The Deed is Done

in the waiting room on the morning of the Big Day

We took Kai to get neutered a couple of days ago.  He had to fast from the previous evening, at 6pm, until we took him to the vet.  No food, no water.  No treats at bedtime.  Kai kept looking around for his water bowl in the evening, and I felt bad.

The vet had already told us that they wanted to keep Kai there for a couple of days following the surgery, so I knew that it would be a quiet time at home.  It was weird to come home for lunch and not have a puppy bouncing around everywhere.  It was just Molly, and she is so tiny (only a 7 pound kitty) and mellow.  Molly was meowing at me more than usual, almost like she was trying to ask me where the monster went.  I couldn't stop thinking about Kai all morning.  I knew the surgery might get complicated because one of his testicles never descended.

Chris called the vet in the afternoon, as instructed by the vet, and found out that everything went fine.  Kai also got microchiped and had his nails trimmed, and was just resting.

We picked Kai up after two nights at the vet.  He was really excited to see us!  He looked somehow smaller than I had remembered him... maybe because of the surgery, or because part of his underside was shaved.  The vet had to make two incisions, one right in front of Kai's scrotum (to remove the normal testicle) and one along the side of Kai's penis (to go into the abdomen).  Kai has sutures, so we'll have to take him back in two weeks to get those removed.  I hope that isn't too traumatic.  Poor little Kai.  It almost looks like someone tried to cut his penis off.  :(  (I wanted to take a photo, but Chris refused to let me.)  He is doing great, though.  They didn't even send him home with a Cone of Shame, because he hasn't been messing around with his surgery area.  The vet told us to not play too vigorously with him or take him on walks for a week or so while he's healing.  And Kai doesn't seem to hate us for sending him away to get his balls chopped off.

Kai was so happy to come home with us.  Normally he rides in a crate in the car, but we let him ride up front with us for the 1.5 mile drive home.

I know that getting Kai neutered was the right thing to do.  It actually was in our purchase contract with the breeder, for one thing.  And in Kai's case, an undescended testicle can mean a high chance of testicular cancer in the future if it's not removed.  It can also cause the dog pain, if the testicle is sitting at a weird place in his abdomen.  We have no desire to breed or show him, so he doesn't need to stay intact.  He will be happier because won't have that need to "sow his seed".  But part of me still feels a little sad and guilty.  I kept thinking of the Avox in the Hunger Games books, for some reason.  The Avox are characters... slaves... who have had their tongues removed so that they can't speak.  Obviously, Kai isn't a "slave", but he is fully dependent on our decisions for him.  He didn't get a say in whether he kept his balls or not.  He had to go through a somewhat invasive surgery, and two weeks of recovery time, to remove those dang balls.  We would never remove a human boy's testicles if the boy knew that he would never want kids!  I know it's not the same thing, though.  I had an unneutered dog, a terrier mix, as a kid, and he would occasionally run away to do this thing.  He'd always come back.  But one time, he didn't come back.  We got a letter from the city a week later, saying that he had been hit by a car and was killed.  He was identified by his tags.  So for me, as an adult, I know that I would always want to spay/neuter my pet, just for that reason.

Kai gets a treat for being such a brave boy.

Anyway, it's all over now.  Well, the big part is over... we still have to take him back to get those sutures removed.  I don't know how that will go.  I am already having visions of Kai Shiba screaming all over the place, and (for once) I can't say that I would blame him!

Everyone was tired by the end of the day.