mercial value,
an owner might well want to forgo spaying to utilize her as a
combination hunter-companion-brood bitch. This more or less clinical
advice is prompted from recent personal experience. A bit of
regret nags me because I had our Golden Retriever pup spayed
before she came into heat for the reasons outlined earlier in
this article. She has turned out to be an eager hunter, sweet
and biddable and when she does well visions of quality pups dance
through my head. But the early spaying did not (apparently)
alter her ability as a hunter (as the late spaying did not affect
the two Pointer bitches).
But the practical side of me washes away those fantasies by reminding
me what a gamble any pup is and that I need even one litter of
pups like I need more holes in my head.
There may well be a therapeutic reason for spaying as well as
convenient and practical considerations, even after a bitch has
been bred and raised one or more litters of pups. An ovariohysterectomy
(spay job) removes the uterus and ovaries, eliminating any chance
of cancer involving those organs.
However, as they age, unsprayed bitches are highly susceptible
to mammary gland tumors and to toxic uterine infections called
pyometras. About half of the tumors that occur in a bitch's
mammaries are malignant. Surgical excision is not always successful.
There's no chemotherapy that can be relied upon to treat canine
breast cancer. Spreading through the body it kills.
Spaying is an effective means of preventing breast cancer, if
done early. Studies have documented that bitches spayed prior
to their first heat cycle have a 95% chance of not developing
breast tumors, benign or malignant. If done before the second
onset of estrus the 95% avoidance figure holds up. But the odds
drop to 50-50 by the time the bitch goes through her fourth heat
cycle and continue to be sharply reduced with the passing of
each subsequent heat cycle.
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This ought to influence
your decision about early or later spaying. It will dramatically
reduce your bitch's chances of a cancer affliction. But no studies
I have seen suggest that it is better to do it before the first
estrus than after that period but before the second onset. So
you have some latitude before reaching a decision.
Most gun dog breeds will experience first somewhere between the
ages of nine and eighteen months, with 12-14 months being most
common, in my observation. Occasionally bitches will come in
season three times a year, sometimes only once. But normally
expect a heat to occur about every six months, with late winter
and early spring-favored times. The time of year your bitch customarily
comes into heat she may also prompt you to have her spayed if
it interferes with the hunting season.
Occasionally, just as some bitches have false pregnancies, some
spayed bitches will periodically attract the attention of males.
Although they can't have pups and are very rarely receptive to
male importuning, this is a nuisance. The reasons for this is
speculative at best and I have seen it in both early and late
spayed bitches. The operation itself is low risk.
While neutered dogs, undistracted by sexual desire drives, are
single-minded in their devotion to humans, hearth and home and
the benefits of spaying read like political rhetoric, for some
people, one aspect will be a definite drawback. That is cost.
This may be a valid objection if shortsighted owners overlook
long-range benefits. "Out in the sticks" where I live
an uncomplicated spaying (which includes the anesthetic, operation
and an overnight stay in a monitored vet clinic) costs $60. What
it is in your "neck of the woods" and what benefits
you'll derive from a routine low risk operation only you can
know.
With little or no risk you can delay deciding to have your bitch
spayed or not until after you've enjoyed a season's hunting with
her. |
That will permit a rational decision
about breeding or spraying. If you are not going to breed, she
ought to be spayed. Is she worth breeding? It took me too long
to decide the case of the Pointers and I was hasty regarding
the Golden Retriever. You have until she is 15 to 24 months old
and comes I heat the second time.
If there's too much about her that's questionable, do yourself,
your bitch and your fellow hunters a favor by having her spayed,
don't breed her in her first period. If you do breed later, have
her spayed if you don't intend her to have more litters. In my
observation, not unlike human females who experience a single
pregnancy, bitches successfully bred just one time are prone
to "female troubles" that complicate later life, require
surgery or cause death.
There's nothing wrong with wanting that direct descendant pup
out of old Sally, even if her beauty as a hunter lieth only in
the eye of the owner; who, chances are would get a better replacement
by buying an unsentimentally produced pup from a serious breeder
at considerably less cost and anguish.
But as high as 17,000,000 dogs and cats annually are put to death
because, mixed or purebred, nobody wanted them. Thoughtlessly
produced gun dogs just aren't needed. So give a spayed female
a try.
If logic, fact and experience don't overcome your yen to be a
surrogate parent to a flock of puppies, go ahead and put off
the operation until your bitch has her first heat period behind
her. Then having lived with a bitch during a heat period, you
ought to gain the appreciation for the care-free presence of
a devoted spayed female in your home, yard, neighborhood and
afield, which those of us who have compared know is available.
Dave Duffey hails from New London, WI
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