E-MAIL TO DR SING
--- <...@singnet.com.sg> wrote:
> Dear Dr. Sing:
>
> I found your wonderful and informative site on the
> internet and sincerely hope you could give me some
> advice on whether or not to spay our senior dog.
>
> We have an 8-year old Lhasa Apso female dog who is
> not spayed. My husband bought her directly from a
> home breeder when she was a puppy in 1999 and she
> didn't have any vaccinations all throughout her life
> until I brought her for her combination vaccine
> recently. According to my husband, she has been
> healthy and even gave birth to a litter of 2 puppies
> in 2001. The only problem she had was perhaps a
> couple of years ago she came back from the groomer
> with an eye infection that got very serious and she
> had to undergo surgery to stitch up her eyes. I
> don't know what the exact diagnosis is anyway as I
> wasn't around at that time.
>
> Our dog is the sweetest dog, extremely well-behaved
> and only barks when people visit for the first time
> -- she doesn't bark when it's people who's visited
> before -- and when she wants to be let into the
> house to be with me. She recently went on heat from
> 23 Sep to 11 Oct. We bought sanitary pants for her
> and I changed her pads
> everyday. That isn't a problem at all as I love her
> very much, but I am worried that she will have
> problems with her reproductive organs as she grows
> older.
>
> My husband thinks our dog is too old to undergo
> spaying. I want the best for her, but don't want to
> put her through anything that will influence her
> health since she is so old. She is also extremely
> timid and gets frightened by the slightest noise or
> even when a leaf falls to the ground with a thud.
>
> My husband doesn't believe in preventive treatment,
> so I had quite a hard time convincing him when I
> brought our dog home after she had her jab.
> Therefore, convincing him that a spay surgery for
> our dear dog would be all the more harder. But I
> want to have my Lhasa with me healthy and happy for
> as long as possible.
>
> Would you advise whether our dog should be spayed or
> can we just leave her alone and let nature take its
> own course?
>
> I would really appreciate your advice and look
> forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.
>
> Thank you very much for your assistance.
>
> Best regards,
>
E-MAIL REPLY FROM DR SING
>
Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 07:35:14 +0800 (CST)
From: "Dr Sing KY"
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Subject: Re: Spaying of Senior Dog
To: ...@singnet.com.sg
Thanks for your feedback about my website. In reply,
the answer is yes and no. Here are my thoughts before
I rush to work in 7 minutes.
YES.
1. Prevention of breast cancers and womb infections,
but not all intact female dogs get this problem. Only
that the probability is higher for intact females.
2. Unwanted puppies/dogs being put to sleep or
abandoned. This does not apply to your situation.
3. Dirtying the house with blood stains every 6
months. This problem does not bother you.
4. Urine marking making the residence smell strongly
of urine. Very rare in female dogs. Your sounds like a
submissive urination case and not an alpha female.
Does she pee when excited or greeting you?
5. Skin disease affected by hormonal imbalance.
6. False pregnancy. Dog gets moody, aggressive, not
eating and other behaviour.
NO.
1. Breast cancer and infection of the womb can be
detected if you take the trouble every week to check
your dog and get her examined by your vet 6 monthly
during the senior years.
Or at least yearly. As puppies, there is plenty of
attention. As older dogs, many owners just forget
about them, esp. their dental infections and other
problems.
NO TIME FOR YOUR DOG - PYOMETERA (womb infection) in
older female dogs.
I note that time-pressed Singaporean owners even put
up with bad breath of their senior dogs and let their
decayed teeth drop one by one.
So, infections of the womb are ignored till the dog
becomes seriously ill and about to die from severe
womb infection.
The dog is rushed to the vet.
The unlucky vet gets blamed for doing the emergency
operation on the dog that dies after surgery to remove
the infected womb.
Even if the dog does not die, but continue vomiting
(kidney failure), the poor vet gets the blame for not
doing a good surgery and gets bad-mouthed.
2. Putting on weight. Being less active, many do put
on weight. Latest research findings seem to indicate
that many neutered breeds do get acquired
hypothyrodism.
3. Anaesthetic risk of death. Rare but always possible
even in young dogs at 6 months of age. Heart failure
during anaesthesia seldom happens nowadays even in
older dogs if there is no health problems.
4. Infections after surgery. Rare but does happen once
in a few hundred cases, sometimes due to the dog
licking and biting the wound. Also lack of care by the
owner.
5. Financial problems. This should not be ignored by
the vet. Some families seem to have difficulties in
paying for vet treatment. Maybe there ought to be a
charitable organisation?
The above are major issues. Got to go. Best wishes.
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