took home a pet she was worried about.  Occasionally there is a pet that is on an IV and very sick...they are not pets that are lively and jumping around and barking.....but any of our techs that live closer goes back to check on them every few hours.  And on an occasion or two... a  patient spent the day with us and the owners took them to ER to keep at night, then back to us during the day.

Willow didn't stay overnight after her spay. In May when she might have possibly needed to be hospitalized they just had me bring her straight to the ER instead of the office.