Made a difference to THAT one
Even though it looks like the first cat I spayed didn't survive the next 24 hours, the first dog I spayed DID.
I was sufficiently rattled (by the fact I had misidentified a particular tissue) that I was not thinking clearly by the time I was searching for the reproductive tract. But I still had the presence of mind to realize that hundreds of small firm dark lumps throughout her tissues were probably a good reason to call for a grownup.
We waited a good 45 minutes to see whether we were going to bother waking this dog up. Couldn't reach the shelter. Senior surgeon busy helping other teams stop bleeders. No budget for biopsies. Anesthetist, who had fallen in love with this sweet pittie girl with a horrific abuse history, dissolved in tears.
This dog was one of a dozen or more who'd been liberated from a bust of a dog-fighting ring. It was abundantly clear from her behavior and from her physical exam that she had been used as "bait" for the dogs trained to attack. She was terrified any time she saw any dog, her legs and face were covered with scars, and at least once in her past, each of her left paws had been crushed and the bones had healed poorly. As with many fighting dogs, she was sweet and friendly with humans. She never stopped wagging (as long as no other dogs were nearby) and I got my face washed more than once. A shelter trainer had been working with her for weeks to see if her behavior could be good enough for a safe adoption out to a family. She'd been deemed adoptable and sent to us for spay... and now this.
Eventually we took biopsies (Davis will eat the cost), spayed her, and woke her up. No one on our team was feeling good about it, but at least we were going to pass the buck to histopathology and let THEM tell the shelter to bury this poor girl.
Report came back today. Ectopic spleen tissue. Not carcinomatosis. Not hemangiosarcoma. NOT CANCER.
Two of three members of my surgery team (that is to say, everyone who's not me) are now down with high fever and Tamiflu, but I can happily report that three out of three have received the good news and have shed another few tears over the fact that this dog will have a chance at a better life.
I was sufficiently rattled (by the fact I had misidentified a particular tissue) that I was not thinking clearly by the time I was searching for the reproductive tract. But I still had the presence of mind to realize that hundreds of small firm dark lumps throughout her tissues were probably a good reason to call for a grownup.
We waited a good 45 minutes to see whether we were going to bother waking this dog up. Couldn't reach the shelter. Senior surgeon busy helping other teams stop bleeders. No budget for biopsies. Anesthetist, who had fallen in love with this sweet pittie girl with a horrific abuse history, dissolved in tears.
This dog was one of a dozen or more who'd been liberated from a bust of a dog-fighting ring. It was abundantly clear from her behavior and from her physical exam that she had been used as "bait" for the dogs trained to attack. She was terrified any time she saw any dog, her legs and face were covered with scars, and at least once in her past, each of her left paws had been crushed and the bones had healed poorly. As with many fighting dogs, she was sweet and friendly with humans. She never stopped wagging (as long as no other dogs were nearby) and I got my face washed more than once. A shelter trainer had been working with her for weeks to see if her behavior could be good enough for a safe adoption out to a family. She'd been deemed adoptable and sent to us for spay... and now this.
Eventually we took biopsies (Davis will eat the cost), spayed her, and woke her up. No one on our team was feeling good about it, but at least we were going to pass the buck to histopathology and let THEM tell the shelter to bury this poor girl.
Report came back today. Ectopic spleen tissue. Not carcinomatosis. Not hemangiosarcoma. NOT CANCER.
Two of three members of my surgery team (that is to say, everyone who's not me) are now down with high fever and Tamiflu, but I can happily report that three out of three have received the good news and have shed another few tears over the fact that this dog will have a chance at a better life.