Preventative care

by Carol
(UK)

We have had a number of dogs through our 30+ year marriage and of course lost some of them too. :(

After our first male dog turned nasty and bit first me then my husband, all our other dogs have been females.
Sadly it took two of them to suffer serious medical issues before we learned a little known benefit of neutering them.

Bramble was a farm dog, a cross between labrodor, collie and lurcher and she was fine until she reached the age of 12, which, for a large dog, wasn’t a bad age. She became ill and we had to take her to the vets. It turned out she had cancer and had to be operated on. Although this gave her some extra time, it wasn’t long before her health took another downward turn. This time she had a womb infection and surgery was unable to save her. It was horrid hang to say goodbye.

Our next dog, Clover, was a labrador cross springer spaniel, and looked like a small, short legged labrador. She was black with touches of white on her chest and front toes.

When she went into season and still had a discharge after it should have finished we knew what the problem could be this time and rushed her to the vet. He did emergency surgery on her and saved her life. She was only four years old at the time. She recovered and went on to live for a total of fourteen years before she had a series of strokes and we had to put her to sleep. My son, who she belonged to, was devastated, but was brave enough to be with her to say good bye.

Hoping to avoid another occurrence of the dreaded Pyometra (womb infection) we had our current two girls spayed while they were still young. In addition to preventing that problem, apparently it also helps protect against mammary cancer in bitches.

Skye, another springer cross Labrador, is now seven, and although she does have health issues such as allergies, and is beginning to have trouble getting up after being asleep, is still energetic most of the time and enjoys nothing more than chasing and retrieving her ball or anything else that is handy at the time. We are hoping that she still has another seven years left in her.

Poppy is our first little dog, a Jack Russell crossed with a Border Terrier. She is now four years old and, touch wood, has had no serious health issues so far. Being a small dog we are hoping that she will follow in the footsteps of my mother-in-law's Jack Russell and will live until she is 17 or 18.

Getting older ourselves, we are not sure if at that time we will have the energy to take on another dog, especially a puppy, so she may be our last. I am dreading that day, as I have always had dogs as pets.