Last month I had my dog Frica spayed after contemplating all the pros and cons so many times I was dizzy. I learned a lot from this experience, including that there are a lot of clichés that can be applied to this sometimes grueling process.
I started thinking about having Frica spayed after she had her litter last January. Since then, I’ve reviewed many of the studies that are listed in my References section as well as some I haven’t gotten around to posting there yet. But the reality is that there’s not a lot of concrete information out there. There are lots of studies regarding spay and neuter as it relates to the control of specific populations; but there’s much less information about any long-term effects of the surgery on the individual animal. Even more surprising—and frustrating—there’s hardly anything on what intact animals of both sexes normally experience as they age. This brings me to the first cliché, the old geek lament about drowning in data while starving for information. Such was my experience. For all that was out there, there wasn’t much that told me what I wanted to know.
This shouldn’t have surprised me because companion animal veterinary medicine is patterned after human medicine, and we’ve known precious little regarding the mind and body effects of reproductive hormones in humans of any age until relatively recently. This is the fact that belies the sentiment of cliché #2, that ignorance is bliss. Although I suppose there are times when ignorance can be blissful, in medicine and behavior we’re reduced to little more than guessing if we lack a clear understanding of what comprises normal. When that’s the case, the probability of labeling and treating something quite normal as a problem is every bit as high as missing a legitimate problem and failing to treat it at all.
Do female dogs go through menopause? Anecdotal evidence suggests that they do and I can’t think of any reason why they wouldn’t. Anecdotal evidence also suggests that, as in women, the signs can vary, although I’d expect dogs and cats not to suffer from the emotional baggage that can complicate this normal transition for human females. Unless, of course, any people in the animals’ lives don’t see these animal changes as normal. Do older intact (unspayed) female animals have different blood values like older women do? I suspect they do, but once again if such information is out there, I couldn’t find it.
As I repeatedly went over this material, it eventually dawned on me that the time had come to eliminate or get off the pot (cliché #3), step up to the plate (#4), and make up my mind because Frica was due to go into heat again at the end of December. Such a surgery would be elective in every sense of word, and I wanted it done under the best of circumstances. That meant when her reproductive tract was in a resting state.
What it all boiled down to (cliché #5) is that, like everything else related to our pets, if and when to spay or neuter isn’t a one-size-fits-all choice. Ultimately, the balance for my older animal was tipped toward spaying by considerations of the kind that don’t show up in scientific studies. Or at least haven’t yet. One of these was that this wasn’t just about Fric or even just about her and me. We’re part of a household that includes other animals, and one of them is a canine physiological and behavioral wildcard named BeeBee, the brain-damaged corgi. Bee was spayed just prior to her first birthday because of a uterine infection and since then she’s become increasingly intolerant of Fric. Part of this could be because of their respective ages, with Bee making her move to take over, albeit in her own unique way that leaves all the other animals and me unsure what she’s going to do next. But another could be because Frica’s intact status acts like a red flag to Bee for some reason.
In addition to Bee’s sometimes erratic behavior keeping Fric on guard, Fric has shown some subtle signs that have made me question her ovarian function. It didn’t bother me when blood tests to determine when she was ovulating failed because she gave such clear behavioral signs when she was that such tests weren’t necessary. On the other hand, that combined with the fact that she’s a masculinized female (i.e. a female born in a litter of males, four of them in her case), made me wonder whether ovarian function might be a factor as she got older. A factor for what I had no idea. (See previous discussion about the dearth of information regarding normal reproductive hormone function in the aging female dog.) Also, since Fric had her last litter, there have been negative changes in her coat and she had an abbreviated false pregnancy with her last heat cycle, further causing me to wonder about her ovarian function. I recall similar dogs from my years in veterinary medical practice whose coats responded very well post-surgery, but alas also some whose coats didn’t. So maybe Frica’s changes are directly related to her ovaries, but they also could be triggered by her relationship with the other dogs which, in BeeBee’s case, could be indirectly related to Fric’s ovaries. When it came to deciding what all this meant, I put another check mark in the “I’m clueless.” column.
When the day of her appointment came and after going through all I knew one last time and talking to the veterinarian who was going to do the surgery, I decided to have Fric’s ovaries left if they looked normal. But it there was any question that they were not, to remove them along with her uterus. As it turned out, she had a complete ovariohysterectomy and she’s doing very well.
So what did I learn from this? I learned that there are no right or wrong answers and that the only way to be sure is to choose to remain ignorant. Whether we like it or not, the slogan “Responsible pet owners spay and neuter their pets.” is passé. We now live in an age in which responsible pet owners need to educate themselves regarding both the benefits and harm of this surgery, make a conscious choice regarding when and if to do it based on that knowledge plus knowledge of their own animal and households, and then willingly accept the consequences of that choice on all affected.
It ain’t easy. But the carefree days of spay and neuter as an all-positive, practically knee-jerk given are over.
Gone the way of the do-do.
And rightly so.
I started thinking about having Frica spayed after she had her litter last January. Since then, I’ve reviewed many of the studies that are listed in my References section as well as some I haven’t gotten around to posting there yet. But the reality is that there’s not a lot of concrete information out there. There are lots of studies regarding spay and neuter as it relates to the control of specific populations; but there’s much less information about any long-term effects of the surgery on the individual animal. Even more surprising—and frustrating—there’s hardly anything on what intact animals of both sexes normally experience as they age. This brings me to the first cliché, the old geek lament about drowning in data while starving for information. Such was my experience. For all that was out there, there wasn’t much that told me what I wanted to know.
This shouldn’t have surprised me because companion animal veterinary medicine is patterned after human medicine, and we’ve known precious little regarding the mind and body effects of reproductive hormones in humans of any age until relatively recently. This is the fact that belies the sentiment of cliché #2, that ignorance is bliss. Although I suppose there are times when ignorance can be blissful, in medicine and behavior we’re reduced to little more than guessing if we lack a clear understanding of what comprises normal. When that’s the case, the probability of labeling and treating something quite normal as a problem is every bit as high as missing a legitimate problem and failing to treat it at all.
As I repeatedly went over this material, it eventually dawned on me that the time had come to eliminate or get off the pot (cliché #3), step up to the plate (#4), and make up my mind because Frica was due to go into heat again at the end of December. Such a surgery would be elective in every sense of word, and I wanted it done under the best of circumstances. That meant when her reproductive tract was in a resting state.
In addition to Bee’s sometimes erratic behavior keeping Fric on guard, Fric has shown some subtle signs that have made me question her ovarian function. It didn’t bother me when blood tests to determine when she was ovulating failed because she gave such clear behavioral signs when she was that such tests weren’t necessary. On the other hand, that combined with the fact that she’s a masculinized female (i.e. a female born in a litter of males, four of them in her case), made me wonder whether ovarian function might be a factor as she got older. A factor for what I had no idea. (See previous discussion about the dearth of information regarding normal reproductive hormone function in the aging female dog.) Also, since Fric had her last litter, there have been negative changes in her coat and she had an abbreviated false pregnancy with her last heat cycle, further causing me to wonder about her ovarian function. I recall similar dogs from my years in veterinary medical practice whose coats responded very well post-surgery, but alas also some whose coats didn’t. So maybe Frica’s changes are directly related to her ovaries, but they also could be triggered by her relationship with the other dogs which, in BeeBee’s case, could be indirectly related to Fric’s ovaries. When it came to deciding what all this meant, I put another check mark in the “I’m clueless.” column.
So what did I learn from this? I learned that there are no right or wrong answers and that the only way to be sure is to choose to remain ignorant. Whether we like it or not, the slogan “Responsible pet owners spay and neuter their pets.” is passé. We now live in an age in which responsible pet owners need to educate themselves regarding both the benefits and harm of this surgery, make a conscious choice regarding when and if to do it based on that knowledge plus knowledge of their own animal and households, and then willingly accept the consequences of that choice on all affected.
It ain’t easy. But the carefree days of spay and neuter as an all-positive, practically knee-jerk given are over.
Gone the way of the do-do.
And rightly so.