An unopinionated article regarding neutering your bitch

borderlinemeath

I thought this might make pleasant reading if you are considering a routine spay of a young bitch. Although it's from a labrador site the author tends to write from the point of view of gundogs. (which is why I read the blog every so often)

http://www.thelabradorsite.com/should-you-spay-your-dog-a-look-at-pros-and-cons/

cpier

Nowhere in the article does it mention the obvious risk of an intact female having unwanted/un-planned litters. (please correct me if I am wrong)

It does educate pet owners on some health issues they may not have previously been aware of when it comes to owning an intact female dog.

This is not an attack on you borderlinemeath however for anyone who has read the article and is in two minds about whether they want to spay or not spay their female dog, please do not forget about responsible breeding.

There are responsible breeders out there but as we all know they are few and far between, people need to be more aware in relation to the welfare issues surrounding irresponsible breeding.

borderlinemeath

cpier wrote: »

Nowhere in the article does it mention the obvious risk of an intact female having unwanted/un-planned litters. (please correct me if I am wrong)

It does educate pet owners on some health issues they may not have previously been aware of when it comes to owning an intact female dog.

This is not an attack on you borderlinemeath however for anyone who has read the article and is in two minds about whether they want to spay or not spay their female dog, please do not forget about responsible breeding.

There are responsible breeders out there but as we all know they are few and far between, people need to be more aware in relation to the welfare issues surrounding irresponsible breeding.

Spaying of course has the added advantage for the owner who does not wish to breed, of removing the heat cycle so that the bitch can be worked/taken out in public, all year round."

It does mention this, but I would imagine that the most people that would follow her blog would be responsible owners who wouldn't have any intention of breeding to make a few quid, rather if they did breed it would be for the betterment of their breed.

All the regulars on this forum would be well aware of responsible breeding, that's who I was aiming the article at. When back yard breeders or posters who obviously haven't got the first clue about breeding, yet are looking to get their two pets to mate, come here for advice, they are not encouraged in the slightest. In fact, there's usually an avalanche of posts telling them to neuter and spay their pet. TBH, as much as I hate using the phrase - you're preaching to the converted here

cpier

Thanks for taking time to respond to my post borderlinemeath.

I get what you are saying about posters here and general followers of the blog but I guess once something is on the internet we cannot guarantee what type of pet owner is reading what specific material and I felt this one in particular should have gone into more detail about the actual breeding or the importance of prevention of litters etc.

As my work as a veterinary nurse I get to see some awful things with intact bitches with pyometra or complications with pregnant bitches and so many little puppies who have been neglected or abandoned by their new owners.

Anyway, I won't depress you anymore with my tales of woe!

ferretone

You're not depressing anyone on here particularly, I'd say, as you aren't talking about anything we haven't all seen ourselves too.

The point about target audiences is a very valid one though. This article is not going to crop up in the top 20 things the uneducated will see when googling about breeding, or even about spaying, not by a long shot. And after all, if you were running a cooking blog, you wouldn't go to the trouble of warning your readers of the dangers of hot stoves and boiling water on every post, now would you?

cpier

ferretone wrote: »

And after all, if you were running a cooking blog, you wouldn't go to the trouble of warning your readers of the dangers of hot stoves and boiling water on every post, now would you?

I would not expect them to mention it on every post, however I would feel it essential to discuss in depth about responsible breeding when the title of the article is "Should you spay your Labrador? A look at pros and cons"

If you had ever met some of the owners that I meet on a daily basis believe me there are a large group of people out there who have no idea about responsible breeding. "oh I just though it would be cute to have some puppies out of her" is one we hear a lot. Or seeing a 2 week old puppy sold to a 14 year old and brought in in a cardboard box with no blanket or bedding with a monster munch (I kid you not) that they thought the puppy would eat. And they were wondering why the puppy wasn't "looking too good". Just to mention a few.

I feel it is something that should never be assumed, from your post I am sure you are a responsible owner, but it dangerous to assume that everyone thinks along the same lines, they don't.

Inexile

As with all pieces of advice on the internet before I would act on it I would research where it was coming from and was the source reputable/knowledgeable.

However, I liked this article as it has balance. It would encourage me to neuter a female dog mainly due to the risk of pyometra (if I hadn't done so already). Before I would have worried about cancer as well but Im not so sure on this now. Though if I had a large breed dog I may wait until the pup was a older than 6 months which is what I would have done previously.

I do wonder about all cancers in dogs. I wonder is some of it due to changes in how we look after our dogs - vacines, feed, environmental factor, stress etc.

Im sure dogs got cancer years ago but how much of it was recorded or researched and how does that compare todays findings.

Nody

Inexile wrote: »

Im sure dogs got cancer years ago but how much of it was recorded or researched and how does that compare todays findings.

Well to put it bluntly 60 years ago you'd take the dog around the shed so to speak once it did not seem to do well. Hence even if you had statistics going back 60 years you'd have to question how relevant they are (i.e. was cancer even looked for/known and/or would it be recorded) in the same way that Ireland's suicide statistic had a lot of accident with rope not noted as suicide. This limits the possible time span of relevant data quite a bit sadly and even today a dog may die without diagnosis (or be euthanized before it grows big enough to be noticed)