How are dog spay surgeries performed?

Female dogs are prepared in the same way that I described it for a neuter; it’s a very aseptic technique, making sure everything's clipped and cleaned and they're anesthetized, but you do go into the abdomen for female spays.

We make an incision into the abdomen and remove the ovaries, all of the uterus down to the cervix, and then close back up the abdomen. So it's a little bit more invasive than neutering since you are going into the abdomen, but those are the tissue that we're removing.

For dog spays, please drop off your female dog in the morning between 7:30 to 8:00. A technician will guide you through the surgery and anesthesia consent forms, addressing any questions you may have. We will then insert an IV catheter into one of your dog's front legs, allowing us to administer IV medications. This includes pain medication mixed with anesthesia medications. Afterward, we will prepare the abdomen by shaving and sanitizing it aseptically. Next, we make a small incision into the abdomen, remove the ovaries and uterus, and close the abdomen with two to three layers of sutures. The dog then enters the recovery phase, during which we continuously monitor vital signs such as pulse ox, EKG, blood pressure, and capnograph to ensure the safety of the anesthesia. Additionally, we intubate all dogs undergoing spays and neuters to maintain an open airway, with access to oxygen and gas anesthesia as needed.

A dog spay is an ovary hysterectomy and it's done under general anesthesia. At our hospital, we invite you to check in your dog in the morning. We might ask you to administer some calming therapy at home so the dog is not so rambunctious when it comes in. We then sedate the dog, put in an IV catheter, and get it under general anesthesia. We then prep your dog aseptically, which means we surgically prep it, and do an intra-abdominal procedure. We go into the abdomen and remove the ovaries and the uterus down to close to the cervix. That's a spay.

A dog spay is an ovariohysterectomy, which means that both the ovaries and the uterus are removed. The procedure involves making an incision on the midline of the abdomen. Once inside the abdomen, the ovaries and the uterus are located and removed. Dogs have a right and a left side, called horns, and a cervix. Everything above the cervix, which is both ovaries and the uterus, is removed. The abdomen is then closed up with a three-layer closure once the spay has been performed.