To spay or not to spay

[Christopher Doyle]

I have 2 litter sisters who have been inclined to fight quite viciously. It has been suggested that I have one or both spayed. One of the bitches(8months) is looking good for racing and I do not want to jeopardise her progress. Has anyone any experience in this area? Will spaying adversly affect the bitch? How long will it be before she can resume exercise? Is she likely to put on weight following such an operation? Any help. Thanks

 

[June Jonigk]

Hi Chris

I had the very same problem.  We had one bitch spayed, and it did improve the situation a little, but things were much better when they were both spayed.  I think our mistake was having the more dominant bitch spayed first (to calm her down we thought).  Actually it is better to have the more submissive bitch spayed, which then allows the other to be more dominant and get away with it.  If you intend to race your bitches you may want to keep them intact.  The sisters I'm talking about were show bred, and we never expected much of them on the racing scene - they were however very very keen, and put as much into their racing as the race bred bitches we have now.  We did have our first race bred bitch spayed also, she was done at 5 months, and it's amazing just how much quicker and easier the op is if done before their first season.  I worked at the vets, as so saw the uterus when it was removed.  It was tiny compared to one that has matured after a season, she only needed two stitiches.  My vet advised spaying to save the nuisance of seasons during the racing season - we had also decided that we would not breed from her.  A few years down the line we regret having her spayed.  She turned out to be not too bad at racing, and who knows what she might have done had she been intact.  We also decided we would have liked to breed from her after all!  Most greyhound vets will tell you it does make a difference to their speed.  Our vet said it was rubbish, but you only need look at the way a bitch runs just before a season to see that hormones do play their part.  

I always preach to people about keeping litter sisters - I know so many who have problems.  Mine would have fought to the death, and each time we had to physically pull them apart.  Once one had the other by the throat, and just would not let go - we had to hit her to get her off.  It was not pleasant, and very scary.  Minutes later they would be lying together licking each others wounds.  So yes spaying did help, but maybe you should do the less bossy bitch, and let the other one take over.

Mine have never put on weight after, but I guess you just feed them whatever amount keeps them slim.

Good luck with whatever you decide, and maybe we will see you at some of the opens this year.

 

[NEILPEM]

hi chris i'd wait and see how good they are first,

as you may want to breed with them,i had a dog

castrated it never calmed him down at all,he also

lost yards.but there are some that gain yards.you

never know.

 

[dawn]

Hi Chris

We have 6 bitches none of which have been spayed, they are 3 lots of litter sisters. We have never had any problem with aggression, although from experience I do know that racing stock have a totally different temprement to show stock.

I would never have any of mine spayed unless it was absolutley necessary.

IMHO a bitch should only be spayed for medical reasons, not because we cant cope with the mess of the season.

How many bitches do you have altogether?

Maybe they are just trying to esablish the pecking order.

 

[jensen]

One of the bitches(8months) is looking good for racing and I do not want to jeopardise her progress. Has anyone any experience in this area? Will spaying adversly affect the bitch? How long will it be before she can resume exercise? Is she likely to put on weight following such an operation? Any help. Thanks

i have no experience with regard to the dominance situation but i do have a spayed bitch that is a competitive racer.

i would not recommend spaying before the first season. estrogen is crucial to the development and tone of the bladder sphincter and spaying before the bitch has reached sexual maturity can lead to estrogen-related incontinence later in life. in males, the sex hormones produced during growth also affect how the dog's musculoskeletal system develops. i don't know if this is the case in bitches but i wouldn't want to chance it.

as for weight gain: my bitch was spayed at 24 months and is in wonderful condition. i wonder if the weight gain is maybe just line-related and not so much related to the actual spay surgery.

we took our bitch to race practice shortly after her stitches were removed (so, two or three weeks) and gave her a couple of runs. asuming that there are no complications from the surgery, i would think this would be fine for any bitch.

it does change their performance level somewhat. i found that she no longer had that pre-season surge of speed but then neither did she have the nine weeks of horrid performance after coming out of season. so, no peaks or valleys, just a nice, consistent race performance.

cheers,

jen