To spey or not to spey??

[Nikki]

Pearl isn't left to wander hun so not a prob. I agree it is irresponsible when people don't know where their cats & dogs are & let them wander about unspeyed. This is more about her future health x.

 

[Weathergirl]

Thats ok, my post was not directly aimed at you, but the general issue is one that upsets me. If she can't easily come into contact with toms then it's fine. However never under estimate the tenacity of the male to gain access. Once I was unloading the car and had left the front door open. The next thing I know a fluffy ginger "kitten" just wanders in. We had seen the little cat quite often playing in the building site accross the road. We fed the cat, and it wolfed down 4 pouches without pausing for breath.
The next day "She"followed us home. A week later it was torrential rain outside at 2.00 am. We were woken by the rain and frantic meowwing coming from outside, in between claps of thunder. Shecame in for shelter, and spent a few hours chatting to my husband who fell in love with the cat, who we named "Annie" as in orphan Annie. She would disappear for a few days at a time, then reappear starving hungry. Gradually the cat gained weight, and 2 little sacks appeared between HIS legs! I now realise most ginger cats are male. He must have been so hungry his knackers were not obvious. We re- named him Oliver.

We had him checked out by a vet and apparently he was about a year old, and someone at some point had had him neutered. But maybe he wandered off and got lost one day. We wanted to keep him but sadly he fought with Alfie and we had to segregate them. We got Oliver through firework season and then my friend's cat died of old age. He took Oliver in, and adored him for 2 years until he went out one day and got run over. The great thing was, we did not see Oliver for about 6 months after my friend took him, but when we visited after 6 months he came up to me and curled up on my lap for the entire evening. He remembered me!

Sorry for the long tale.

This is Oliver. RIP xx

 

[Nikki]

Ahhhh that's lovely! So he found his sanctuary. RIP & best love & light to Oliver! x

 

[Mam]

I had my little Jack Russell Elizabeth spayed soon after rescuing her Nikki. I found it a nightmare when she had a season and dogs appeared from everywhere trying to get to her. Even the sheepdogs from the farm down below were vaulting the fence to get into the garden and in spite of all my efforts to improvise a chastity belt for her out a pair of knickers (bluddy daft I know) the inevitable happened as she was as eager to get to them and I couldn't part them. I had to rush her to the vets for an injection which didn't work, and she had to be spayed a couple of weeks later as the size of the pups would have killed her. Spaying didn't seem to have any adverse effects on her at the time and she recovered within a couple of days and was racing around like a mad thing again. However, she is now about nine years old and seems to be confused as to whether she is Arthur or Martha. :wonder: She is knee high to a grasshopper but is constantly trying to ahem, have her wicked way with poor old Jonathan my older rescued dog. She is also extremely dominant in spite of her size and has prevented me from rescuing another dog as she will quite happily take on a Rottweiler and will not tolerate another dog in the house.

I wouldn't know which way to advise you on spaying. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[Tinkerbell]

My lab wasn't spayed and had to have an emergency hysterectomy because of pyrometra. Luckily she was ok but it could have killed her if we hadn't got her to the vet on time. I felt really guilty about not getting her done earlier. The 2 babies I have now have both been spayed. I felt guilty about getting them done but knew I'd feel a lot worse if anything ever happened to my precious girls.

 

[madge65]

nikki i would get her spayed, i have always kept bitches & usually had them spayed after there first season, as i had them from pups , but my greyhound bitch i have now wasnt spayed , she developed pyometra the closed kind where they dont produce a discharge, so it was basically no clinical signs she was sick, i just knew she wasnt right

i took her to the vets & they did an emergency hystectomy which basically saved her life & would have cost a fraction if i had taken her for a routine spay , so my advice is to spay, clearly if your vet advised against it for whatever reason then you go with there advice

 

[Nikki]

Yes massive thanks ladies, you've truly helped me come to the decision that I will get her speyed after her next season. Pyo is just too much of a s& if it occured I'd find it incredibly hard to forgive myself as I could have prevented it.

 

[Vienna]

I lost my beloved King Charles to a terrible womb infection which made her so ill you wouldn`t believe. Until it struck she was a happy healthy little thing with a love of life and a joy to have. She didn`t survive the operation to save her and since then I`ve had 2 other dogs, both bitches and have had them spayed because there is no way I`d ever want to see such a poorly dog ever again. Your little dog is still young enough to have the op, recover from the speying and lead a full, active and happy life. My current dog was spayed and was back to normal in less than 2 weeks and not only does it save her from a risk of womb infections it also means she can be walked 365 days a year without being hassled cos she`s in season and a strict feeding regime has meant she`s never gained weight either.

 

[Akimbo]

a bit off topic..

As a former cat mum and current rabbit mum I just wanted to remind anyone thinking of homing a rabbit to have their rabbit neutered. Please rehome adult rabbits if you can, we "rescued" Hugo and Freckles from an amateur breeder (there are lots of them sadly) stud bunnies have a miserable isolated life. Female rabbits tend to have permenant PMT if unspeyed and can develop life-threatening conditions in later life. It's not much fun for the bucks either, being constantly in a state of frustration all the time.

Rabbits are lovely pets (if you don't mind anarchy!) just as intelligent as cats they need about 4 hours attention a day unless they're kept as a pair, they're not just an upgrade from a hamster.

Sorry to hijack your thread, and I can tell by the love you have for your wee dog, that you'll arrive at a decision that's right for both of you (I don't have enough doggy knowledge to advise).

Jude xx

 

[Frazzled]

You should start a rabbit thread Jude? - with pictures of course.

I bet there's loads of people who would like info or could share as such on rabbits?

 

[Nikki]

I lost my beloved King Charles to a terrible womb infection which made her so ill you wouldn`t believe. Until it struck she was a happy healthy little thing with a love of life and a joy to have. She didn`t survive the operation to save her and since then I`ve had 2 other dogs, both bitches and have had them spayed because there is no way I`d ever want to see such a poorly dog ever again. Your little dog is still young enough to have the op, recover from the speying and lead a full, active and happy life. My current dog was spayed and was back to normal in less than 2 weeks and not only does it save her from a risk of womb infections it also means she can be walked 365 days a year without being hassled cos she`s in season and a strict feeding regime has meant she`s never gained weight either.

Thank you for sharing Vienna, I'm so sorry to hear about your beloved girl who passed from a womb infection . Best love & light to her!
My ex puppy farm breeding rescue dog, Lily had pyo but fortunately she was operated on in time. It was a massive op tho and affected her whole body thereafter. Dreadful colitis & sickness mainly as the op needed coupled with the infection had affected her digestive tract. With Lily we couldn't operate earlier as the vet thoght that as she had been bred from from such a young age repeatedly he'd only operate if an emergency arose. With Pearl she hasn't had pups so it's different. Thank you once again, really helped me make my mind up xx

& Jude, no worries at all, you're info on rabbits is very insightful & if one person reads it & then adopts or knows what can really distress them if they own them already thats great! My mind's made up now anyway thanks to everyone's lovely, thoughful, inmformative comments, Pearl will deffo be speyed so you hijack away luvvie! x I had 2 rabbits growing up, delightful little souls! x

 

[Vienna]

My son and daughter in law had 2 house rabbits and they were lovely creatures and so funny to watch. Both were neutered and they used a cat litter tray and were very clean. The only problem they had with them was ( if given the opportunity ! ) chewing cables but puppies do the same and my son simply bought cable covers for TV cables etc so problem sorted. The rabbits had free roam of the house and garden and just like a puppy when my daughter in law went to peg out the washing they`d follow her out and then follow her back in again. It was nothing unusual in their house to sit watching TV with a rabbit on your knee !