Help - advice on best course of action

Weezy

Weezy

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Hi everyone

I seldom venture in here, but I am throwing myself to you all as need some wise words :)

I have a 7 year old Springer Spaniel bitch who unfortunately came into season whilst being looked after as I was on holiday and was covered by my friend's lab. They were tied for a good while and the consensus is *if she isn't in pup she cannot ever get in pup*, so it was the real thing.

This happened on Thursday, so too late for the morning after injection. My questions are...

I take it my only 2 options are to let the pregnancy take it's course or have her spade?

Is 7 really too old to have her first (and only) litter?

If she does have pups are Springadors easy to home?

How soon can I find out she is pregnant?

Costs of seeing her through said pregnancy?

Any other help!

Thanks guys, I am a bit shocked about it all.
 
Please have an emergency spay.

7 is getting up there but not massivly to old. However prgnancy and whelping is hard on a bitch espeically a bitch of this age and you have to be prepared for the absoulte worst if you go through with it.

For a easy pregnancy you are looking at maybe $1000 for any complications you are getting up to $5000-8000 (this is in pounds i just dont have a pound sign).
 
my friends lab disappeared last year and visited the local cocker down the lane unknown to her owners until she started getting fat.......she was 7/8 at the time and had 6 healthy puppies naturally no complications and no vet present, all puppies were adorable and quickly found homes and the bitch is still alive and kicking.
 
I know most people will say have her spayed straight away but i would go see your vet and get an expert opinion. In theory we are playing god by spaying an animal even if it is for the right reasons.
 
OMG thanks Katielou...going to have to sell something and fast, don't have that kind of money lying round the house!

When can an e-spay be done until? Sorry for all the questions but obv vet isn't in now and I really want to try and get my head straight before the morning otherwise I am going to worry myself sick all night :(
 
Gah, bloody dogs!!!

I would emergency spay, personally, because of her age and because it is unplanned.
If you do plan to go ahead with it I would start lining the homes up now and I would charge a nominal fee if not give them away as (and I am just assuming here, correct me if I am wrong :)) there are no health tests (IE hip/elbow x-rays with low scores) or show/working titles.
The cost of the pregnancy, how long is a piece of string? Some dogs can breed and breed and breed and have no issues at all, while a long-awaited and carefully planned and thought-out litter with every consideration taken, can end in disaster.

I don't know what area Katielou is talking about but that sounds very expensive :o

If she has the litter I would spay anyway, older, open bitches can get pyometra which is a horrible condition :(
 
Your Vet can inject her with a drug called Alizin up to about 15 days after the messalliance. You will need to take her on 2 consecutive days, and it won't be cheap, but cheaper than spaying.
 
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Thanks Cavecanem - yes I would have her spayed anyway, I was going to do it this year as although we always planned to breed from her life got in the way (being flooded out of the house for 2 years, etc.) and it didn't happen. You are correct, there are no health tests, no showing accolades, just 2 very, very lovely dogs, well trained, gorgeous to look at, who everyone wants to own but that are, unfortunately, different breeds. I will be honest, if the SS had got to her then I would hedge my bets and go for it, but Springadors...having looked up what they look like they can go from gorgeous to butt ugly and very wrong looking...that sounds like a vanity thing, but no one wants an ugly dog really, do they! The age is a concern too.

Thanks guys, think I will speak to vet tomorrow and see what he advises. Am sure I can pay in instalments for the spaying if needs be too, no good vet would say no, surely!
 
It's not really about accolades, please don't get me wrong, I'm not all about the shiny things :p but especially with the lab, there are hereditary conditions which may not be apparent to the naked eye but are lurking in the genes and can be passed on down the generations which is why I always advocate appropriate tests.
This is just my opinion by the way, not knocking anyone but lovely dogs with good character and health tested dogs are not mutually exclusive.

There are tonnes of lovely, well trained, gorgeous dogs in the world, everybody thinks their dogs are wonderful and sadly that is why there is so much overbreeding.
 
Oh gosh, I completely agree with everything you are saying, especially about health screening. My point was only that they are both gorgeous canines and it would be v easy to just let it happen, but I am afraid I am very much of the old fashioned ilk of not cross breeding and certainly not allow pups to happen just because they are cute ;)

My bitch is wonderful, as is the dog, but that certainly does not guarantee wonderful pups and therein lies my main concern.
 
I would go for the emergency spay. 7 is pretty old for a first litter, most decent breeders would think quite hard about taking a litter from an experienced brood bitch of this age. A friend recently had a planned first litter from her GSD aged 5, ended up having a caesarian.:( I know this can happen at any time but just as with humans, the older they are the greater the chance of things going wrong.
I know a couple of springadors, from different litters, they look totally different but have one thing in common, they are blooming hard work for their owners. In fact one is on her third home as her previous owners couldn't cope, so if she did have the pups you would have to make sure prospective owners know they are taking on a high energy gundog.
 
Misinterpreted said:
:eek: A standard spaying for a young bitch doesn't cost anything like that! I don't know what the price difference, if any, for spaying a pregnant bitch, so best ask your own vet for an idea on costs.
Click to expand...

It costs substantially more same as spaying a bitch in season.

For everyone i have been involved in (through our rescue) it has been around that much in Hampshire.
 
Our Large Munsterlander ended up accidentally tied to our Golden Retriever bitch......the day after he was "snipped"!!!!! She had a course of injections within a day or two to ensure there were no "Golden Landers"!!

With regard to Springadors, we have a Springador bitch - accidental mating of two really good gun dogs - she's a year old on 4th August - and she's proving to be a brilliant little gun dog despite all the other members of the gun dog training group turning up their noses at "just a mongrel"! She's a little star! A new-ish member actually asked my daughter today whether our pup had any Springer in her, noticing, for the first time, her white with black flecks chest - until then she thought she was a black lab!
 
We recently had a suspected pregnant basset bitch spayed for Basset Hound Welfare.
It was not classed as an emergency spay as it was done by appointment and we paid under £150 (Midlands).
Emergency spay, eg for a pyo, would have cost about double.
 
Read back through my posts about Chlo to understand why you shouldn't even be contemplating going through with this really unless they're health tested.

Gosh it's so sad though :(
 
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