Cutting out uteri. Also fun stuff.

I posted about testicle removing the other day, and now it is time for uterus/ovary removing (aka ovariohysterectomies or spays).

Spays are much more invasive than neuters, so they take longer and cost more. The recovery time is also greater. The prep and stuff for spays are really similar to neuters, but past that, things are much different.

So pretend your dog (or cat) is already prepped and ready to go. The vet comes in and makes a small incision down the midline of the animal's belly (there is more connective tissue along the midline, so they aim for that because it bleeds less). Vets probably have different ways of deciding where to start and end the incision, but basically, it's a little bit under the animal's belly button, and the incisions are usually about an inch or two in length.

Then it's uterus fishing time. I can't wait to try this on my own (I'm seriously tempted to find a dead cat on the side of the road just so I can practice these things). The vet takes a hook-like instrument and loops it around the animal's uterus without being able to see what he/she is doing. It's impressive. Sometimes they hook intestines or something and pull them out, but they just squish them back in and go fishing again.

One side of the uterus (the whole thing looks kinda like a Y).

When the uterus is hooked (it's a red, fleshy thing), the vet gently pulls one side (or horn) through the incision until the ovary on the tip of the horn can be reached. Then the vet clamps directly above the ovary, cuts and ties it off, and the same thing is repeated with the other horn. So then you have the whole uterus with the ovaries attached just hanging out on the outside of the animal's incision. To finally get rid of that baby making machine, the vet clamps the bottom of the uterus (the bottom of the body), ties it off, and cuts. And that's it (except for suturing the abdominal wall back together, of course).

Same side of the same uterus. You can see the ovary better here (the round thing at the tip). It looks like the vet is getting ready to go fishing for the second half..

I've gotten to assist with quite a few spays, and the majority of them have been completely routine and normal. There were some, though, that were a little more interesting. For example, I helped remove a very infected uterus from a very smelly and poorly cared for cat. Like, you know when you walk by a usually heavier set person (usually in a motorized shopping cart) in Walmart, and it's obvious from a distance that they don't take the greatest care of themselves, but when you finally have to walk by them, you can smell this horrible stench creeping out from under their crusty, unwashed fat rolls? Yeah, that's what this cat smelled like. Like it had been living in one of those fat rolls. But back to the surgery: its uterus was purple and so filled with fluid that at first we thought it was the cat's bladder (only seeing part of it through the incision). It was nasty, to say the least, but removing that thing saved the cat's life (the owners hadn't even realized the cat was sick, and I felt horrible about sending the poor creature back home with them).

I have other fun stories about spays gone weird, but I'll save those for future posts.

Fun facts:

Dogs in heat bleed WAY more during surgery than dogs that aren't in heat. I've been sprayed by them. So keep that in mind.

Cats bleed way less than dogs during surgery. I don't know why. I guess because they are smaller, but it's nice because things don't get quite as slippery.