Mijoy Yorkies and Mijoy Biewers

Hi Joyce

I have noticed on your site recently a letter about a dog dying when it went for an op.  I too had this problem some years back, when I had a small Chihuahua sent In for her teeth and spay and she also did not survive. I was heartbroken at the time. I now have two Yorkies and they are both female and both unspayed but I will not take the risk of having them die as well.  My vet thinks I am being stupid about this. What would you say?

Thanks

Lilly K

Hi Lilly

I must agree with your vet, not about being stupid mind you, but about not having them spayed.  The problem is unspayed dogs can and often do develop pyametra of the uterus. It can develop quite easily shortly after the time the bitch has been on heat.  There are two different types of pyametra, the one where your dog has an obvious bad discharge from the vulva and the closed type. The closed type – you are not aware of, your dog shows no outward signs of there being a problem, and by the time you realise something is up , in most cases your dog is dead.  Supposing your bitch does develop pyametra, your dog now has a serious infection in her body, which if left untreated is going to kill her.  She must now undergo surgery and obviously an anaesthetic to sort the problem. It will be far more dangerous for her to undergo being spayed with a major infection in her body, than if she were a healthy dog and spayed.

It can be frightening reading what happened to Caren and her dog.  I do feel that was more the exception than the rule. I owned my first yorkie in 1978 – he was a kg in weight. HE was neutered, no problem.  Since then I cannot tell you how many Yorkies I have owned, rescued, and bred, it amounts to a substantial amount.  I ensure all rescue dogs are sterilised if they pass through me, My own breeding dogs both male and female will be spayed or neutered at some stage in their life. The pups I sell are all to be spayed/neutered at an early age.  The problems I have seen or heard of over all these years, does not even show on the scale as a percentage.  So although anaesthetic is risky and it is risky to everyone be it human, canine, feline, the chances of it causing death is extremely rare.

As I said in that response to that mail, ensure your vet has the experience of working with the small dogs, DO NOT starve your small yorkie  for any length of time prior to being given an anaesthetic.  My own bitches eat during labour, they are not at all concerned, most dogs go off their food for up to 24 hours before delivery of their litter, My girls as I have said eat and drink during labour. IF a problem develops and they need to have a Caesar they go to the vet, and the Caesar is done immediately, no time to wait so many hours after eating. I have had a few cases like this over the years, and I am there when my dogs go under, I am there while they are having that Caesar and I am there when they wake up.  Once and only once, did I ever see a girl threaten to be sick when she was coming out of anaesthetic. If this were to happen the vet would hold the dog in a position that anything she brought up would come out the mouth and not be allowed to go back down possibly onto the lungs.

The anaesthetic used today is very safe. You may ask then why did this happen to Caren’s dog? He is a pretty small dog. A small dog needs to eat frequently, if they do not, the blood sugar level will drop and that alone has consequences, if it goes unnoticed or not treated, the consequences resulting from lack of food and water are often fatal.  The dog becomes HYPOGLYCAEMIC as we know it.  Fatal if not sorted in good time.  In all probability Carens dog was partially hypoglycemic when it underwent surgery, and this and the fact that the dog was initially sedated, all will play a role in the dog dying. 

So my answer to you is have your girls spayed.  Take a tranquilizer yourself if necessary that day. Go to a trusted vet, someone you know has the experience with the small dogs. Make sure they are done pretty soon after being admitted, ask if you can phone and when you can phone, once they have been spayed. This will put your mind at rest. We all get nervous when our precious pets are put under anesthetic. You need to put this into perspective. You have to ask yourself, anesthetic also carries risks to us – people, If you were to want to have a child, and the only way to deliver that child would be by C-section and you would need an anesthetic, would that stop you having a child???  If you look at it this way, you walk down the road and could be hit by a passing vehicle and killed; does that stop you walking down the road????

Millions and millions of animals worldwide have anesthetics, how many times do you hear of it affecting them……..

Go and have your girls spayed and have peace of mind that they will not develop a uterus infection that is life threatening in itself…..

The reason that article appeared on my site and still does is to make people aware and to take that extra precaution and to find out all the ins and outs, about their particular pets, the vet concerned and the anaesthetic. 

I recently had a Caesar with one of my Yorkies girls; I wanted her spayed at the same time. The vet however refused to do it. Said I must bring her back in a month’s time for spaying. The vet was not my usual vet.  NOW that I will not do.  Maybe three months or so down the line, she will be spayed – but I will not allow her to have anaesthetic again, so close to the last one.

A few months ago, I neutered two males here, the one is 14 years of age, he was a rescue and the other one, one of my studs that I have had since a pup. I no longer wanted to use him as a stud, but he runs with my girls, so I needed to be sure, he did not mate when I was not looking. The vet will carry out certain tests to ensure the elderly dog can handle an anaesthetic prior to administering it to the dog.

 BE BLESSED,,,,, go and spay your girls.