Advice please - heat prevention treatment

[jessjc]

Hello,

I have two dogs which we eventually would like to breed. However, whilst Tally, our 6 month springer bitch is still so young, we were wondering what your experiences are with treatments to prevent her from going on heat? Any advice/suggestions would be most welcome!

Thank you (in advance)!

 

[MurphysMinder]

I'm not sure what is offered nowadays but it used to be an injection to delay a season, but didn't totally stop it. I used it once when a bitch was due in season for an important show but regretted it, on the vets advice we left her a clear season before she was mated but she didn't have a proper season, her next season was also erratic so we abandoned plans to breed from her. If your pup is 6 months, you are talking about 3 possibly 4 seasons until she is old enough to mate, presuming her hips etc are okay, that is quite a lot of chemical interference to stop the seasons. Can you not just keep them apart for the first season, then at least before the next one you will have been able to have both her and the male scored and will be able to decide if you are still going to breed from them and then make plans to deal with future seasons.
Of course if different treatments are on offer now which are better for the bitch I will shut up and creep off to the old timers corner.

 

[horsies4coursies]

delvosteron can be used to delay, permanently stop heats - see the info from the data sheet below

Oestrus control
(i) Bitches
Permanent postponement of heat (repeat injections given in 'anoestrus'/metoestrus induced by the previous administration of the product).
Temporary postponement of heat (a single injection given in anoestrus).
Suppression of heat (a single injection given at the beginning of pro-oestrus).

but can play havoc with the next couple of heats as murphy's minder said - you may find it easier just to keep the two dogs apart until you are ready and they have been health checked

 

[jessjc]

Thank you so much for your advice. We were planning on keeping them apart anyway (luckily I have very obliging parents on hand), but I just didn't want her to be hurt too early, .e. if we didn't spot her season quickly enough. The heat treatment idea was really just a back up, but I think when it comes down to it, it is probably unnecessary, especially if it can have such a big effect on them.

Need to so rather a lot of reading/thinking before we commit to breeding them.

 

[Clodagh]

In the old days whjen I had un neutered dogs and bitches there was never any problems about them coming in season and the dog getting them before you noticed. I'm no breeding expert but the bitches would never stand for a dog until they were fertile later on in the cycle. (Not that we ever bred any, they were kept well apart from first blood spot for a month)

 

[Oenoke]

I did enquire about getting an inj for Skye to stop her coming in season for Crufts last year (qualified for agility, a once in a lifetime experience), luckily for me she came in season a good month before, so was out of season for Crufts, but when I did enquire the reaction I got was that it could be done, but had side effects, so was best avoided.

Why don't you get the chemical castration implant for the dog (I think it's called Superloin or something like that), you can get 1 that lasts 6 months or a year and them would have to leave time after that if you were planning on mating (I believe a year for the 6 month 1 for the sperm count to be back to normal). This implant can also be used on the bitch, but I think as it's been used for longer in the dog I'd go for that option.

If you're breeding from 2 dogs you own, do they compliment each other, breed lines, conformation, etc? Are you getting all relevant health tests for the breed? Have you got experience of standing a dog at stud? It's not as easy as just putting 2 dogs in the same room, especially if both are maidens.