Monday the 21st (yesterday) Keeper went in for a spay and stomach tack. She is two days shy of 19 months old and has already had a heat cycle. I opted for an ovary-sparing spay, because the studies I've seen for various large breeds- Vizsla, Golden Retriever, Rottweiler- showed that intact dogs have fewer bone and soft tissue cancers than desexed dogs.
We've also had a 100% correlation of bitches spayed before 2 years of age and spay incontinence in English Setters we've owned. Keeper's contract specified that she was to be spayed in Oct 2013, or by 13 months. I talked with the breeder, as Keeper's in training to be a public use service dog and having her leak when she sleeps would be a deal breaker. I promised there would be no puppies, that I'd spay after her first heat, and that there really, truly, would never be puppies. I waited anxiously for a heat cycle, which finally came in January.
We've also had a 100% correlation of bitches spayed before 2 years of age and spay incontinence in English Setters we've owned. Keeper's contract specified that she was to be spayed in Oct 2013, or by 13 months. I talked with the breeder, as Keeper's in training to be a public use service dog and having her leak when she sleeps would be a deal breaker. I promised there would be no puppies, that I'd spay after her first heat, and that there really, truly, would never be puppies. I waited anxiously for a heat cycle, which finally came in January.
On the other hand, every heat cycle ups her risk of the potentially life-threatening uterine infection called pyometra, so I didn't want to wait past the first one. It wasn't until I was watching a how-to video of an ovary-sparing spay on YouTube [the internet is a strange and wondrous place] that a comment from the vet- that all the hormones would still be in play- led to a forehead slapping "duh!" moment. I could probably have had Keeper spayed and left her ovaries, and still had all the benefits of her natural hormones. However, my vet had never done an ovary-sparing spay (and I expect it will be a long, long time before anyone else asks her to), and we were both feeling our way along.
Longevity in Rottweiler bitches increases about 30% when they keep their ovaries.
Pros and cons listed for desexing, and at what age.
The Vizsla study that seems to show that desexing is not the best option for the breed.
As near as I can tell from the reading I've done, because I had the vet leave Keeper's ovaries in, I've given her about a 1 in 16 chance of ovarian cancer. I've also increased her risk of mammary tumors, but I check my dogs for lumps fanatically. Mammary tumors in an intact bitch will usually happen in 1 in 4 animals that reach 10 years of age. About half those will be cancerous, or 1 in 8. When Blaze had hers, they were about half the size of peas when they were removed. And unlike many of the bone, blood and soft tissue cancers that can attack internal organs, mammary tumors can be felt on a weekly exam, and tend to happen later in life.
It's not perfect. I made my best guess, and I'm hoping that having her hormones will ward off many of the cancers that might steal her from me as a young dog. I tried to do right by her, and want to have many years with her in my life. I'm hoping the gamble to leave her ovaries intact pays off.
As for neutering, especially in large dogs, I don't see the point. Smoke had a testicular tumor, so our vet at the time did a hemi-castration. Smoke lived another 5 years with his remaining testicle and no recurrence, passing of unrelated skeletal issues at 12 years of age. Ocho was neutered at 7 when he had a more advanced tumor (fondling your dog, even the gross bits, is important- I caught it on a break from college, and he'd just seen the vet shortly before.) He's 13 now, and still no recurrence. The treatment for testicular cancer is neutering. I can see no reason to preemptively neuter, and there's a lot of things going for the idea of leaving a male dog intact.
After Duncan's TPLO, I know I no longer support early spay or neuter (anything under 12 months) for large dogs, because the cost of the surgery and pain in the adult dog are just not worth having a smaller animal that's easier for the vet to work on.
To our best guess to his age, he was 9 or 10 months when he was neutered. I can't say for sure that it was the main factor in his CCL tear, but many studies point to it being a cause. I found him at a shelter, so it was out of my hands, but I do wonder if things had been different, sometimes.
A vet's take on when, why, or why not to desex a dog.
I know why people push for desexing (the end of every The Price is Right signs off with "spay or neuter your pets"), but I can't help but feel that educating people about what a heat cycle looks like, when a bitch is receptive, and how to keep her isolated from males could get the same goal (no more unwanted litters) accomplished. We've had intact males and females at the same time without an "oops" litter. I would rather people do more research, rather than getting pushed into things by their vet or society. In the mean time, I'll be reading studies and trying to balance the pros against the cons to my dogs' benefit.
Don't be surprised if all my future dogs are male, though. The heat and the spay were not my idea of a fun time.
No comments:
Post a Comment