Spay Question

[OneCoolPup]

Our little Sadie is eight months now. She has been in heat for a week now (it doesn't want to end),and it's been the biggest problem keeping her away from our male dog (and all the stray dogs). We've been taking the male dog inside while we take her out to potty and then bring him out and leave her in. She stays in all the time. Yesterday my little five year old daughter let Sadie out and the boy "got" to her. I dont' know if anything happened b/c she is really small and he's kind of big. She has an appointment to be spayed next week today (march 8th). I'm nervous enough about that, but what if she got pregnant. Yesterday was the seventh day she's shown signs, but she's still not over it. We had an appt to get her spayed this week, but then she came in heat and the vet said to wait. And when will this heat end? Our boy dog is only eight months old too, his sisters havent' reached their maturity yet, so I don't know about males. Maybe nothing came of the encounter but how will I know?

[Susan'sFreddie98]

May I ask why you didn't have her spayed at 6 months? It's a good idea to have a female spayed before her first heat cycle.

Just keep your fingers crossed that she isn't pregnant. I know you were very careful, unfortunately your little one let her out.

If she is pregnant, you'll need to make that decision whether to terminate the pregnancy. Hopefully nothing happened. Good luck.

~Susan~

[wireweiners]

Hate to tell you this but females stay in heat about 3 weeks. The old rule of thumb is a week coming in, a week in, and a week going out. She can be bred at any time during this period but usually won't be receptive to the male except during the ovulation stage, usually the 7th to 14th day. There is a slightly higher risk of complications if you spay her while she is still in heat but the risk is still very small. If she has been bred but you have her spayed very early in the pregnancy there shouldn't be any problems. Just let you vet know there is a possibility she has been bred. While you are at it, why don't you have your male dog neutered? He will be much less likely to try to escape your yard, will be less likely to "mark" his territory, will be a sweeter pet and will not have to worry about testicular cancer, prostate problems or perianal tumors. <IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm1.gif" border=0>

[Krista]

I would go ahead and have her spayed at that time. It will be too early to tell if she is really pregnant or not anyway, and if you wait, then it might be too late.

She is too young to have a litter of pups when it can be avoided and yes 8 month males are more than capable of impregnating females. If you don't spay and she is pregnant, since he is so much bigger than her a c-section and whelping complications (even death) are more likely from what I have heard.

I'd spay her and neuter your male too since the health risks are lessened so dramatically by altering at an early age.

[OneCoolPup]

Yes, it would have been easier to get her spayed at around six months, but that was the time when we had an ice storm and both of us were out of work for two and a half weeks. So we were waiting for our tax return. I knew it would be pushing it close, especially for a dachshund. The humane society is going to help us pay for the surgery. They don't do that for males, but maybe in a couple of months. About three weeks ago we noticed him sitting in the yard, and we went to check on him b/c he was there a really long time. Nothing seemed to be wrong with him, until we got up close and saw that he was scraped under his leg and his thigh looked disformed and swollen, so we brought him to the vet and had his pelvis reset. It was probably a car. Anyway, we're still paying the vet on that one. I think it's pretty inexpensive for neutering, isn't it? I'll ask the vet when I'm up there next week. He's going to make a nice family pet. I never met a puppy, so gentle and sensitive as he is http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/smile.gif And that's a good thing when you have a small child!

[Susan'sFreddie98]

It was just about $75 for Freddie's neutering, which I believe is the average, although the Humane Society charges less I think.

~Susan~