Last month I discussed some medical reasons to spay and neuter your pets. This month I want to touch on behavioral reasons to spay and neuter your pets. I am not a pet behavioralist but with over 40 years of experience dealing with pets, I have seen numerous cases of dog-to-dog aggression. I take time in the exam room to discuss concerns with having multiple intact males or females on property related to aggression. Dogs and cats alike have pecking orders within their packs. These pecking orders offer peace and order within the home. The challenge comes when a younger intact dog reaches sexual maturity and the older dog ( intact or altered) has established top dog status to this point. Now the younger dog decides to challenge the older dog for that top dog role. We see the traumatic injuries and even death resulting from that challenge. Sometimes owners will see little outbursts and come to the aid of the younger dog not realizing they are messing with the pecking order. This makes the younger dog feel entitled and more confident in their attempt to take over top dog status. Then one day owners return to a home that looks like a murder has been committed. Crises like these can be avoided by practicing spay/neuter procedures on your dogs. Leaving your dog intact has no benefit when it comes to behavior issues. I had a woman who bred her dog and had a litter of puppies. She then decided to spay her dog and told me that after 3 years she finally had the dog she wanted from the start. I quickly explained that if she had spayed her earlier, she could have avoided all the worldly behaviors she displayed. It is easy to tell when a dog is intact. They cannot stop sniffing when they meet or greet someone new. Their noses go into overdrive taking in all the different smells surrounding them. When they have been spayed or neutered, they can just relax and be a member of the family. They do not always have to be on high alert.

Spayed/neutered dogs settle into a routine much more quickly. Spayed/neutered dogs are better listeners. Spayed/neutered dogs do not mark or wander as frequently unless they started those behaviors prior to the spay/neuter. Once a dog has discovered fun things during their wandering days, they will potentially continue wanting to seek out those activities. Sometimes it is finding another dog or person to play with. Sometimes it was food that they found, and it continues to draw them back again.  Sometimes we do not know what keeps them wandering but it can lead to much frustration and certainly the chance of injury or death when they get off property. I once had a client call me to report their 8-year-old boxer was missing. During the conversation he asked why after 8 years his dog would run off?  That was a crystal ball question. There are no concrete reasons why dogs run off. They are animals and they have their own thoughts and sometimes those thoughts make them do crazy or unusual things.

This month’s case is Nova a 6-year-old intact female. She lives in a home with a younger intact female that is two times her size who recently reached sexual maturity. The resulting injuries were most likely triggered by the younger, larger dogs’ decision to challenge Nova for top dog position. The female-to-female relationship is the hardest to predict. The following quote is from an article published by AVMA about interdog aggression (IDA) within a home. If interested in the entire publication you can follow this link: https://avmajournals.avma.org/view/journals/javma/256/3/javma.256.3.349.xml

In households with IDA, female dogs are more likely than male dogs to be involved in aggressive episodes^8–10 and to be more aggressive, which frequently translates into more severe injuries and a greater likelihood for a poor outcome.¹¹ Overrepresentation of female dogs as aggressors in IDA is notable because male dogs are often the aggressors in other behavioral-related diagnoses.^8,9,12–17 Almost 70% of dog pairs with IDA (IDA pairs) involve dogs of the same sex, with FF pairs being the most common.^2,3 Female dogs are often identified as the aggressor in IDA pairs.^3,8,a Results of 1 study³ also indicate that female dogs are more likely to inflict injuries that require medical attention, although the frequency of those types of injuries was not associated with the probability of a poor outcome in that study. Within IDA pairs, the aggressor is frequently younger¹⁸ and is likely to have been acquired or introduced into the household more recently than the recipient,^2,3 regardless of sex. The interaction between FF pairs is less likely to improve following treatment than is the interaction between MF or MM pairs.² When the Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire is used, female dogs generally score higher than male dogs on questions related to canine-directed aggression (ie, are subjectively more aggressive).¹⁹ Even though improvement of IDA is less likely to occur when the aggressor is younger than the recipient,³ to our knowledge, the likelihood of improvement in IDA when the dogs involved are the same age or when there is a profound difference in age has not been investigated.

It is wise to consider a dog of the opposite sex when deciding to get a second dog. Our recommendation is to spay/neuter young dogs to potentially avoid IDA in the home. With the recent push to postpone spay/neuter procedures until dogs are fully grown, we are seeing more cases of IDA. I am not talking about an adult dog putting a young puppy in its place when they first come into the home. That is a common scenario and can be managed by allowing the puppy to get a few corrections and then it will accept its place in the pack. The IDA I am referring to comes as the younger dog or newer dog attempts to challenge the leader in your home. If you see that, it is important to spay/neuter as quickly as possible or make decisions about separation, muzzles, rehoming to avoid traumatic events such as this one with Nova. 

Nova did recover nicely from her bite wound but it was unfortunate that it happened in the first place. No one wants to see this happen between their dogs. Be certain to consider these potential issues as you wait to spay/neuter your pet. 

Spring is right around the corner, and we are ready to go outdoors. Time for rain to wash away the grime of the winter. Time for the grass to turn green. Time to leave old man winter behind.

Graduating in 1988, from the college of Veterinary Medicine, came with lots of information and challenges ahead of me in my veterinary career. I embraced those challenges and began finding my rhythm working with clients and their patients. The number of unwanted puppies/kittens was at an all-time high. Shelters were frustrated because a family would adopt a pet, and the shelter would request notification that it had been spayed or neutered once it was old enough for the procedure. Many times, that pet went without being spayed or neutered and ended up having a litter of puppies or the male dog was running around breeding any intact female in season. To curb this problem, it was decided to start spay/neuter procedures at an earlier age. As shelters had success with that practice the veterinary community took note and followed along. Today there has been a shift in thinking. Many breeders and veterinarians are encouraging pet owners to wait until the dogs are full grown before doing spay procedures. There are veterinarians on both sides of this debate advocating for the longevity and health of our furry friends.

Recently we were asked to spay two breeding females a person had acquired. He noted they were coming into heat every 4 months. He did have intact males on property which was causing disturbances amongst the pack. It was suggested to spay both females since he had no intentions of breeding them.  We discussed briefly health concerns for females as they age. The female hormones when left unchecked can lead to infections and cysts. These conditions can lead to poor health and weight loss over time.

A surgery date was set, and he brought in Kimber, an 8-year-old yellow lab. She was underweight at the time of her presurgical exam. A Complete Blood Count (CBC) and Profile were done to check values.  She had a normal body temperature. The owner had noticed a discharge and felt it was related to her most recent heat cycle. The White Blood Cell (WBC) was elevated at >40,000 (normal is < 17,000) with most of the cells being neutrophils and monocytes indicating long term infection. She also was slightly anemic at presentation. Her profile showed mild dehydration, and the owner was contacted to discuss her case. We suspected that she had a pyometra. The photo below shows the size of her uterus at the time of surgery. It was necessary to proceed with the procedure to remove the infection from her body so she could regain her appetite and body condition. A lactated ringer’s solution was started as an Intravenous drip to rehydrate her and perfuse her kidneys during the surgical procedure. A small mammary tumor was removed alongside the incision at the time of her skin closure. She recovered nicely and returned home the following day when her housemate Suzie came in for her spay procedure.

Suzie came in 2 months shy of turning 11 years old. She was a chocolate labrador retriever. The owner had no concerns about her aside from her multiple heat cycles in a year.  Her weight was normal and her blood work was within the normal range. During her spay procedure it was discovered that her ovaries were cystic and enlarged. She did not have infection in her uterus like Kimber but having this condition would cause her to have irregular cycles and hormonal changes to her mammary tissues. The photo below shows the enlarged ovaries with cysts present in large numbers. No mammary tumors were found on Suzie at this time.

Why not spay to avoid both conditions?  That is the question of the decade. If a dog or cat are spayed before their 2^nd heat cycle their chances of mammary cancer is 0%. That Is a good reason to spay at a young age. We suggest right at 6 months, but it can be done sooner. We like to check for retained baby teeth at the same time as the spay. Right at 6 months all baby teeth should have fallen out. They will still get in molars up until 10 months of age, but the baby teeth should be gone.

I recently found this article from a veterinarian that I thought had some very good information about the debate on what age should sterilization procedures be performed. He included a nice chart with explanations of what he believes would be the best time for these procedures based on the size, sex, and age of the dogs. Give this information much consideration since leaving them intact has its issues as well.  Not only the pathology at the time of surgery, like the above cystic ovaries and pyometra, but also issues to behaviors and other cancers that can be a problem if waiting to do the sterilization procedure.

https://humanepro.org/magazine/articles/deconstructing-spayneuter-debate

I personally have had all large breed male dogs that were neutered before 6 months of age and none of them had any issues with joints related to removing those hormones before they were mature. I did the procedures early to avoid hormonal influences that would lead to marking, wandering, territorial guarding, aggression, etc. I am concerned about the behaviors that will be evident with people waiting to spay and neuter when their pet is full grown. I have experienced that in practice in the 1990’s and believe me early spay and neuter is the way to go. Pets heal so much faster when they are younger. We have fewer complications with incision healing and swelling. The cost is going to be less.

Do your research. Talk to your veterinarian. Talk to your breeder. Then take all this information and decide what is right for your pet. What is right for one pet may be different for your next pet. There is no one size fits all on this topic. Have a Happy Valentine’s Day. 

These blogs have been going strong since 2016. After all these years it can get more challenging to come up with new topics. Then it occurred to me that we always have interesting cases or clients that make our days at Winterset Veterinary Center ever changing.

Why not focus on the array of critters we see daily and the cases that make us scratch our heads or say “wow”, I have never seen that in 36 years! I will attempt to cover as many species as possible in our cases.

First up in 2025 is our little friend Bella. Bella is: 8 years old – female spayed – Bichon Frise mix.

Bella presented because of accidents in the house. They had noticed she would strain at times going to the bathroom. One of the days she had blood in her urine on the floor. She was eating fine and had not had any changes to her behavior except for urinary issues. We collected urine and discovered a large amount of blood in the urine that was not visible just looking at it. Urine color and concentration was normal. Her blood work was within the normal range. A lateral radiograph was taken, and we discovered the cause of blood in her urine. 

Radiographs can be difficult to read with some conditions, but bladder stones show up as white spots in the bladder (red arrow) because they have mineral density just like bone. The stone is in the bladder not in kidneys like many people have reported. These stones do cause inflammation and infection thereby relating to Bella’s accidents with blood in them in the house. Interesting to note on this radiograph is the thin white line (yellow arrow) on the heart. This is Bella’s microchip. They show up extremely well on radiographs because of the metal in them.

Since Bella was straining and having accidents in the house the owner elected to have surgery done to remove the stone.  Some bladder stones can be dissolved with special urinary diets. The process can take weeks to complete but it is an option if an owner does not feel comfortable having their pet under anesthesia.  Bella was put on antibiotics before and after surgery. Her recovery was quick, and her owner reported that she feels better now than she had in a long time.

This is a photo of the bladder stone that was removed. Bella will remain on urinary formulas to prevent issues for her in the future. There is no way to know if your dog will have this medical condition. It is no different than people who report kidney stones. Yes, we may know certain things can predispose us to the kidney stones but not everyone who eats those foods or drinks that soda will get kidney stones. That holds true for our dogs as well. If you suspect your dog is having urinary issues, make certain to contact your veterinarian so your furry friend can get back to feeling great in the New Year. 

Thank you for a great 2024 and we look forward to seeing you in 2025. We are so grateful for your referrals. We grow more by word of mouth than any other form of referral. We appreciate your trust and confidence while we care for your fur babies and those of family and friends. Happy New Year!