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 Village News Magazine |
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This page was last updated on
Wednesday June 6, 2007
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| Midforest Vets - To spay or not to spay - that is the question |
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Dogs, as any other creature on earth are slaves to nature’s
ultimate aim - to reproduce. This is fine in the wild but not so necessary within the comfort of domesticity and doing without the ability can have some important advantages.
Avoiding the risk of pregnancy is an obvious one, as is the potential mess of a lady dog being in season. Oh, and don’t forget the queue of would be gentlemen dog suitors lined up outside the garden gate of a morning.
Less obvious, but of more benefit to the individual, is the much reduced risk of developing mammary tumours if spaying is done early and also eliminating the very high risk of a womb infection in later life. The latter condition rates on the ‘serious scale’ the same as
appendicitis for us humans and invariably requires the emergency
removal of the womb.
However, this would not be real life if there weren’t some down sides. The most common is that spayed dogs can put on weight more easily for the same amount of food and greater vigilance and discipline is required from their owners. Some breeds show a change in coat quality with a tendency towards frizziness and red colours can lighten. Less commonly, but of greater concern, spaying can lead to bladder weakness in later life although fortunately in most cases this is easily
remedied with medications that include hormone replacement therapy.
Swings and roundabouts is a phrase I often use when asked the question - to spay or not to spay - but the swings (advantages) outnumber the roundabouts.
J R Elliott
Principal |
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