Tomorrow is my appt. to have my sweet fur baby Daisy spayed.
I could still back out.
Daisy is my golden shepherd who is 19 months old.
I love her so much, I don’t want to alter her.
I also don’t want to risk her life.(That’s in the fine print, there is a mortality risk, however small, under anesthesia).
And why do they have to do a hysterectomy? Couldn’t they just cut and tie her tubes, like a vasectomy in men?
It also pains me that I’ve known all week that she is going to have this life changing operation, and she has just gone about her joyful happy life oblivious.
And then tomorrow- BAM! She’ll be taken from me, placed in the care of strangers, knocked out, and she’ll wake up groggy and with something that I can only imagine must feel like a bad injury to her.
Then she has to wait in a cage in that state until the hour when I’m allowed to pick her up. (And I will be there on the dot).
So why spay her?
I don’t want an accidental pregnancy and to be responsible for adding more dogs to a world where there are already many dogs in need of love and a home.
There are purported health benefits, but I’m skeptical of those. Wolves and coyotes aren’t having issues with cancer.
The removal of heat cycles makes for an easier life for her, but at what cost?
Will she still be Daisy?
Will she be altered, different in her personality, her energy, her essence?
So I’m going through with it, with reservations. About anesthesia, about the severity of the operation, about leaving her at all. We have a tight bond.
After i drop her off at 8 a.m., I will be watching the clock until 1 pm, when I can pick her up and lay eyes on her, hold her, bring her home and nurture her, help her to recover.
It is a blessing to love a dog so deeply. It is painful to entrust her to people I don’t know, professionals I’m sure, who love animals, or they wouldn’t be in their line of work.
I pray for her- to have as easy a time as possible with this process, and to come through it well, and after a period of recovery, to return to her joyful and vibrant self, living her happy country dog life.