Evidence of spay

[MaryP]

I have been asked to help place a female bc that the owner wishes to rehome. I am happy to do this, but have told the owner that I will not courtesy list a dog that has not already been spayed or neutered. Her response to me was that the vet could not tell if she was spayed without "further testing" and that it was thought that she had a hormone imbalance because she had never gone into heat. The woman says that she's had the dog since it was 5 months old and she just turned three a few days ago.

 

Does this sound reasonable? Can't a vet check to see if there is a scar from the spay?

[Guest pax]

Well, this isn't very scientific but I just rolled all three corgis over and I can see their spay scars. On Lily, especially, because her tum has just been shaved for her biopsy, I can even see where the stitches or staples were. They are pink skinned and white furred on the bottom.

[PSmitty]

I dunno. Once, a co-worker found a stray and decided to keep her. The vet didn't know until she had her "opened up" that the dog had already been spayed...

[TheStacks]

I cannot see Zoey's spay scar AT ALL, in fact. The vet was very skilled and when my mom (a surgical nurse) looked at the incision that very first day, she noted that it was done so well that a scar would be difficult to find.

[ShoresDog]

I got Daisy when she was approximately 1 or 1.5 years old. The vet could not find a scar to know if she'd been spayed or not, and she said that when dogs are spayed young, they often cannot find a scar or marking when the dog's older. So, what to do? We went ahead and had her spayed anyhow, praying that it wasn't a "re-spay." It turned out she hadn't been spayed previously. And now, two years later, I can't find her scar!

[Guest WoobiesMom]

Couldn't they do an ultrasound to see if there's a uterus or ovaries present w/o having to do a surgery? Maybe the woman could put up the money or get a vet statement as a condition to getting the dog rehomed. I'm sure someone wouldn't mind spaying her if necessary.

[Dixie_Girl]

Remember when fooshuman got Hope? And he was happy cuz there was a scar indicating a spay? And then she went into heat? She was NOT spayed and he had to have her done. They never figured out what the scar was from, to my knowledge. So, I suppose that a scar doesn't mean a spay, and from the post from Shoresdog, lack of one doesn't mean anything either. I would think an ultra sound would do the trick.

[juliepoudrier]

Unless you're in an area where ultrasound is routinely done, it can be quite expensive, more than the cost of a spay. Of course you do avoid unnecessary surgery. I like the idea of haivng the owner contribute the cost of a spay even if she doesn't want to do it herself. I wonder why the vet didn't follow up on the apparent hormone imbalance as I imagine that wouldn't necessarily be a healthy thing either.

 

Where did the owner get the dog? Unless it was shelter, it's unlikely she was spayed before the age of 5 months. I'd be curious to know also what the vet means by "further testing."

 

J.

[Liz P]

It's really hard to tell. If she never had her spayed and got her from a non rescue situation she is probably intact.

 

BTW, sometimes there will be extra ovarian tissue in the abdomen and the dog will go into heat after being spayed. I forgot the % of time that happens but it is surprisingly high. They can't get pregnant but will attract male dogs and the uterine stump may even bleed.

[MaryP]

I wonder why the vet didn't follow up on the apparent hormone imbalance as I imagine that wouldn't necessarily be a healthy thing either.

 

 

I sort of got the impression from her email that she couldn't afford or didn't want to pay for the "further testing."

 

Where did the owner get the dog? Unless it was shelter, it's unlikely she was spayed before the age of 5 months.

 

She didn't say where she got the dog, but she said that she has the ABCA application for her. So, you'd think she would have known whether the dog was spayed or not. I also agree that it is unlikely that the dog was spayed before 5 months.

 

My guess is that she doesn't want to pay to have the dog spayed and is hoping that I'll help her if her answer to my question is somewhat nebulous. If I could afford it and had the room, I'd just ask her to surrender the dog to me and I'd take care of it. I may just try to get her to surrender the dog to another rescue down here, if she has the room.

[Guest TheRuffMuttGang]

My vet claims to be able to feel a scar if a dog's been spayed. With Seven, he felt a scar but it was small so he wasn't sure that it was a spay scar but rather an umbilical hernia repair scar. He was right. Seven went into heat a couple of days after she came here.

[Tassie]

Doesn't help Mary, but I just realised it's probably for this sort of reason that vets here in Oz routinely do a little spay tattoo inside the dog's ear (way inside, in Kirra's case) - unless the owner specifically asks that the tatt not be done. Sounds like that isn't routine practice over your side?

[Bo Peep]

You can't always "feel a scar". In fact we had some come into the shelter claimed to be spayed but once "opened up" were not. It's a hit and miss thing with females. Sometimes the scars show, sometimes they don't.

[Bill Fosher]

I'd say the chances that this bitch is spayed are slim to none, and slim just left town.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

slim just left town.

 

LOL Bill.

 

I'll give you odds she's lying, plain and simple. Scenario two, the Border Collie has been in heat and it simply went unnoticed. Much less likely.

 

And the final scenario, that there's a hormone imbalance - I had a bitch that made it two and a half and never did go into heat. My vet was clamoring to have her spayed once she'd gotten to be about fourteen months and still hadn't had a season. It's not a healthy thing. Oddly, I had a close relative (mother was first dog's half sister), who started cycling and basically didn't stop.

 

So either way this dog needs to be checked out. An US would do the trick but could be very pricey. My vet will open up rescues for me, for just the cost of the supplies, if no hysterectomy is needed. Have I mentioned before how much I love my vet?

[Guest TheRuffMuttGang]

I wasn't talking about a visible scar on the surface. My vet says that there is almost always a scar you can feel (if you know what it is you're feeling for, I guess, because I can't ever feel one) underneath the skin.

[Nikki Larned]

I wasn't talking about a visible scar on the surface. My vet says that there is almost always a scar you can feel (if you know what it is you're feeling for, I guess, because I can't ever feel one) underneath the skin.

I was just looking at my girl Lucy's tummy and I was able to see the very faint scar, she is 9 years old and was spayed at 8 months. I guess you can see it sometimes and sometimes the scar is not noticeable

[Guest Freckles LaLa Mom]

Unless you're in an area where ultrasound is routinely done, it can be quite expensive, more than the cost of a spay. Of course you do avoid unnecessary surgery. I like the idea of haivng the owner contribute the cost of a spay even if she doesn't want to do it herself. I wonder why the vet didn't follow up on the apparent hormone imbalance as I imagine that wouldn't necessarily be a healthy thing either.

 

Where did the owner get the dog? Unless it was shelter, it's unlikely she was spayed before the age of 5 months. I'd be curious to know also what the vet means by "further testing."

 

J.

 

prollly means "I'll need eighty more dollars" for further testing. feeling and possibly a shave