HI all,

we are not breeding pippa for a few reasons.

1. she is not KC registered and i would not want to find I cant find forever homes for them.
2. I virtually rescued her and she was not well when we got her.
3. Our vet said as she is of such a calm nature and quite timid (well compared to molly anyway) there is no reason to breed her to 'calm her down' which doesnt always work and can be an old wives tale anyway.

I have spoke to my vet this afternoon and they have advised having her spayed, a few reasons but one is to reduce the risk of cancer in later years.

Am I making the right decisions? Im am so scared because she is so calm and loving and im scared of putting her through so much pain will change her loving behaviour and make her hate me.

Also her and molly suffer terrible seperation anxiety as they are always together, a few weeks ago we took molly to she a breeder and when we came back pippa had wee'd everwhere and was upset.

After the op while we were at work they will have to be seperated so molly doesnt lick or pull pippas stiches.

I think if I do have her done I will have to take some unpaid leave to look after wont i?

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Sounds like you have thought about it well. Good luck in whatever you decide to do

I think that having a pet spayed is the most responsible thing that pet owners can do, bearing in mind how many thousands of animals we have in this country that are struggling to find a loving home.

That said, I've always had that last minute moment with the vet as I hand them over where I've had to ask 'I am doing the right thing here, aren't I?'.

It's a hard decision, knowing that you're causing them discomfort when they're happy and healthy, even though it's for their own good later on in life.

BUT (and it's a big but) they're in your care for life, and the discomfort is temporary, and it will take away the worry about their future reproductive health too.

thanks medusa,

I will take her.

Actually I think I will let my parnter take her and I will pick her up.

Any advice on the seperation thing for after I bring her home?

I would have her spayed. We had Lilly spayed - it was a condition of us adopting her and we wanted it doing anyway. It is horrible when you pick them up from the vets and they look so woozy. We had pure hell for 10 days over the xmas period whilst her stitches were in as we couldn't stick to her usual walking regime etc. For the first 3 nights we had her in a cage in the living room as she couldn't go upstairs and my bloke slept downstairs with her for the 3 nights. It made us closer more than anything as luckily she didn't realise it was our fault she was in pain and liked us for fussing her for 10 days. We also had a bit of worry because she was allergic to the stitches so had to visit the vets again about 3 times. We couldn't have done it all without having time off work and being with her permanently.

If Pippa wears one of the funnel collars be prepared to have to re paint your dogs/skirting boards. Ours are chipped to death from Lilly walking into them with it on!

I have always had the doubt of wether to spey or not to spey a bitch. quite happy with the dog snip thing - but like you i worried about the major op thing.

However, after talking to my friend who is a vet, and the vet nurses where we take a lot of our dogs - they were saying just how many bitches come in with emergency pyomitri (sp) ops some live, but some die. this is extremely painful and so life threatening for the bitch - assuming you are at home when it happens, and can get them to a vet soon enough to save their lives. This just doesn't happen if they are speyed. the vet was saying just how ill and painful the bitches are when they get this.

In addition, if the pyio wasn't enough - so many get the womb cancer which again isn't something if they are speyed. So adding those 2 together, and the massive bonus of never running the risk of producing unwanted puppies - i think we all owe it to the dog population to have it done, and feel confident in the safe practises that the vets do these days.

I do feel that the risks are much lower under anaesthetic these days than they used to.

good luck
rr

HI all,

She is booked in for next friday :confused:

Hi Tatty

ur doing the right thing! my dog had a pyometra (when the womb gets infected and can be fatal) when she was 11 years old, she was very ill with it and if had been left much longer she would not be here now. also the vet spoke to me about it with our younger dog, apparantly it can help reduce the risk of mammary tumours in later life aswell.

as for the seperation thing ask your vet for a "nasty tasting liquid". i was given it as i was worried my other animals would bother Lucy's stitches after her op so they gave me this liquid (which is similar to what you have to stop biting nails) and it worked wonders.

hope everything goes well
she will be fine dont worry!!!

tattybear,

Start as soon as you can, separating Molly and Pippa for short periods. I'm sure you know how you'd normally help a dog with SA so just do that with your two. If you start it now, although it won't be fixed by next Friday, they'll get less stressed when apart.

Also, do you have a cage? if not see if you can borrow one, then Pippa can be shut in there to prevent any harm coming to her by a well meaning choccie lab but Molly can still be close by.

A friend at work said her dog died from being spayed, something to do with the anesthetic (excuse my spelling :) ) and losing blood during the operation.

Im having doubts :cry: