Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Complications after spay surgery in 1880 shelter dogs
By Muraro, L & White, R S·Published in Tierarztliche Praxis. Ausgabe K, Kleintiere/Heimtiere·2014·Vet 24 Veterinary Clinic, Italy·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Complications of ovariohysterectomy procedures performed in 1880 dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study looked at complications in 1,880 female dogs that had a spay surgery (ovariohysterectomy). About 7.5% of these dogs experienced complications, which included issues like bleeding during surgery, problems with healing, and urinary incontinence. Heavier dogs and those that were under anesthesia for longer periods were more likely to have complications. This means that if your dog is overweight or requires a longer surgery, there may be a higher risk of issues afterward. It's important to discuss these factors with your veterinarian if your dog needs to be spayed.
People also search for: dog spay surgery complications · overweight dog surgery risks · urinary incontinence after spay
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Canine ovariohysterectomy (OVH) is one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures in companion animal practice. The aim of the study was to determine the frequency and types of complications related to OVH. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The clinical records of all street dogs admitted to the public dog shelters of the Veneto Region (Italy) between January 2010 and December 2011 were reviewed for dogs that had undergone OVH. Specific comparison was made between anaesthesia time, body weight of the patients and intra- and postoperative complications (occurring up to 4 weeks postoperatively). The data were statistically analyzed. RESULTS: Complications were recorded in 141 of 1880 bitches corresponding to an overall complication rate of 7.5%. Mean ±standard deviation (SD) weight of the bitches was 25.7±6.7 kg and mean ± SD anaesthesia time was 42.8 ±8.6 minutes. Distinct types of complications included significant ovarian artery haemorrhage, haemorrhage from the surgical wound, wound healing complications, urinary incontinence, ovarian remnant syndrome. Twenty-one patients had intraoperative complications and 120 patients had postoperative complications. Analy- sis of the grouped data showed a significant association between body weight and the incidence of complications. There was also a significant association between anaesthesia time and the incidence of complications. The results of this study indicate that patient weight is related to the incidence of complications and the odds of a complication occurring increase by a factor of 1.03 for every one kilogram of increase in patient weight. The period of general anaesthesia also appears to be related to the incidence of complications and the odds of a complication occurring increase by approximately 2% for each additional minute in anaesthesia time. CONCLUSION: Increasing patient weight and duration of anaesthesia time were found to be risk factors for the incidence of complications of OVH in the bitch.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25323211/