Hey!  First off: yey!  She made it through without obvious, major complications.  Those are possible and your lady made it well.  Awesome!  Way to go Libby!!!  Breathe.

I worked in a vet office, and when pets (and probably humans, too) come out of anesthesia, they make a lot of noise.  It's their nerves coming back on board paired with a really fuzzy brain.  The noises they make can be awful.  That said, not all pets do this and sometimes pets do this b/c they are also in pain.  She may be.  Makes sense, right?  Many of our dogs here spent at least 1 night in the hospital, that way they can be better monitored and drugs maintained better.  These may be IV drugs, that wouldn't necessarily go home with you.  So if the vet feels she'll be more comfy spending the night there, hooked up, I suggest you keep her there.  If you were to take her home, she'd still be coming off her super-meds and may talk more than you'd expect.  As a mom and dad, this may concern you a lot.  Maybe in this case, it's best to leave her out of your sight/hearing and enjoy a night without worrying about what noises she's making.  Even when we got Jackson the next day, it was clear he was riding HIGH from his super-meds.  When those wore off, he crashed.  Big time.

I totally understand your concern about leaving her w/o supervision, though!  YIKES!  Jackson had his done in a very small practice where the vet lives above the hospital (but, I want to add, an ortho specialist comes in to do these surgeries, so Jackson get excellent service!)  So he wasn't monitored 24/7 by someone in the room with him, but someone was nearby.  I know the vet visited him many times throughout the night.  I suspect, he was passed out the whole time.  It makes sense to ask that if she spends the night, how supervision/monitoring works.  If they literally leave her at 6pm and no one comes back or watches her via camera, etc until 9am tomorrow...well....good question.

I'm so happy to read she did well!  That's huge!!!

If you do end up taking her home, get phone numbers!  And get help here, as some folks have done it.  I'd caution you, though, that since you are a self-proclaimed worrier, to think deeply if it's best for Libby to come home tonight?

~Katy

Glad to hear that the surgery is done and Libby did well.

The overnight monitoring issue has come up here a lot. I think it's safe to say the general consensus here (not from vets but owners) is that we all want some kind of overnight care that we feel good about. Personally, I would not leave my dog like that without some overnight care. As Katy said, it could be that someone comes and checks periodically. To me, that would be a minimum. And I don't think I would be satisfied with less often than every 2 hours. Will a vet get up and go to the office every 2 hours during the night? I kind of doubt it, but maybe.

Different people handle things like this in many different ways. Some people can't stand to watch their dog get their nails clipped or blood drawn. Others want to participate in the amputation  Most are in between. I am not squeamish and am a bit of a control freak, so in your place I would lobby hard to bring the dog home. I would just decide I wasn't going to sleep, probably, and park a mattress and sleeping bag on the floor near the dog and be available. If she's truly under the influence and doesn't need anything, then great. You sleep.

If she needs pain meds during the night, she can certainly have them if you are there. The vet originally had planned to release Libby to you same day, so he had a plan for overnight pain meds for you at home. And administering an injection is not difficult, if it's not an IV. You could be taught in about 3 minutes. If she has a catheter in a vein, they can even leave it in and show you how to do an injection directly into it. That's not hard and involves basic common sense for keeping it sterile. 

If you are one of the folks who really doesn't want to see or hear your dog in pain (or confused, which is probably closer to the truth), then the emergency clinic would be a good option for you. And truly, much of the early troubling behavior (whining, yelping, panting, looking distressed) comes from being whacked out of their minds of narcotics. 

Whatever you decide, I don't think you should let Libby be without anyone checking on her from 6 pm till 7 am or whenever someone arrives. And whoever checks on her needs to know how to tell if she needs meds and know how to give them. The vet's 15-year-old daughter isn't an appropriate choice, even if she wants to be a vet.

And all of that advice is worth every penny you paid for it! Good luck with your decision, and don't be afraid to ask the vet a lot of questions. 

Shari

I would rather see your pup stay at the vet's office IMO...for a day or two.  My dog stayed overnight in the ER two nights and my vet transported her there nightly.  I would think your vet would do that??

Tracy, Maggie's Mom