The Six Minute Spay by June Long, DVM is a video course created to help veterinarians improve their spay and neuter skills. It is amazing. I highly recommend it for every veterinarian who works with small animals.
Our daughter Abby helping with the aftercare of a sweet Rottie puppy I neutered
Since starting this course, I am better at spays and neuters. And stuff you get better at is safer for the patients. And more fun.
I am faster. My spay surgeries are not six minutes! But they used to be 40-60 minutes, and now they are 14-20 minutes.
New friends! Met at the photo shoot!
I am more efficient. I honest to goodness placed five sutures on one pedicle during a spay of a large adult dog some years back because I was so nervous she might bleed. Now I place 1-2 sutures per site like a normal vet. I am in no way normal, but this is closer.
Always paint your patients’ nails with glitter. Or always tattoo? I will have to review the videos.
Recently our family took a trip to Colorado. Much of the family was fly fishing, so I figured it was a perfect time to learn a new knot!
In veterinary school at Iowa State University, my surgery professor Dr. David Merkley taught me how to tie a Miller’s knot. Do you know how difficult it is for a left-hander to learn a skill from a very crabby right-hander? I learned the knot then never used it. Until now.
Throwback to my first sutures! Surgery was a resounding success! I have never since been nervous about peeling a banana then changing my mind!
Dr. Merkley was one of my very favorite teachers and a large part of the reason I love surgery to this day. In a fun plot twist, he and his wife moved to Omaha after being in Ames several years, and I was able to assist with (watch) several specialist level surgeries including many TPLO’s and abdominal exploratory surgeries.
Dr.June Long has a surgical knot of her own that she uses extensively in her videos (and Real Life) called the modified Miller’s knot. I decided to give it another go. It looked like it could be a game changer.
Surgical instruments, a bit of twine and a stick off the ground, oh and a great view! What more do you need?
So between fly fishing and other adventures, I sat at a fire pit overlooking the river and watched Six Minute Spay videos over and over, in slow motion and real time and practiced and mirrored, tied and untied till I got it! I can do it! The ability to tie a modified Miller’s knot feels like a super power to be honest.
One of my favorite vet record profile photos. A great Dad and his new pup
You may have noticed the veterinary community has been recommending that large and giant breed dogs be spayed and neutered at older ages than was recommended before. I have read every study I can get my hands on, and they are excellent, and I am so on board. Spaying and neutering bigger, more mature dogs comes with new (manageable) challenges that this course has helped me navigate.
Sometimes you cannot wait till big dogs are big and need to get them out of The Puppy Cart, spayed or neutered and to their new families. All my love to the Nebraska Humane Society team that does just that. The gorgeous brown and white boy in the middle is now my 100+ pound cousin Stevie <3
I now love surgery again as much as I did when most of our spay and neuter patients were tiny beans. And loving my career is such a huge thing to me. To all of us I imagine!
I have spayed and neutered the tiniest of beans. This is our own Fuzzy. I did not spay her, but I did spay her sister Wuzzy when she developed pyometra. She did great!
One more story I will expand in a future post. I had a tiny new rescue patient with a suspected ovarian remnant. My plan was to locate the troublesome tissue and remove it surgically, no easy feat I assumed. I emailed Dr. Long for advice, and she emailed back the most helpful tips! I went in prepared, and all went so well. I am so grateful.
I highly recommend The Six Minute Spay video course for every veterinarian. Buy it for yourself. Gift it to a new graduate. Use your continuing education allowance. What a great resource this has been. I will continue to review these videos for the remainder of my career. Thank you Dr. Long!
Becoming friends with a tiny Rottie puppy is like becoming friends with a bear cub, They will bowl you over every time they see you and love you forever.