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It seems
that there three answers a pet owner can reply back to
me 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:
1)
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.
2) 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),
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
present, as this is part of the therapy (along with
ruling out tumors elsewhere in the body through
imaging).
3)
Ovarian Cancer. Just as with the breast cancers and
aforementioned uterine infections, these 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 at a higher risk on the patient.
4)
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 and include a self-addressed stamped envelope.)
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