My dog has controlled epilepsy. Is spaying safe with anesthesia?

One of the medical indications for spaying is indeed idiopathic seizures. Sexual hormones do have an impact on brain cell excitability and seizures. Estrogen is consistently found to increase susceptibility to seizures. So spaying is recommended.

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. At 10yrs old, Brian's is not too old to have this procedure done. Many of the drugs used for surgery help control seizures. In older dogs I like using Midazolam as the pre-anesthetic drug combined with atropine to help keep the heart rate at a good rate and then inducing with protocol which also controls seizures. As long as your vet knows she has seizures he or she will make the most appropriate decision for anesthetic drugs. I hope this helps! Please feel free to contact me with any further questions or concerns you may have. I am also available via consultation if needed.

While any anesthesia carries a risk, spaying is generally a very safe procedure. The risks of anesthesia increase as a dog ages (I'm specifically referencing senior dogs like 10 years and older), but there are few risks for a young and healthy puppy. Your vet is right she could be ill in the future if you don't spay her. Not spaying her leaves her at risk of developing a pyometra in the future. This is an infection of the uterus that is fatal without treatment, and spaying the dog is part of the treatment of a pyometra. That surgery is high risk due to the severity of the illness in the dog from the infection, and it costs thousands to perform. In addition, dogs who are spayed are at an increased risk of developing mammary tumors. Of these mammary tumors, 50% of them are malignant. For her health, it is best to spay her now. I would speak with your vet about getting it done. I hope this helps!

I am sorry to hear about your kitty! We do routinely do surgery in many pets that have seizures, and as long as we are aware ahead of time we can prepare for this concern by doing things such as selecting certain drugs for anesthesia and having an IV catheter in place in case a seizure occurs so we have quick access to a vein to administer medication. I would say that the risk of not being spayed is a greater health risk than the risk of being spayed. I would, however, recommend having your cat examined/have work-up done which may involve bloodwork and ultrasound to ensure there isn't a cause for seizures such as a liver shunt that needs to be addressed if your cat hasn't already been examined for the seizures. I would also recommend you have your cat spayed at a full service vet clinic and not a spay/neuter low cost clinic because of her issues she is going to need more intensive monitoring than they can offer. The risks involved in spaying are the same for any surgical procedure and include adverse reaction to the anesthetic drugs, bleeding during surgery, and infection of the surgical site. These complications are extremely rare.

Hello, Pregnancy is more dangerous in animals that suffer from chronic conditions, such as epilepsy. Epilepsy can also be genetically passed on to her pups. I would recommend a spay if at all possible. Keeping her as calm as possible and minimizing stress is the best thing you can do for her. I hope this is helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

She would need to be thoroughly examined by a vet. Most dogs that are otherwise stable (as in living day to day without any issues) can undergo anesthesia without complications. The vet may want to take a few extra precautions if they have concern that she could regurgitate during or after anesthesia.

In an overweight dog, there is more fat tissue to get through, and within the abdomen there is fat covering everything making it more difficult to see, and slippery to handle the tissues. It is a little more challenging than a spay in a thin dog. If they rescheduled the procedure with a different veterinarian, it is possible that the veterinarian on duty today wanted to make sure she was in more experienced hands. A spay is a very routine procedure, although no surgery is without risk. You should be thankful that the veterinarian today did what was best for Aubree, and I hope everything goes well tomorrow. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.