Vet School 101 Plastic surgery in the land of the beautiful—but this time it’s for pets
Somehow, everyone here’s got a favorite plastic surgeon. An opinion on the subject is as widespread as any on the weather at the height of hurricane season. We love our implants, tucks and lasers, alike. Welcome to Miami!
But never assume that women are the only combatants in the war against the bulge and other beauty-defacing features—men, teens, everyone…and now, even our pets are going under the knife.
I’ve written about this before but was inspired to reprise my post when a new client came a-knocking, hoping I’d agree to install implants in her Dobie’s flopping, cropped ears. I had learned this trick when I worked for a popular ear-man way back when I was in no position to refuse work—and somehow this woman had heard I’d worked for him.
Problem 1: Why wasn’t she visiting him? (I assume she’s already been there and he’d either refused or some other issue kept her away—not a good sign either way.)
Problem 2: This Dobie was a show-quality girl. No doubt about it. I see a lot of high-quality dobies and this one was remarkable for her feminine lines and her overall style. If not for her ears, she’d be a winner. I was having no part of the show-dog pass-‘em-off-as natural thing (not that any dog with an ear crop can be considered natural).
(not the bitch in question but a perfect example, nonetheless)
Problem 3: This woman had a typical I-know-more-than-you-I’ve-been-in-dogs-all-my-life attitude. I’m sure she knows a lot more than I do with respect to her dogs but she and I have an entirely different skill set and knowledge base. It’s hard to tame a client who doesn’t quite understand that fine distinction. (And if she knows so much why is she in a vet hospital, anyway?)
Problem 4: Ear implants are notoriously fickle. I had a 50/50 success rate back when I did them. Now? I don’t know my implants from my…(fill in the blank). No way.
Problem 5 (the most important to the point of this post): Most cosmetic surgeries are a nightmare. If you don’t get it just the way they expected it, regardless of how good it looks, you’re in for a world of hurt. No thanks. (I don’t know how human surgeons in plastics do it—but the ones I know are devastatingly charming so perhaps that’s a clue.)
I’ll do testicular implants any day (aka, Neuticles). (They actually serve a purpose—making neutering palatable to those for whom male cosmesis is a big deal.)
(Here's a Neuticle)
I’ll remove unsightly lipomas (benign fatty tumors), unless they’re large and in areas where drains might be necessary—the boarded surgeon can handle those. Many vets, by the way, remove these as a matter of course. I usually don’t because the healing process can be horrible with the deep ones. And the vast majority are benign and simply unsightly. But, truth is, you never know until you take it off and test it. (A fine needle aspirate once a year may not be enough to ascertain its true nature.)
(A lipoma I won't do.)
(A lipoma I will.)
I’ll sometimes engage in a practice I call “wart whack-a-mole” (take off twelve one day only to find twelve more by month’s end), especially when said warts are bleeding and infection-prone. After all, you never know which of these will [rarely] take a turn for the malignant.
I’ll do eye tacks and canthoplasties. (These procedure make droopy eyes tighter, less susceptible to infection and bulging eyes less likely to pop out of place, respectively. Sure, they make the dog look better, but they actually serve a medical purpose, too.)
(The result of a perfect medial canthoplasty on a Shih-tzu.)
One of my in-house colleagues, a dentistry devotee, will restore canine crowns after root canals. We even go for orthodonture—although we farm that out to the boarded dentist—because straight teeth mean less periodiontal disease, as any self-respecting American teen will tell you.
I’ll even do reconstructions, within reason. (It’s understandable to want your pet the way he was before his ear was torn off, though I surely wouldn’t want to stress out my own pet with the extra anesthesia, cutting and bandaging.)
But those wanting that ugly little scar wiped clean (just because), a stray’s tail lopped off (so he looks like a proper, fearsome Rottie), or nipple tucks (“she looks so floppy after nursing her litter, Doctor”)? They’ll get talked out of it—or they’ll have to go elsewhere.
Sure, I was born and bred in this briar patch we call South Florida but that doesn’t mean I’ve ever truly assimilated. A little nip and tuck for me? No way! But give me twenty years and maybe I’ll be singing a different tune.
April 7th, 2007
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Add Comment13 Comments
Great topic! For a minute there I thought someone wanted liposuction for their pet. Have you heard about the new "fat reducing drug" for pets yet? So ridculous. How about we meausre their food intake and exercise them instead? Geez.
I'm sure if that bitch was show quality and she got those ears up you know what was going to happen next too.
Marie April 7th, 2007 11:15:00 AM
Marie; check out my January post on Slentrol:
http://www.dolittler.com/index.cfm/2007/1/7/Pfizer...
Dr. Patty Khuly April 7th, 2007 11:34:00 AM
Errrr...nipple tucks? That's a new one for me. Do lots of people request nipple tucks on their animals in FL?
How did the dobie's ear end up flopping in the first place? Bad cropping? If so, why didn't the client take it up with the vet that did it first instead of getting in your face about it?
The one "cosmetic" surgery that always bothered me was the removal of dew claws on puppies. There was a client that bred Rhodesian Ridgebacks and he always had the dew claws removed when the puppies were a few days old. He'd come in the a laundry basket full of puppies and I'd be left picking up all the little dew claws that were removed. Blech! There is something aboout picking up little, fuzzy toes with nails that are no longer attached that completely creeped me out. LOL
Stacy April 7th, 2007 07:12:00 PM
The dewclaw removal serves a purpose, at least in my experience. My standard poodle had his removed as a puppy. My rescued pitbull still has his. I swear the dew claw grows twice as fast as his other nails.... Imagine taking a 50 lb bundle of pitbull, who's never been socialized, nevermind a nail trim.... it's hard enough getting his regualr toenails cut. But the dewclaw is in such an awkward place.... If it isn't kept short, it gets caught in everything...it seems to have much more of an arc to it. Anyhoo, that's my take...
Agadore's momma April 7th, 2007 11:09:00 PM
Dewclaw tears are nasty which is why the breeder I mentioned has been removed. That and his dogs are prone to having them on their back feet as well.
One of my cats have double paws, so I know what you mean about keeping those nails clipped. I regret not having them removed a long time ago even though we've never had a problem with those nails growing into his pads.
I'm not going to do it now though. He's an old boy with heart problems so he can keep all of his dewclaws.
Stacy April 8th, 2007 07:37:00 AM
We had dewclaws removed on the two back feet of our tiny terrier mix. She was having bilateral luxating patella repair surgery anyway, and we figured it would be a small thing to have her tiny dew claws snipped off while she was under anaesthesia. The two dewclaws were so frail and floppy that I was always afraid she was going to snag one in the carpet and tear it right out. The vet didn't argue when we asked for it, but I've always wondered if she felt it was frivolous or unnecessary. As for the dog, she came out of surgery with a Fentanyl patch and two huge leg bandages to make her look like Jennifer Beals in "Flashdance", so I don't think she even noticed her toes had changed.
Leigh-Ann April 8th, 2007 09:12:00 AM
Our adopted mix nearly ripped off her dewclaw one day at the dog park while playing. If done when ery young, with roper anaesthetic, I have no objection to the procedure an see the use for it. Not to mention every single time we took her to the dog park in the snow the skin under her dewclaw would bleed, leaving little pink spots in the snow. I couldn't get her booties, because they rubbed against her dewclaw.
jenni April 8th, 2007 03:14:00 PM
I remove floppy dewclaws with no issues, but tight ones? If they're close-set and fully boned I prefer not to touch them on older pups or adults. While you might run into an issue later, most dogs don't tend to have problems with the non-floppies. But I won't put up a fight on the dewclaw issue. At least their removal serves a purpose.
Dr. Patty Khuly April 9th, 2007 10:24:00 AM
I'm glad you didn't operate on the cropped-and-flopped Dobie. While I'm not against ear cropping (I own a cropped Doberboy myself), I'm against the seemingly endless surgeries some people put their pets through for the sake of erect ears.
My pup was cropped at 8 weeks and we did everything by the book. I researched vets, asking for pictures of their previous cropping patients. I paid extra for the pre-anesthesia bloodwork and kept him religiously separated from our other dog until his stitches came out. I read everything I could get my hands on about posting and wrapping his ears, and it only took a little over a month to make them stand.
If they had flopped in the end, despite all the money and effort, I would've let them be. I honestly would have. As much as I thought I preferred a cropped Doberman, I have come to realize that I love my dog no matter what, and my future Dobies will probably be natural.
I think it's outrageous that people crop second and third times, go for corrective implants, or make the dogs wear tapes past their first birthdays. If the kennel club finds out that the dog has falsely erect ears, she's disqualified from the show, anyway... so what's the point? Though most of these people are pet owners, so that's even less of a reason to put your poor bitch back into surgery.
I'm prattling on here. I just wanted to offer a different viewpoint. It seems that everyone else here is against ear cropping. Maybe it's because my heart breed is traditionally cropped, docked, and dewclaw-less that I feel this way. I have no doubt that ear cropping hurts the puppy a bit, but it certainly didn't seem like torture for my boy. He seemingly had more complaints about the wind tickling the insides of his newly erect ears, and his separation from our older husky, than about the stitches!
Hannah April 10th, 2007 06:37:00 PM
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The dewclaw removal serves a purpose, at least in my experience. My standard poodle had his removed as a puppy. My rescued pitbull still has his. I swear the dew claw grows twice as fast as his other nails.... Imagine taking a 50 lb bundle of pitbull, who's never been socialized, nevermind a nail trim.... it's hard enough getting his regualr toenails cut. But the dewclaw is in such an awkward place.... If it isn't kept short, it gets caught in everything...it seems to have much more of an arc to it. Anyhoo, that's my take...
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