Spay or not to spay
To spay or not to spay -- make the decision Buzz up!By Dr. Chris Duke, THE SUN HERALD Tuesday, November 24, 2009 It seems to me that there are three answers that a pet owner can respond with when I ask, "Do you plan to spay or neuter your puppy?" The first reply is an emphatic "yes," as the pup has either been adopted already from a pet shelter and fixed there, or a new puppy owner has strong convictions to have it done. The second reply I often hear is "No -- we're going to breed him or her." Enough said. I then give the "Are you sure you know what you're getting into?" speech. Finally, the third reply I get is the "We haven't decided yet." These latter two groups are the target of this week's pet column. To that end, I'll mention four medical conditions in female dogs that are preventable through spaying. Pyometra: Also known as performing a spay under duress in an infected female dog. Yes, by the time females get sick (showing fever, weakness, dehydration and having pus coming out of their female parts), it's way too late for a conventional spay. We are backed into a corner as veterinarians, and must perform a full ovariohysterectomy under adverse clinical conditions. Yes, the risk and the costs are higher at that time, and yes, the situation could have been prevented if a decision had been made earlier, when the dog was younger and healthier. Breast cancer: This preventable medical situation in females is tragic, and sneaks up particularly on the more mature intact female dogs. Particularly adenomas, or their partner in crime, the mixed mammary tumor, have as their basis for growth estrogen. The estrogen is created for the most part (you guessed it), in the ovaries. Therefore, a young, healthy dog spay is the best way to keep these potentially life-threatening tumors from getting a running start in a female dog. Veterinarians usually insist on spaying a dog whenever an intact female is presented with breast tumors, as this is part of the therapy (along with ruling out tumors elsewhere in the body through imaging). Ovarian cancer: Just as with the breast cancers and aforementioned uterine infections, this can be prevented by way of a routine, young, healthy dog spay earlier in life. Unfortunately, this cancer usually doesn't manifest itself until later in life, when surgery is a higher risk on the patient. Reproductive emergencies: The fourth and final medical situation I'll mention today, which can be prevented by a spay, is what I call the "OB-GYN crisis." We all know that once a female dog is spayed, she no longer has heat cycles. Therefore, she no longer attracts male dogs, and no longer gets bred. So assuming a female dog remains intact and does get bred (whether intentionally or by accident), there is always a chance that two months or so down the road, we may have a crisis on our hands if the dog cannot deliver the puppies vaginally. So, those dog owners who have been put in the groups of "we want to breed," or "we haven't decided yet" may have to face what I refer to as the OB-GYN crisis. The induction or delivery by way of Caesarian section can really be stressful on a pet owner, especially if this event takes the pet owner by surprise. Let's face it, nobody wants these crises to happen, but they do. And yes, sometimes they are during the day when your regular vet is there to help you, but sometimes it's at or after midnight. So there you have it: an overview of four medical situations in female dogs that can be avoided by spaying females as preventive medicine. I guess it all sounds so simple, until it is your intact female dog that the veterinarian now says requires an urgent surgery to correct an unstable situation. As I always say, if today's thoughts save one pet owner from getting into one of these situations with their pet, I'll be extremely gratified. Dr. Chris Duke, a veterinarian at Bienville Animal Medical Center in Ocean Springs, welcomes questions for this column. Write to South Mississippi Veterinary Medical Association, 20005 Pineville Road, Long Beach MS 39560 |
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| Do I believe in spaying where necessary? Yes I do but, when possible at a later age than pups less than 9 months old.
Interesting that Dr. Duke chooses not to mention problems and many more problems with having a female and particularly a young female puppy spayed. 1) They can die from anesthesia. 2) Surgery in itself has all kinds of hidden dangers other than just death. How about developing blood clots and having strokes. How about retina detachments. The list goes on and on. 3) They can develop chronic infections from the surgery. 4) They can develop chronic urinary track infections. 5) Spaying, especially at an early age under say 9 months takes away hormones and other chemistry not fully understood as to their benefits to the long term development and health of the girl and probably doesn’t help a male much either. 6) Massive chronic urinary leaking even with today’s modern medicines that are suppose to help stop it. 7) Auto-Immune reactions because of the hormone change that can lead to severe sickness and even death. This is all I can think of right now but the point is that owners who have a choice need to know the dangers as well as the benefits of spaying their pet. Any of us who have lost one or have developed major problems with one having them fixed will tell you in hind site that in that case, it wasn’t worth it. zach |
| I tried to do my research when I decided to get my girls spayed "early" at 6 months. Our first sheepdog died of Mammary cancer, and I wanted to reduce the risk of that. Also, my girls are BYB dogs; and even though they have AKC papers (somewhere) they aren't doing anything to advance or promote the breed's standard. So I didn't feel that we were helping the community by breeding them. Also; I've seen how much work breeding can be, and know that its a challenge I'm not yet up to (even if I had dogs worthy of breeding).
But its a decision everyone has to make for themselves, and hopefully will make after doing their homework and reading up on all of the pros and cons. |
| Alison, whether or not to spay a bitch, or more to the point, at what age to do so, has nothing really to do with breeding them. UNLESS you aren't able to prevent unwanted litters. If you can't, or don't trust yourself to do so, you should spay, and the luxury of weighing other health risks is secondary. That's very simple.
My first dog was intact her entire 15 1/2 years and never had a litter, nor was she ever intended to be bred. She was a show-ring "drop out"  at about a year old when I got her (non-OES)
My vet actually advised me to make sure Sybil went through at least one season to make sure her female genitalia matured properly. She was prone to yeast infections and the occasional UTI as well. Both did indeed go away after her first season. Then again, my vet didn't have any reason to lie to me or hide the full impact of spaying (pros AND cons) because she knew if she wasn't going to be bred, she wouldn't be. In your case, you made the right choice for you and your girls. And, better yet, you did so, as I recall, with the full facts available to you, as it should be. Zach, to your list you can add increased risk of temperament problems, higher rates of osteosarcoma, hemangisarcoma and at least one other cancer, forget off the top of my head. The orthopedic risks of spaying before the growth plates are closed are well known. Too there are increased rates of hypothryoidism and environmental sensitivites (and vaccine reactions) because hormones help protect the immune system, like Zach described above. Mind you, all of this "relative risk", which has to be balanced against the very real and increasingly high risk of developing life-threatening pyometria as a bitch ages, as well as mammary cancer if not spayed fairly early (there is still protective value if spayed before 2 1/2, but not as much for this specific cancer as if spayed before their first season). And, too, some people just plain don't want to live with bitches in season, period. And they should have the option not to. It's not a clear-cut, easy decision in most cases if you know the facts and you always risk second-guessing yourself no matter what you do. But you should at least have the full range of facts upon which to make that decision. Kristine |
| Well said MD. Thanks for your more educated input.
I still had two Cocker Spaniels develop mammary cancer even well after being spay. Neither died from it and it was cut away. Scary though and still serious surgery. With all of the dogs in pounds and roaming the streets for whatever reasons, I do believe in Spaying and Neutering at the right ages if possible. I just didn't want some folks to be stunned if issues arise that they might not be aware of. zach |
| Hey Allison,
You have lovely OES. They both are sweet, fun and great family members. You've done a nice job raising them as well. You should be very proud of them. I would be! zach |
| I have thought of this many times and never asked....
Georgie Girl was spayed at 17 weeks before we got her, is there something we should be looking out for? Yes, Zach, Georgie Girl formerly Piper that you so wonderfully transported to us..... She was shall I use my past dogs name to describe her... our"KISMET"  |
| How cute, I knew she was staying.
Hopefully, if you don't see or feel anything wrong there is probably nothing to look for. Most do just fine as far as I know. zach |
zach wrote: Hey Allison,
You have lovely OES. They both are sweet, fun and great family members. You've done a nice job raising them as well. You should be very proud of them. I would be! zach Thanks Zach; I ADORE my girls. I think they have wonderful little personalities and are simply great dogs and awesome family members. But I'm not blind to the fact that they really don't uphold the breed standard. Tonks is close; I think she's actually quite a good looking, well built sheepdog. But both my girls are small; Tonks especially struggles to keep her weight above the standard 65 pounds (we just hit 67; I'm ecstatic!). If I had known they'd be such good pets, I might have considered breeding. But who knows that when you get a BYB puppy? So I thought spaying was the responsible thing to do, and I stand by my decision. I think one day, I'd like to have an OES bitch that I could show, and eventually have a litter with. I think I'd like to go through the process of raising and training a Champion. The challenge sounds like something that is very much up my alley, so to speak. But for now, I have two lovely girls that require alot of my time, and I think to have another dog, and a show one at that, would take away from the time I spend with the dogs I have. |
zach wrote: How cute, I knew she was staying.
Hopefully, if you don't see or feel anything wrong there is probably nothing to look for. Most do just fine as far as I know. zach 
Was it that sparkle in my eye as soon as I meet her!
I think you and Diane were a bit tempted as well!  |
Darth Snuggle wrote: zach wrote: Hey Allison, You have lovely OES. They both are sweet, fun and great family members. You've done a nice job raising them as well. You should be very proud of them. I would be! zach Thanks Zach; I ADORE my girls. I think they have wonderful little personalities and are simply great dogs and awesome family members. But I'm not blind to the fact that they really don't uphold the breed standard. Tonks is close; I think she's actually quite a good looking, well built sheepdog. But both my girls are small; Tonks especially struggles to keep her weight above the standard 65 pounds (we just hit 67; I'm ecstatic!). If I had known they'd be such good pets, I might have considered breeding. But who knows that when you get a BYB puppy? So I thought spaying was the responsible thing to do, and I stand by my decision. I think one day, I'd like to have an OES bitch that I could show, and eventually have a litter with. I think I'd like to go through the process of raising and training a Champion. The challenge sounds like something that is very much up my alley, so to speak. But for now, I have two lovely girls that require alot of my time, and I think to have another dog, and a show one at that, would take away from the time I spend with the dogs I have. Your girls look great Allison... When rescue slows down you can get you conformation pup
Just kidding... Marty hopes for the same but, who knows when! |
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