A dog spay is an ovary hysterectomy and it's done under general anesthesia. At our hospital, we invite you to check in your dog in the morning. We might ask you to administer some calming therapy at home so the dog is not so rambunctious when it comes in. We then sedate the dog, put in an IV catheter, and get it under general anesthesia. We then prep your dog aseptically, which means we surgically prep it, and do an intra-abdominal procedure. We go into the abdomen and remove the ovaries and the uterus down to close to the cervix. That's a spay.

Possibly. Spaying in female dogs could help with marking behavior related to estrus, but it's often more behavioral. Males, especially intact ones, do a lot of marking behavior. If this behavior has persisted for a while, neutering might help, but it won't always eliminate the behavioral problem. The best way to prevent such issues is to have your pet spayed or neutered at an appropriate young age. If they're an older dog and have already developed this problem, spaying or neutering them is still recommended, but we may need to work with you to address the behavioral issue.

No, dogs can go through their lives with their reproductive tracts intact. A spay is an ovario-hysterectomy, and a neutering is a castration. If your dogs are intended for breeding, then they can remain intact. However, we strongly recommend discussing with your veterinarian before deciding to breed your dog, as we need to consider potential genetic health issues. We can prevent a lot of health-related diseases by spaying and neutering your pet. Therefore, veterinarians usually recommend spaying and neutering, especially if they're intended to be a pet. This helps ensure that you have a safe and healthy pet.

It's safe to opt out of non-core vaccines, but it's dependent on the dog's lifestyle. We want to protect your pet against the diseases it's most at risk for. For instance, if your dog isn't social with other dogs and doesn't go to the groomer or dog park, we might opt out of giving a kennel cough vaccine. However, we won't opt out of a rabies vaccine as it's a law requirement and a fatal virus if exposed.

No, there is no association between immunizations or vaccinations and cancer in dogs. However, if a dog has been diagnosed with cancer, we consider that before administering a vaccination as we may not want to overstimulate the immune system.

Yes, there are some risks associated with dog vaccinations as it is a medical procedure. However, these risks are minimal compared to the risk of infectious diseases. Vaccines are very safe, but vaccine reactions or hypersensitivities can occur in some individuals.

The most common reaction to dog vaccinations is an acute hypersensitivity response, usually occurring within the first 30 minutes after a vaccination is given. Symptoms may include weakness, fatigue, shortness of breath, acute vomiting or diarrhea. Other reactions may include skin hives, swelling of the face or muzzle, and delayed GI side effects like tiredness or missing a meal. These reactions are rare. Most of the time, dogs act like they have no problems at all. If they do experience reactions, they are usually mild such as aches, low-grade fever, or skin hives.

Depending on how long they've missed their boosters, we may or may not have to restart them. The most important thing is that you bring them in to get their boosters, as we're trying to protect them from infectious diseases and illnesses. We'd love to partner with you to ensure your dog is protected against viruses and bacteria. Please talk to your veterinarian. We're here to help at Blue Oasis Pet Hospital.

Titer testing involves drawing blood and sending it to a lab to look for antibodies against specific diseases. However, titer results are not always reflective of protection, so it is not the standard practice to measure a dog's titers. But we're open to discussing it with pet owners who are interested.