Sedation... would you have this done why or why not?

Question

6 month old female pitbull, has to be spayed and will already be under sedation.
She still has her dew claws that grow very fast and close to the pad, as a groomer I have seen the damage they can cause if left, but I also trim my fur babies nails 2x a week, so to remove or not?
Tail, and I am not talking for looks but for health and safety reasons. She has "happy tail" and has already left welps on my legs, we are working on her having to sit at our feet but she is still a baby and does stand up every so often b/c she just gets so excited . Also she has already had to have a light sedation to have a hemotoma drained where she has wagged so hard so fast. I do not want to have to continue sedation, however light, to have these removed.
I am just weighing the pros and cons, and would like other opinions.
She is newly adopted (yesterday) and yes I know good trainig is the key to a great pet, esp one as stereo typed as a pit.
I thank all in advance.

Answer 1

the dew claws would be a personal choice, of whether you want to continue clipping them, and as a groomer, you are experienced in that aspect of grooming. My breed keeps dewclaws, and out of *OOOODLES* of them, I have never had any problems with dew claws.
The tail is a different matter. If it is docked at her age, it is not likely to heal gracefully, as it is where she sits..and infection is so easy to get there. she would have to keep an E-collar on for a long time, and IF it becomes infected, the infection too easily travels up the spine..this is a major and dangerous amputation if not done when she is 3-8 days old..
One Great Dane breeder recommended that I carry a strip of Velcro, to Velcro the tail to a hind leg when I have to be in harms way of a happy tail..

The UKC American Pit bull terrier, and the AKC American Staffordshire terrier breed standards both require a natural tail..

Answer 2

It's a "minor" surgery (i say that because no surgery is minor and there are always individual risks with sedation for any animal....make sure to do the blood tests to check the kidney and liver functions prior to the day of the sedation) and is a very small incision with hardly any additional recovery time. The tail is another story. It sounds as if you've put some thought into this, and if you feel this is the best thing for your pooch, youre her guardian and caretaker, and just like a parent, you sometimes have to make decisions based on what you know now, not necessarily what can happen in the future. Talk to your vet first. Have him explain the surgery to you and the risks involved. The recovery for a tail docking is considerably longer as the dog gets older (that's why they do it at a few days old typically, and with no anesthetic or surgeons tools usually) but at 6 months, it shouldn't be a huge issue. Just remember all drugs have the possibilities of reactions. Talk to your vet

Answer 3

I'm a groomer too. I can answer this question with personal experience on BOTH questions.
I have a rotti/chow mix (mutt) that was almost a year old
when we had his dewclaws removed. He did fine and I'm very glad we had it done.

As far as the tail goes...I absolutely would NOT do it.
It would be cruel at this age, and any vet that would agree to do it, I would be uncomfortable about...
You see, we have a cat that was a very pleasant happy cat about 10 years ago.
He received an injury to his tail, (dont know what happened)
long story short....
Vet said that it would be fine to go ahead and remove it, it was infected (bad).
We agreed. BIG mistake. The cat was in obvious pain for mths. He has NEVER BEEN the same.
He is now 14 yrs old and just a grouchy old cat with no personality. Having an adult animals tail removed is VERY CRUEL and unnecessary. I would not do it. You will more than likely regret doing it, and it may completely change the animals personality.

Answer 4

She should be fully unconscious under gas anesthesia with a breathing tube placed for a spay, if the vet you go to does not do it this way, find another vet ASAP! If the dewclaws are very "floppy" and it feels like they're only attached by skin, and no bone, then removal is very simple. The more bone that's present, the harder removal is. If they flop around and you are afraid of them tearing, do it now, she will recover faster as a pup than as an adult.

The tail is tricker. If she's splitting it open to the point of bleeding, then it may be worth having it removed, but this is a MAJOR surgery on any dog older than a few days. The bones and spinal column are fully developed now, which means instead of a puppy tail crop, this is now a major amputation. It's very painful, and there is risk of meningitis (infection of the brain and spinal column). She should recieve some pretty heavy duty pain medication during, and for several days after, a surgery like that.

Answer 5

Sedation, or you mean anesthesia? Spaying definitely needs general anesthesia, and so does tail docking after they are adults. You can have the dew claws and tail done at the same time as the spay. Generally, in routine procedures, what is the most dangerous is anesthesia induction, better if you do that only once and not take her back to the vet to have different procedures done different days.

plus cheaper that way too....

Answer 6

I would have her dew claws removed. It is a minor surgery, and it saves the risk of her catching them on something later in her life.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean about her tail. Do you intend to have it docked? I personally would not dock her tail, especially at such an age, unless it was hazardous to her health. I understand that some dogs bang their tails so often that it constantly hurts them. If this is the case with your puppy, go for it; again, it will save her troubles when she is older.

Talk to your vet about other possiblities. Would it be better for her to have separate surgeries? Is her tail a danger to her health? Your vet will know best, and can provide you with answers for all your questions.

Answer 7

Have you asked your vet about removing the dew claws? I know some vet will not remove them on older dogs or one that they aren't normally removed on. And I don't know enough abut Pittbulls to know if this is done on them.

Are you also talking about removing the tail? I personally wouldn't do it but if you decide to you may want to just dock it. Removing the tail is a very risky procedure that involves the nerves and bone at the end of the spine and can paralyze a dog very easily. I know with Bulldogs that tend to have a lot of tail problems with infection, removing the tail is the last resort. You might want to talk to the vet about the tail also if you haven't already.

Answer 8

You only adopted her yesterday , and can tell the nails grow real fast?

She is older now so now is not the time to remove dew claws, I have 3 dogs with declaws they are not that big a deal
And no do not touch the tail , it is part of the spine, and has nerve endings, which means removing will be very painful at this stage, their tails are quite thick and really do not damage that easy, it is not worth it and the potential problems that could occur trying to heal an amputated tail, work on training her instead.

The tail is definitely not like a greyhounds which is like a fine long whip that has very thin skin that can split open easily, mine had a infected split tail when I got him picture is from the day he arrived
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/mleg2001/the%20gang/31cc0ff74513a3d276107ac6e9f966c3.jpg
so I had to have part of the tail amputated, that was a nightmare to heal and I ended up spending the next 3 months while it kept getting banged and reopening and healing , mopping my walls and ceiling daily because every time he attempted to wag it tails or got excite blood flow increased to the tail and blew out the end spraying every where, keeping a bandage on was another problem, he would wag his tail so hard that the bandage would flung off ripping the hair out with it, any where the bandage then tounched bare skin started making it inflamed and blistered, I had to take him back to the vets multiple time because he ended up bumping and banging the end of his tail causing the stitches to rip out inorder to have it resewn my vet even tried taking him for a week to see if he would have better and had to resew him up the last day he had him, it continued till finally the skin was so shredded there was nothing left to sew up, and then the real fun began because now he had a raw stump where the hair had pulled away and left a one inch up exposed, and the only option then was to leave it unbandaged so it would healing using a spray on liquid antiseptic or antibiotic to try and get it granulated and applying a liquid clotting agent on everytime it started bleeding, I took 3 weeks off work at that time to try and finally get it healed , everywhere I had to go I took him with me inorder to lower his excitement level to reduce reinjuring, I had got him on January 7th amputation a week after he needed antibiotics first to treat the infection, it was late April before it was finally healed. I had many a day that my house looked like someone got murdered in it, I would never have believe how much bleeding a tail could do, the higher up the amputation is the more more it will bleed. Being yours is a puppy you would have a hard time trying to keep her quiet while it heals and chances are whenever she sits she will end up banging the end, also being a puppy she will likely try to chew the bandages off and would likely damage the stump in the process.

Myself I hope I never ever have to deal with an amputated tail again in an adult dog that gets excited easily, with very young puppies it is easier their nerves are not as well developed and they are not moving around as much and sleep most of the time they also heal a lot faster so age makes a huge difference. If you were a client of my vets he would refuse to do the surgery to him it is cruel and inhumane, the only time he would do is when sufficient injury warrants the necessity of doing

Answer 9

If you are a groomer you should be able to stay on top of the nails and know that the more often you trim the quick will stay back or recede. I wouldn't think removal is necessary unless she will be getting them caught on things, like field work dogs. Tail...i don't know, it seems pretty severe to chop it off. Sounds like she has a LOT of energy that needs to be drained. Why would she continue to wag her tail against something till it bleed, I don't see where that much stimulation could come from. Maybe from all the people passing her kennel...well that won't happen anymore now that she's adopted!

Answer 10

I have a pit, and his dew claws were removed prior to me adopting him.

I'd perosnally leave the tail alone, i think it's unnecessary, but this is a personal choice.

I'd just recommend that you make the decision before you take your dog in to get spayed, it is much easier to get everything done at once while she is under anesthesia than to have to go under multiple times if you decide to have any other surgery done after the spay.