# Letting Dog stay overnight in an office that isnt staffed?



## k9capture_16 (Aug 23, 2010)

I have decided in January to get Rubys tooth pulled. My vet said with this procedure she will need to stay overnight to wear off the anesthetic and get her vitals checked as shes a little older. Now, the catch 22 is, the vet admitted after I asked that no one will be in the office from 6pm to 8am the following day and she will just be caged with a cone on in case she tries to scratch her stitches out of her mouth? I suppose thats why and I can actually see her trying.

Now, that said I do not want her to stay overnight in an office that isnt staffed or even has people checking in. My theory around this would be she would be perfectly fine at home confined to her crate and checked on every couple hours, that way is something were to happen I can rush her to the Emergency vet. He told me if that is the case I would be signing her out against medical advice and I said thats fine and told the vet that I dont think its responsible to leave an older dog that just had surgery alone overnight..

What is your take on this? I mean, I do want whats best for her and if the vet is seriously concerned something may go wrong why not transfer her to a 24 hour office? This is why I am concerned

My friend a few years back had her female dog in for a routine spay. The vet suggested she be left overnight in their cages to sleep off the drugs. Well, they had a cone on her and sometime through out the night she woke up, flipped out and managed to get the cone off, then licked her incision taking all the stitches out and when the Techs came in the next day she was dead in the cage with all her intestines etc out on the floor.

This is why I am so against it. I signed my one cat I had a few years back out after a pyrometra spay because no one would be there in case something went wrong, signed Lincoln out twice against medical advice as well.

Am I wrong for doing this or so I have a point?


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## cast71 (Sep 16, 2010)

k9capture_16 said:


> My friend a few years back had her female dog in for a routine spay. The vet suggested she be left overnight in their cages to sleep off the drugs. Well, they had a cone on her and sometime through out the night she woke up, flipped out and managed to get the cone off, then licked her incision taking all the stitches out and when the Techs came in the next day she was dead in the cage with all her intestines etc out on the floor.


That's horrible Sounds like your doing the right thing. I'm not sure though?? I never had to leave my dog overnight. I would hate to leave my boy overnight.


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

k9capture_16 said:


> I have decided in January to get Rubys tooth pulled. My vet said with this procedure she will need to stay overnight to wear off the anesthetic and get her vitals checked as shes a little older. Now, the catch 22 is, the vet admitted after I asked that no one will be in the office from 6pm to 8am the following day and she will just be caged with a cone on in case she tries to scratch her stitches out of her mouth? I suppose thats why and I can actually see her trying.
> 
> Now, that said I do not want her to stay overnight in an office that isnt staffed or even has people checking in. My theory around this would be she would be perfectly fine at home confined to her crate and checked on every couple hours, that way is something were to happen I can rush her to the Emergency vet. He told me if that is the case I would be signing her out against medical advice and I said thats fine and told the vet that I dont think its responsible to leave an older dog that just had surgery alone overnight..
> 
> ...


I agree with you, 100%. Absolutely not would my dogs be spending the night, after surgery, unattended. No. Way. 

I do not believe you are wrong at all.


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## k9capture_16 (Aug 23, 2010)

Well I will tell you, the cat I got spayed was done at a low cost clinic and I told the vet, if something goes wrong I can take her to the Emergency clinic and she got her hair up and said "If you can afford to pay $300 to walk through the door of an Emergency vet clinic why would you complain you dont have money to spay your cat?". Well, I understand what she is saying, but she offers low cost spay/neuter to those who can prove their annual income is less then $17,000. Which mine is and I proved that. She doesnt know I dont have some money set aside in case of an Emergency...honestly lets say I had $1000 set aside right? Why would I take from that and spay my cat for $600 when she was offering those services which I qualified for? I wasnt trying to be greedy I was simply trying to keep that money aside in case something came up..which it did a few months later for my dog. I saved hard to keep that money aside for Emergencies.

She made me feel terrible that I took advantage of a low cost clinic even tho I had this money saved, and when I went to sign my cat out against medical advice she made me feel even more terrible. She made it seem like people who use services like hers should not vaccinate, feed good foods and should let their animal suffer because "they cannot afford it". So basically when I forked out $500 for Links ear surgery, I shouldnt of because I used her low income service to spay my one cat. In fact I borrowed that money, but I wont borrow money to spay/neuter when she offers her service.

So now, I am a little worried she will not neuter the kitten I am keeping out of this litter (of my other cat whos not spayed). The kittens are getting fixed in the States as well as mom, but I was going to keep the male kitten I was keeping intact until I felt comfortable having him done at 6 months. 

When telling her about why I wanted to sign her out it didnt mean to come out like that, I mean granted, if a problem arised with my cat and I couldnt afford the E-Vet fee I would sign the cat over so she could get treatment...where as if something went wrong at the clinic when no one was there she would just be dead. Ugh, I just dont get it. So thats the story behind the cat and why I signed her out against advice and why I still feel terrible about it to this day.


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## stajbs (Jun 5, 2010)

I had a 12 year old sibe have a cleaning and an extraction and my vet sent her home with us. She never suggested she stay overnight, now our vet does live on the property and said she checks in, and since she is a very empathetic vet I bet she does. I have picked up meds there on a Friday night at 9PM and found her lingering in the office working. My girl had decent blood work before the surgery and we had no choice but to do it as her health was affected. It was totally worth it too because she lived a happy life for 2 more years.

When she was sent home I had pain meds for that night and of course the usual e-collar, and enough pain meds for the next day too. Sandi was wimpering after breakfast the next morning, I gave her another pain med at that point, sat with her and petted and loved on her for about a half an hour and the med kicked in. After that med in the morning she was fine from then on. 

If your dog has no other serious conditions and you know how to handle what might pop up I would opt to bring her home if no one would check in. I had one of our sibes come out of anesthesia here at home after he was neutered, he got kinda bug eyed, freaked out, got out of the e-collar and was beside himself. No matter what I tried with the e-collar he got out of it. I finally had to leash him, threw the loop of the leash around the back of the door knob, closed the door and slept on the carpet next to him that night so I would know if he was doing anything to himself. He was so happy to be out of the e-collar he left the sutures alone. 

Do what your gut instinct tells you to do. Plus, maybe you cold pick her up as late as possible from the vet(right before they close) then she can be monitored for a bit longer maybe?? Just my two cents and experiences.


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## malluver1005 (Nov 15, 2009)

k9capture_16 said:


> I have decided in January to get Rubys tooth pulled. My vet said with this procedure she will need to stay overnight to wear off the anesthetic and get her vitals checked as shes a little older. Now, the catch 22 is, the vet admitted after I asked that no one will be in the office from 6pm to 8am the following day and she will just be caged with a cone on in case she tries to scratch her stitches out of her mouth? I suppose thats why and I can actually see her trying.
> 
> Now, that said I do not want her to stay overnight in an office that isnt staffed or even has people checking in. My theory around this would be she would be perfectly fine at home confined to her crate and checked on every couple hours, that way is something were to happen I can rush her to the Emergency vet. He told me if that is the case I would be signing her out against medical advice and I said thats fine and told the vet that I dont think its responsible to leave an older dog that just had surgery alone overnight..
> 
> ...


If you are worried about her being left alone, take her. One tooth pulled is not major. Just watch her carefully through the night. If you leave her there, no one is gonna be there anyway. When Aspen had his root canal done, the doctor let me take him home cause he knows I know what to look out for.


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## werecatrising (Oct 15, 2010)

I think it is ridiculous to leave animals un supervised over night. There is so much that can go wrong. Animals can break their IV lines and bleed all over, get e collars tangled in things, etc. 

We keep most surgeries overnight, but dentals usually go home the same day. Sometimes we keep animals simply out of fear of non compliant owners. Some owners refuse to leave e collars on their unsupervised pets, or let them jump around too much, etc. A few weeks ago a client insisted on taking her cat home the same day as the neuter. We stressed that the cat may not be able to thermo regulate yet, to make sure he didn't lick, etc. The next morning she brought the cat in, bleeding all over from the scrotum. She swore he was inside all night, yet he had leaves and dirt stuck to the scrotum and was ice cold.

Anyway, my point is I would refuse to leave an animal unsupervised over night. Just make sure they are watched closely at home.


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## Mia (Oct 4, 2010)

I wouldn't leave my boys either. I mean what is the difference? They aren't going to be there anyways. So....

seems silly. The thing that outta be against medicate advice is leaving them unsupervised at the vets!


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## auntiemissa (Apr 19, 2010)

my neighbor had to leave their dog overnight at a vet because vet said they needed to keep her overnight for observation(she had been in a dog fight).come to find,no one stayed at vet overnight and dog died  ive never left a dog overnight for spay or anything.i would think that the dog would be safer coming home with you so that in case something happens,u will be able to do something.if something happens overnight at vet and no one is there,than the dog cant get help.maybe call another vet and see what their procedure is for this.maybe have procedure done somewhere else?


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## Devils of York (Jul 28, 2010)

I have never heard of a vet wanting to keep a dog overnight after dental work. Call me a cynic, but I wonder if this is simply for the extra $ that overnight boarding costs. 

The procedure should be done first thing in the morning and you should be able to take your dog home by afternoon. 

My previous vet insisted that I leave my Yorkie overnight when he was neutered. I said no way and threatened to stand outside the office all night. Thank goodness my boy screamed his way out of the office early. :tongue: They were eager to get rid of him. I learned later that there would be no one in the office overnight to monitor him. As it was, he was sitting in a cage all afternoon, desperate to use his piddle pad. Can't imagine him having to sit there all night alone waiting to pee.


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

I agree w/ the OP. 

that logic is bizarre. I wonder if the Vet stops to even think what he is saying...??? uhhum... yeah, we expect full responsibility for your Dog with no one here and believe that is safer compared to you watching her. 


just bizarre. I wonder sometimes if people think before they spout off some archaic protocol that was followed back when labotomies were standard fair.


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## channeledbymodem (Dec 25, 2008)

Totally agree that you should take the dog and have a number to call in case of an emergency. I was once talked into having surgery done at a clinic where a tech was there overnight. The cat stopped breathing and the tech (understandably) freaked. Turned out there was no vet on call to meet me so they insisted I take my dying cat out of their clinic. I had to take him to an emergency room to have him put to sleep.

I will *never* leave my sick/recovering pet *anywhere* where I haven't confirmed a vet can be there in 20 minutes or less. And I'd prefer there was a vet at the clinic 24/7. That's expensive and that's why I have insurance.

I'd look for another vet.


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