Zeke getting neutered...

I've had young dogs neutered and adults.  Never had a problem other than Rex deciding to remove his own stitches, three times.  And that was with a cone collar on him. Even with that, he healed fine, it just took a little longer than normal.

usually not a big deal for the boys. Older boys tend to take a bit longer to heal since they and their man berries have spent more time together LOL. Might be some swelling, drainage. That sort of thing.

I think these days you can opt to remove the entire scro*tum...or leave it. empty scrotums often shrink up to a mere flap of skin but on some dogs it can be visible so some prefer to simply get it removed altogether.

I've never had a major issue with a neuter on feline or canine aside from swelling in a dog done late in life.

Amberld

Is it all in one day? Or will he have to stay all night?

That depends on the timing and of course on the Vet.  I always try and schedule so that the surgery is done in the morning because then I can pick them up that afternoon.  The dog can't eat the night before or morning of the surgery.  Usually they only have to stay until they have recovered from the anesthesia.  The surgery is a pretty quick procedure but if they do it late in the day they may want to keep him that night.  Call and ask your Vet.  Most have certain days they do routine surgical procedures.  Your Vet may have some literature they can give you about the procedure and recovery.  They will give you some written instructions when you pick him up.  Be sure and ask for it if they don't. 

He should be fine in the crate afterwards.  They may give you a plastic cone type collar to keep him from messing with his stitches.  It would probably be a good idea to have someone check on him during the day, at least once. 

Like everyone else said, neutering males is much easier than spaying females. Bailey still has a big "deflated ballon" thing between his legs because he was neutered when he was about 3 ish, a year after I got him. We had to wait a year because he went through HW treatment, and the vet said we should wait a while before he has surgery. He didnt have any problems at all after his surgery, he never bothered with the stitches or anything.

That is about what I figured. I am planning on scheduling his appointment for the morning of Monday January 18, 2010 and hopefully I can be able to pick him up that evening. Our regular schedule is I get up at 5:30 AM- I let Zeke outside to potty, then at 6:30 AM he is let back inside and goes to his crate. Then at 3:30 PM I arrive back home and let him outside. He sleeps all day in his crate and is almost always asleep when I open the door to let him outside in the evening. I will give him his dosage of pain medicine before school in the morning & most likely he will be all set until I get home.

Another question I had was will his personality be the same or will he act a bit different? Or does that all depend on the dog? My grandma had a St. Bernard and he acted extremly calm and not much of a playful personality after his neutering. I am not sure if that is the norm or if most go back to their happy playful personalities. 

I was not sure if I was going to decide to neuter Zeke or not but, I believe the pros outweigh the cons. A family member brought her female over to the house when she was starting to go into heat and Zeke was all over her (that is how we really noticed the dog was about to go into heat). In return I put Zeke up while they were here. I would just like for Zeke not to want to chase females around all day or act like a goof when they are around. I read an article that said males will try their best to escape if they can smell a female in heat, so this way will not have to deal with that. Not to mention the annoying things that males do- that neutering will help avoid. Zeke never went potty in the house but, lately he has started to ruffle blankets up and pee on them. IMO that is to mark his spot. Of course I correct him but, hopefully neutering will help to avoid any future issues that could occur throughout the future.

Zeke is a Collie right? I am not sure but I know Collies have some major drug sensitivities with heartworm meds so, DO check with the vet about safe anesthesia during his fix...never a bad idea.

rwbeagles

Zeke is a Collie right? I am not sure but I know Collies have some major drug sensitivities with heartworm meds so, DO check with the vet about safe anesthesia during his fix...never a bad idea.

 Yes, he is a Collie. That is something I am worried over. I know that Collies do have bad reactions to some medicine and so on. I will definitely speak with the vet beforehand. I want to make sure that not only the anesthesia is safe not to mention the medicine they send him home with. It's all about my boys safety. Thankfully you mentioned the whole anesthesia idea because I did not think about that one. I was mainly thinking of the pain medicine. The main thing I am worried over is that because my dad gives and has always given his own shots & wormer. When I bought Zeke he had already been brought to the vet and was perfectly healthy. So I had plans on bringing Zeke in for his heart worm medicine and flea repellent in the Spring. So Zeke has not yet seen a vet since I bought him in July. I have heard several good things about the vet I am bringing him to for his neutering from different people. This is stressful & I do hope that the vet is as good as everyone keeps saying. How would you all handle this situation?

I'm not an expert on Collies but from a brief research on the net, I found references to sensitivity to Ivermectin and similar heartworm medications.  Here's a link.  I didn't know they had identified a gene and that there is a test now to determine if a dog carries this recessive gene.  I didn't find any mention of problems with other drugs.  There is always a risk associated with surgery and anesthesia but it's small and complications in healthy dogs is rare.

http://www.awca.net/drug.htm

JackieG

I'm not an expert on Collies but from a brief research on the net, I found references to sensitivity to Ivermectin and similar heartworm medications.  Here's a link.  I didn't know they had identified a gene and that there is a test now to determine if a dog carries this recessive gene.  I didn't find any mention of problems with other drugs.  There is always a risk associated with surgery and anesthesia but it's small and complications in healthy dogs is rare.

http://www.awca.net/drug.htm

I did know about the allergy to Ivermectin. There was also a website that talked about Collies being allergic to Demadox (sp?) and rymadol(sp?). I need to re-look that website up. Both those were medicine given to my parents dogs when taken to the vet. I am sure things will go smoothly. I worry too much. Although it is better to be safe than sorry. : )

With greyhounds...I think, it's often an issue of how their muscle to fat ratio tends to cause the drugs to process differently and leave the system more slowly...while needing less to begin with going just "by weight"...being that Collies do have a bit of a similar build with tuck ups deeper chests and slender bone in general (and hair/heavy coats weigh SOMETHING and it's hard to minus that from the equation when deciding how much gas to give "by weight";) I might consider checking on vets with sighthound experience they tend to be reaaaaally careful with all breeds as a result.

I know with our old mix Buckwheat who didn't look like much of any breed beyond "scruffy" lol...she was always very greyhoundy in build and she had trouble "coming out" afterwards...took a lot longer to awaken than they thought she should...I think her build was why perhaps.

Just something to consider.

Interesting you say that Gina- we always have a harder time getting our greys OUT - they wake up super quickly...but - they do act like crazy loonatics while they are waking up. We don't keep them in the metal cages - rather crates with blankets so they don't hurt themselves.

We've done a few collies - with no issues with the anesthesia. it's a routine surgery - but still a surgery. The boys are really simple

Amberld

I worry too much. Although it is better to be safe than sorry. : )

I'm the same way about my dogs. :)  It is better to be safe than sorry.  I didn't see the references to Deramaxx or Rimadyl in my earlier search but did see a few mentions just now when searching for those specifically. You are wise to do your research.  Talk to your Vet and if you don't feel comfortable with his knowledge or responses to your concerns, find another one.  I'm sure Zeke will do fine with you watching out for him.  He's a beautiful dog. 

erica1989

Interesting you say that Gina- we always have a harder time getting our greys OUT

Buck NEVER went out with Ace....which I always thought was interesting. But I attributed that to her being such an alert, almost over alert dog. She never was ever truly "relaxed" I do not think. Always alert to the hunt. Maybe they had to gas her more too to get her relaxed, because of that...and as a result she had trouble coming back?? INteresting!