Botched Spay Surgeries in Stray Dogs in Türkiye: Causes, Consequences, and How to Stop Them

Spay–neuter is one of the most humane, scalable ways to reduce the suffering of stray dogs. When it’s done well, the procedure is quick, safe, and life-improving. When it’s done badly—when protocols are rushed, equipment is poor, or surgeons are under-trained—the same operation becomes a source of pain, infection, death, and public mistrust. This article outlines what “botched” spays look like, why they happen, the real-world consequences for dogs and communities, and practical steps to prevent them.

What a “botched” spay looks like

Common red flags after an ovariohysterectomy (spay) include:

• Wound failure: gaping incisions, missing skin sutures, or muscle layers not closed correctly.

• Infection and sepsis: fever, lethargy, wound discharge, foul odor.

• Internal bleeding: pale gums, distended abdomen, collapse.

• Ovarian remnant or incomplete surgery: recurring heat cycles, abdominal pain.

• Hernias or evisceration: intestines protruding through an unclosed abdominal wall.

• Inadequate analgesia or anesthesia: dogs waking during surgery, severe pain post-op.

These are rarely the result of “bad luck.” They usually point to preventable failures in preparation, technique, asepsis, pain management, or aftercare.

Why this happens: systemic skill and safety gaps

Most veterinarians want to do good work. When things go wrong, it’s often because systems set them up to fail. Key drivers include:

1. Training gaps and limited surgical mentorship

   • Uneven undergraduate exposure to high-quality soft-tissue surgery.

   • Insufficient supervised case numbers before independent practice.

   • Outdated techniques taught without emphasis on current best practice (atraumatic tissue handling, three-layer closure, proper ligature selection, and hemostasis).

2. Tendering and per-head quotas

   • Contracts that reward volume at the lowest price can compress surgical time and corners get cut.

   • Surgeons under pressure to meet daily targets are more likely to skip full aseptic prep, multimodal analgesia, or proper layered closure.

3. Resource constraints

   • Inadequate sterile instruments, unreliable autoclaves, poor draping materials, and expired suture.

   • Limited access to balanced anesthesia, monitoring (pulse oximetry, temperature), IV fluids, and heating.

   • No quiet, clean recovery space or transport suitable for post-op monitoring.

4. Weak protocols and oversight

   • No written SOPs for pre-op assessment, anesthesia, analgesia, asepsis, surgical technique, or post-op care.

   • Lack of morbidity–mortality review, complication logging, or external auditing.

   • Inconsistent consent and aftercare instructions for community caregivers.

5. Continuing education barriers

   • Few funded CPD opportunities in high-volume spay–neuter best practices.

   • Limited access to mentorship, wet labs, or visiting specialist programs.

6. Workload, fatigue, and moral injury

   • Long hours and emotional strain degrade performance and judgment.

   • Burnout increases the risk of mistakes and reduces adherence to checklists.

None of these factors are unique to Türkiye, but they combine to create predictable failure points in large-scale stray-dog sterilisation programs.

The consequences—for dogs, vets, and communities

• Animal suffering and mortality: Pain, infection, and evisceration are severe welfare harms that can be fatal without urgent intervention.

• Loss of public trust: Communities seeing injured dogs post-op may come to view spay–neuter as cruel, undermining participation and access to dogs who most need it.

• Program inefficiency: Complications consume scarce funds for re-operations, antibiotics, hospitalization, and transport.

• Legal and reputational risk: Contractors, municipalities, and NGOs face complaints, litigation, and damaging media coverage.

• Setbacks in population management: If participation falls and surgical failures rise, birth rates rebound and street suffering worsens.

What “good” looks like: evidence-based spay–neuter

High-quality, high-volume spay–neuter (HQHVSN) programs share common elements:

• Pre-op triage: Dogs with fever, late pregnancy, pyometra, or poor body condition are stabilized or deferred.

• Asepsis without compromise: Full clip, chlorhexidine or povidone-iodine scrub, sterile drape, sterile instruments for every case, proper autoclave logs.

• Balanced anesthesia and analgesia: Premedication, induction, maintenance with monitoring; multimodal pain relief (NSAID + opioid/local blocks).

• Sound technique: Gentle tissue handling, secure ligation, adequate visualization, minimal incision consistent with safety, and three-layer closure (linea alba, subcutaneous, skin).

• Thermal support and fluids: Prevention of hypothermia and maintenance of perfusion.

• Recovery and discharge: Quiet, clean recovery, minimum observation periods, and clear aftercare sheets in local language.

• Data and review: Case logs, complication tracking by type and severity, and routine morbidity–mortality meetings.

Practical actions to prevent botched surgeries

For municipalities and funders

• Contract on quality, not just volume.
  Require documented SOPs, surgeon credentials, and complication rates. Build in realistic case caps per day per surgeon (e.g., 20–25 routine spays with adequate staffing and full asepsis), and fund the true cost of quality.

• Mandatory accreditation.
  Tie contracts to accreditation against HQHVSN standards: anesthesia monitoring, sterility, analgesia, and recovery facilities.

• Independent audits.
  Commission unannounced inspections and post-op follow-ups on a random sample. Publish summary results to build trust.

• Equipment stipends.
  Budget for autoclaves, backup sterilization, instrument sets (≥1 full set per 3–4 dogs/hour/surgeon), pulse oximeters, IV pumps, heating, and quality suture.

For NGOs and implementing partners

• Surgical checklists and SOPs.
  Adopt a one-page pre-induction and pre-closure checklist (name, weight, drugs, sterile field confirmed, hemostasis checked, three-layer closure verified). Checklists save lives.

• Mentorship and skills ladders.
  Pair less-experienced vets with senior surgeons; use proctored case minimums before independent operating. Host wet labs and video-based case reviews.

• Right-sized teams.
  Typical safe ratios: 1 surgeon : 1 anesthetist/monitor : 1–2 sterile techs. Add a recovery tech at scale. Never cut the monitoring role.

• Case selection discipline.
  Refer non-routine cases (pyometra, late-term pregnancy, septic or very young/very old) to equipped facilities.

• Transparent complication tracking.
  Log all intra- and post-op events (minor, major, death). Review monthly; publish anonymized dashboards.

For veterinary faculties and professional bodies

• Curriculum modernization.
  Emphasize modern spay techniques, hemostasis, pain management, and peri-operative medicine; require supervised case numbers.

• CPD pathways.
  Offer accredited HQHVSN courses, traveling faculty, and simulation labs; subsidize attendance for municipal vets.

• Peer review culture.
  Encourage morbidity–mortality conferences and non-punitive learning from errors.

For community caregivers and citizens

• Recognize red flags early.
  After surgery, watch for lethargy, repeated vomiting, loss of appetite >24 hours, swelling, discharge, or open wounds. Seek veterinary help immediately.

• Follow aftercare exactly.
  Keep the dog clean, dry, quiet, and warm; prevent licking and activity for 10–14 days; return for suture removal if needed.

• Report concerns.
  Photograph wounds, note dates and locations, and report to the contracting authority or NGO so patterns can be identified and corrected.

Why some vets appear “under-skilled”—without blaming individuals

It’s important to separate intent from infrastructure. Vets may appear to “lack skills” when they actually lack:

• Supervised experience in high-volume, high-standard settings.

• Access to proper tools (instruments, autoclaves, monitoring) that make good technique possible.

• Time and staffing to apply best practice under per-head quotas.

• Continuing education funding and local opportunities to update techniques.

• Supportive governance that rewards safety, not just numbers.

Improving outcomes is less about finding “bad actors” and more about fixing training, equipment, incentives, and accountability.

A simple quality checklist for field teams

• Pre-op: triage done, weight recorded, drugs calculated, sterile packs ready.

• Anesthesia: premed + induction + maintenance documented; monitoring in place.

• Surgical field: clip + scrub + sterile drape confirmed.

• Technique: atraumatic handling; secure pedicle ligatures; full uterus/ovaries removed.

• Closure: linea alba closed, then subcutaneous, then skin; counts complete.

• Recovery: warm, dry, supervised; pain relief dispensed; discharge sheet given.

• Logbook: case, surgeon, assistants, drugs, timing, complications recorded.

Our commitment

At Dog Desk Animal Action, we support humane, effective population management. We advocate for transparent, audited spay–neuter programs that pair skilled surgeons with proper equipment, realistic caseloads, and robust aftercare. If you witness poor outcomes after municipal or contracted surgeries, document what you see and share it with us; patterns help us push for systemic fixes.

Dogs deserve competent care. Communities deserve programs they can trust. Quality is not a luxury in spay–neuter—it’s the whole point.