Can't find her uterus!!!

Oh man, I'm so sorry you've had to go thru this.  I honestly don't know how they determine a dog has or has not been spayed, but I would think an ultrasound would show if a uterus was still there.  I know that you can't really see Sassy's scar on her tummy any longer, so that's probably not a good way to check, but certainly there must be other ways.  I can only imagine how frustrated and upset you must be, but you were only trying to do the right thing, so don't beat yourself up for it.  I'll be interested to hear what the Dr. says when you go to pick her up.

Sorry you and your poor pooch have to go through something like this. It would be nice if in the cases where nobody knows for sure whether or not a dog was spayed they could do an ultrasound.  It would sure beat having surgery for nothing.

Joyce

Thanks Cathy & Joyce... I tell you, last night I was so worried about having her spayed that hubby said "make up something, say she's in heat and cancel it".  Boy, am I glad I didn't say that!  He tries to be the voice of reason when I freak out but he worries just as much as I do (and doesn't hide it very well). 
 
I'll know more around 2:30 when I call again.  I just hate that she had to go thru surgery.  I would think maybe an ultrasound would show if she'd been spayed or not.  I told him I was not 100% sure about it.  Has anyone ever heard of a female dog being born without a uterus?  Could that be a possibility?
 
I just can't wait to have her home with us.

It would be very rare for a dog to be born without a uterus AND ovaries, both of which I assume were missing.  Likely she was spayed already and the scar just not readily visible. Sometimes you just can't tell, and not every clinic has an ultrasound machine.

My vet has a "rescue" policy that if someone brings in an animal with an unknown surgery, she'll do the spay and if she finds it's been done already, she'll only charge for the preop bloodwork and anesthesia (would come to about $40 for a medium dog). This is more useful with young cats, since with a dog you also have the option to wait a while and see whether your new dog comes into heat (cats are much more persistant about getting pregnant).

If there are no internal incisions, the good news is that it's not nearly as major a surgery as a full spay and your dog will recover very quickly.

It happens more often then you think.  You could pay and extra amount for a ultrasound befor hand but even at that it's still difficult to see, usally you wold only see it in an ulta sound if she's in heat, it's infected or she's pregnate.  When it's normal the tissues doesn't appear on the ultrasound the same way it would otherwise  There really are no test to determin if the dog has been spayed and usaly the only sign would be a scare or the dog going into heat if not spayed.  I know there have been times when we put a dog out and lay it on it's back to be shved and there is a scare, at that point before the surgery we will call the owner.  There have been times we did not see a scare and the vet opened up a dog or cat and found nothing.  It's hard on the vet also, it would have been so much easyer to know beforehad then go in to discover it.  It usally take the vet even longer to search for it then the time of a normal spay. 
 
I know it's always so hard every time any dog is under and on the surgery table but it's good you know now.  It was really nice of the vet to call you and inform you about it insteead of telling you later or not at all.  I have heard of some vets who will do that and still charge for the full spay and the owners have no clue, I would never want to go to a vet like that.  How is she doing?

He didn't mention anything about ovaries.  Just that there's no uterus, I guess we were both in shock.  I was actually terrified when I heard his voice because I thought something went wrong. 
 
His secretary also said if Trixie went into heat after this, he'd go in again to investigate without charging.  I'm not concerned about the price, not that I'm growing money trees in my yard but I just want her to be ok.  I feel like a little kid looking for guidance because I don't know which way to go!  I've never had this happen before and feel sorta dumb.  I don't want her to be more stressed than she needs to be as stress can cause demodex to act up again (or so I've read).
 
I had no idea this could even be a possiblity.  I actually said before it would be great if she had already been spayed but I didn't want her to have to go thru this to find out!  I appreciate all the answers... I feel like a sponge soaking up all the info I can get.  I'll update as soon as I call the vet again (around 2:30).  
 
Amanda, last I heard, Trixie was still groggy from anethesia.  Hopefully, they'll be able to tell me something more soon.  Thanks for asking!  And you're all right... at least I know now and at least the vet called for more info.  That's some relief.

Update... just called to check on her and they said she was waking up a little more and sitting up instead of laying.  I'll call this evening when I get home... man, I hate leaving her there overnight but she'll be in good care.

OMG Missy what a shock! 

   I'm sorry this happened but it looks like she's doing okay. We adopted Jessie from the shelter when she was about 8 months old and when I took her to the vet for her first exam he thought she may have been spayed because he felt scar tissue. He wanted me to call the shelter to see what they knew about Jessie. It turns out that one of the shelter workers brought her in because the family that lived on the same street kept letting Jessie run loose, and after taking her home several times and warning them about the possibility of Jessie getting hit by a car, she brought her to the shelter. I asked her if the shelter could contact the family and ask if Jessie had been spayed but the shelter said they wouldn't because they didn't want to upset the family. The family had been told Jessie was at the shelter and decided to leave her there so I don't think they were all that broke up over it. I think the shelter should have contacted them. The vet said to watch her for signs of her going into heat and she never did so he was right about the scar tissue. Perhaps it had been so long since Trixie was spayed the scar tisue was gone.

this sounds like a gross error on the part of the the vet, or at least in some eyes.,,but this appens more than once and it can be very frustrating.. You open up and look and look  and then maybe open up a little bit more...Even a skin incision tell you nothing...it could be many other operative procedures...I used to do the small incision type of operation which left very little to no scar but I often tattooed a S by the incision indicating spay...
I haven;t read all the other posts  so my info may duplicate some others

My vet does beautiful work - you can't see a scar on either of my border collies, and they've been spayed. June was spayed at 5 years old even, and has no visible scar. Wow, what a surprise, hunh? Did he check for testicles just in case? [] I'm just kidding.

I better clarify my previous statement....Some people will say it is a gross error, but it really is not...on the surface, it sounds like i reallymeant it was a gross error...apologie to any vets on the site

My vet does beautiful work - you can't see a scar on either of my border collies, and they've been spayed. June was spayed at 5 years old even, and has no visible scar. Wow, what a surprise, hunh? Did he check for testicles just in case? [] I'm just kidding.

 
LOL!! That's what I was thinking... heck, I might have a little boy on my hands and didn't even know it! []
 
dvet, I got what you were saying.  I just wish there had been a way to avoid surgery but I guess the only way we were going to know was either wait it out, see if she went into heat OR go ahead with the surgery, even if it's just to explore and find out what she doesn't have.  I just didn't want her to be miserable and with each heat cycle, I knew she would be.  I'm kind of ok with it now... because I know she's ok.  I'll be even better when she's home. 
 
jessies_mom... i'm surprised at the run around people give when a dog is taken away and given to a better home.  I would have thought they'd call just to be sure about the spaying. 
 
and Pam... I know! OMG!