# Pre-surgical blood work



## Ellie NY (Aug 27, 2010)

Well, after talking and talkiing about it, I finally bit the bullet and scheduled Eli's neuter for December 1. He's coming up on his 6 month birthday December 5. For the past few days he's been humping his favorite stuffed animal (we refer to it as his girlfriend) until he falls over in frustration and exhaustion.ound: 

When I called the vet they asked if we wanted to do presurgical blood work. They said it's recommended but not required. We last saw the vet in October and everything was great. The vet will give him an exam immediately before the surgeryto make sure he's in top form. Is this blood work really necessary or can we skip it?


----------



## Kathie (Jul 31, 2008)

Well, in my opinion, if he just had it done in October then I wouldn't do it. It's expensive enough without adding more to the bill!


----------



## whimsy (Apr 3, 2010)

I'm confused...did he have blood work done in Oct?? If not then I would go on and have the pre-surgical blood work done. With a young pup the blood work isn't all that extensive and it should not cost too much really. All you can do is ask.


----------



## Ellie NY (Aug 27, 2010)

whimsy said:


> I'm confused...did he have blood work done in Oct?? If not then I would go on and have the pre-surgical blood work done. With a young pup the blood work isn't all that extensive and it should not cost too much really. All you can do is ask.


Yes, he had blood work in October. He'd swallowed something that made him sick for a few hours. The vet did a full blood work-up as part of the check-up to make sure it wasn't anything toxic with long-term affects. All of his results were fine.

I know that it is standard for people to get blood work before surgery but an not convinced Eli needs it since his results are only a couple of months old.


----------



## whimsy (Apr 3, 2010)

Ask him if the blood work he did in oct. is the same exact one that would be repeated for the pre-surgical. If it is then I wouldn't think it would have to be repeated...it was just last month! If he got a clean bill of health I would think he is good to go!! I think when you schedule a surgery, the girl doing the scheduling just automatically asks you about blood work.


----------



## The Fussy Puppy Gang (May 21, 2007)

I agree with Evelyn. Part of the pre-surgical blood work may be to see if your dog is allergic to, or has any health concerns in relation to the anesthesia. Ask before you decide.


----------



## pjewel (Apr 11, 2007)

I would check with the vet also about whether he/she would recommend it, and is it different than the previous tests. I don't want to disappoint you if you're thinking the humping will be a thing of the past when he's neutered. Milo has started humping Ruby and Bailey lately. Poor baby, I think his head doesn't know what his body is missing. ound:


----------



## Laurief (Nov 7, 2006)

My vet requires it, anytime they do surgery. But if they did the same tests a month ago, your vet may not feel it is necessary. 
But.. if the Oct. tests were different - I would recommend doing it!  BEtter safe than sorry!


----------



## Ellie NY (Aug 27, 2010)

Thanks all for the advice. 

Eli's surgery is about 2 hours away. I take him in at 10 AM and pick him up around 7PM. They like to keep dog all day after any kind of surgery so that they can be constantly monitoring. They told me they would call immediately after the surgery and I could call as often as I wanted. I don't know why I am getting so emotional but I am!

Any advice for how to keep him comfortable after surgery? He's coming home with antibiotics and pain meds, but if there anything else I can do?


----------



## Graciep0o (Apr 23, 2010)

After Oliver was neutered, they had him in the cone because he had a tendency to lick himself. He was miserable for the one night he had it on. Some of the members on the forum suggested putting him in a baby onesie and that helped a ton. The only thing is that you'll need to monitor his pooping and peeing so that he doesn't go on himself. Luckily we only had 1 accident. When we took him out, we'd just unsnap and roll up the onesie and put it back on after he was done. Of course, if Eli doesn't wind up with a cone, you should have nothing to worry about on that front.


----------



## sanducando (Dec 9, 2010)

Is it customary to do pre-surgical bloodwork? Does this usually happen in the appointment before you set up the big surgery date (where the vet deems the pup healthy enough to be spayed) or is it part of the surgery day (the "pre-anesthesia exam")? 

My vet didn't mention anything about bloodwork so I'm curious if this is something I should bring up with her? We had a pre-spay exam last week and she said Mochi was in good shape for a spay, but it was just a basic exam (like the puppy exam when we first got her). Mochi's scheduled for May 23rd. Sooo nervous/scared for her!!


----------



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

My vet strongly recommended (but did not require) pre-surgical bloodwork, done about a week before the surgery. He said that it was an extra precaution in terms of the pup's health prior to surgery, but also acted as a baseline in case there were problems in the future. That made sense to me, so we did it.


----------

