Wishing my sweet Miss Penelope a safe spay today

PugandTwoFrenchies · Jun 12, 2015

Little Miss Penelope is getting spayed today.

I feel so bad! She's just shy of 6 months of age, so it's time. She was shaking when my husband took her. Not surprising, tho...she's not as confident as her brother.

She's going to a great clinic though, as they do laser surgery, and I've been taking my pugs to them for years. They always recover quickly and without complications.

Still...I feel so bad! :sorry::missyou:

Tgirl · Jun 12, 2015

Good lucky sweet Penelope. I am sure she will be fine.

Squishy Walnuts · Jun 12, 2015

Good luck to your sweet girl! She'll be just fine and soon you'll have her home with you.

blushy · Jun 12, 2015

Good luck pretty girl! You'll be home with mama again soon! [emoji175]

shortstuff · Jun 12, 2015

The guilt is the worst part! I had to spend weeks prepping myself for sending Bisou to be spayed... had to convince myself it was for her own good and she won't hate me after! I felt so bad when they took her back and she was as excited as could be, with no clue what was about to happen to her! :*( The experience helped bond us though, and she got to be a little snuggle worm with her mama while healing. She'll do great!

2bullymama · Jun 12, 2015

Hoping all goes well! please keep us posted on how she is doing when she gets home

Jakeyjake · Jun 12, 2015

Awww....it's one of the more difficult times being a dog mom. It's never fun when they have to go to the vet, but it must set your mind at ease that she is in good hands. It is so important to have vet that is familiar with brachycephalic breeds. Good luck to her and sounds like you need to do some shopping for some new toys for her homecoming:yes:

Mavis · Jun 13, 2015

It is always a worry. I hope she is home now and recovering. Let us know how she is doing. It is amazing how quickly they bounce back.

We got Ginger from the pound when she was 12 weeks old. Their policy is to spay before they release them, so she had just been spayed the day before we picked her up. She weighed 15 lbs. (she is about 50 now). I thought that was excessive; she was literally just a baby.

Your baby will be playing in the water again with her brother soon.

PugandTwoFrenchies · Jun 13, 2015

UPDATE: Penelope is resting and doing fine.

She pretty much slept all afternoon and slept through the night, and this morning she ate all of her breakfast, so that's a good sign. We have her confined to the x-pen with her bed (with a hot water bottle under the blanket), some water, and some pee pads just in case she has to go. Her brother doesn't understand why he can't play with her, of course. He won't be able to for at least 2 weeks. Agh!

I haven't even had a chance to look at her incision. She has dissolvable stitches, so no need to take her back to have them removed.

Thanks for the kind words, all!

PugandTwoFrenchies · Jun 13, 2015

Jakeyjake said:
Awww....it's one of the more difficult times being a dog mom. It's never fun when they have to go to the vet, but it must set your mind at ease that she is in good hands. It is so important to have vet that is familiar with brachycephalic breeds. Good luck to her and sounds like you need to do some shopping for some new toys for her homecoming:yes:

I agree with the clinic being familiar with these flat-faced breeds. This clinic is awesome. You pay a bit more for their services, but I'd rather do that than cheap out and worry about complications afterwards. My pugs have gone for several dentals, lump removals, spay/neuters, etc., and have never had a problem.

During our 15-year old pug's final years, he was having lameness in his rear legs, and the vet at this clinic recommended we take him to the neurologist at this one emergency hospital in the city. We got to the hospital, received very poor service, and when the vet at the clinic followed up with us afterwards, we told him what had happened and he phoned the hospital himself and tore them a new one. He said that if that's how they operate and treat their clients, he will stop referring people to them. He apologized to us profusely and said that unfortunately, that was the only hospital with a neurologist, otherwise he'd send us somewhere else.

Long story short, he's very compassionate, very caring, and very skilled. Also very honest about what he does and doesn't know, which I appreciate.

blushy · Jun 13, 2015

PugandTwoFrenchies said:
I agree with the clinic being familiar with these flat-faced breeds. This clinic is awesome. You pay a bit more for their services, but I'd rather do that than cheap out and worry about complications afterwards. My pugs have gone for several dentals, lump removals, spay/neuters, etc., and have never had a problem.

During our 15-year old pug's final years, he was having lameness in his rear legs, and the vet at this clinic recommended we take him to the neurologist at this one emergency hospital in the city. We got to the hospital, received very poor service, and when the vet at the clinic followed up with us afterwards, we told him what had happened and he phoned the hospital himself and tore them a new one. He said that if that's how they operate and treat their clients, he will stop referring people to them. He apologized to us profusely and said that unfortunately, that was the only hospital with a neurologist, otherwise he'd send us somewhere else.

Long story short, he's very compassionate, very caring, and very skilled. Also very honest about what he does and doesn't know, which I appreciate.

We paid close to $600 for Isabelle's spay instead of going where everyone told us cause it's "cheaper"..... Uh my dog isn't cheap, so I'm not going to take her to some hole in the wall...

Glad everything went well & you had some peace of mind since you have a great surgeon you can trust!

Isa had dissolvable stitches, too. And they were internal, so the knot took forever to dissolve (it was so weird!).

eeturk · Jun 13, 2015

Yay Penelope! Glad to hear all went well and she is recovering.

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Fosta Mama · Jun 13, 2015

Glad to hear all went well and Penelope is back home safe and sound.

PugandTwoFrenchies · Jun 13, 2015

blushy said:
We paid close to $600 for Isabelle's spay instead of going where everyone told us cause it's "cheaper"..... Uh my dog isn't cheap, so I'm not going to take her to some hole in the wall...

Glad everything went well & you had some peace of mind since you have a great surgeon you can trust!

Isa had dissolvable stitches, too. And they were internal, so the knot took forever to dissolve (it was so weird!).

Yup, Penelope's bill was $585, whereas I know other clinics charge less. But again, I'd rather pay a bit more and have peace of mind. My dogs are worth too much for me to cheap out! :heart::heart::heart:

davidh · Jun 13, 2015

So happy she is doing well. Hoping for a quick recovery.

Tgirl · Jun 13, 2015

I'm glad to hear that everything went well. Wishing her a speedy recovery.

Mavis · Jun 14, 2015

Yay! Such a relief.

You guys are so lucky to have found a vet that knows the breed. Our vet is so nice but I don't think he knows much about bracys. We went to a big clinic in the toni part of the city, but they were awful. Very haughty and unknowledgeable. He told me that frenchies weren't a breed that are prone to allergies (!).

PugandTwoFrenchies · Jun 15, 2015

Mavis said:
Yay! Such a relief.

You guys are so lucky to have found a vet that knows the breed. Our vet is so nice but I don't think he knows much about bracys. We went to a big clinic in the toni part of the city, but they were awful. Very haughty and unknowledgeable. He told me that frenchies weren't a breed that are prone to allergies (!).

I agree. I'm grateful to be living in a city that has a lot of choices and access to specialists. I grew up in a small, remote town for the first 25 years of my life (spent the last 16 years in Calgary), and even to this day, that town doesn't have any type of emergency vet service. What do you do when something happens to your pet after hours??? You have to drive to another town either 40 mins or 1 1/2 hrs away to get help.

The clinic we take them to has 2 vets, and the vet who saw my pups when they got their shots was a younger, less experienced vet (still quite good, though). She mentioned that she hasn't seen too many Frenchies, so I can understand how there is a lack of knowledge out there about the breed.

Here in Alberta (Ie: Expensive-ville), Frenchies are quite expensive, there aren't too many breeders out there, so it makes sense that not a lot of owners have them. We got ours from a breeder in Saskatchewan who also breeds horses and cattle, so she was able to do a lot of the work that a vet would normally do (vaccines, AI, welping, etc.), which means she didn't charge the 'normal' price you see with Frenchie breeders here in Alberta.

However, the more experienced vet at that clinic deals with a lot of pugs, so I wasn't concerned about bringing Penelope there.

She's doing great, btw! She wants to play with her brother *so bad*. I feel so bad stopping their play time. 11 days to go before she can go back to her normal activities. *groan* Seems like forever!

Mavis · Jun 15, 2015

P&TF, very interesting to know about how it is in different parts of Canada and the States. Seems like it is hard to find reputable frenchie breeders. The demand far outweighs the supply. I think the best thing to do is get on a list with a good breeder and then wait as long as it takes. I went to a "meet-up" group for small dogs last Thursday (they don't have one around here for just frenchies), and there were a lot of pugs. Next time I go, I will ask who people go to for their vet.

Doesn't it make your heart sing to know they are so bonded to each other? I love it when Bambi and Ginger play, or when they lay on the bed touching fannies.

Squishy Walnuts · Jun 17, 2015

11 days with no playtime? Good luck with that! lol! I'm glad to hear the surgery went well!

I would be surprised if Frenchies in Calgary cost more than they do here in Toronto. They are very expensive! It is great to have a vet you trust that knows these breeds. Our vet has a boston terrier so she's quite knowledgeable in bracy dogs.