Too old to breed

So here's the story: There is a person with a 9 year old female who 'accidentally' got pregant, and after the whole 'she should have been spayed long ago' arguement, they said

"Well, she wasnt. As they say..stuff happens. So, what happens when that stuff happens? What will happen to my dog?"

So here's the response:

Most likely what will happen is, if she's pregnant, and chances are she is, at her age...

Her uterus has sustained damage over the years during each heat cycle. The uterine wall breaks down every cycle. At 9 years old, her uterus is quite weak. Chances are very high that one of two things will happen...

1. As her uterus begins to enlarge, it ruptures, causing massive internal bleeding and agonizing death. Oh well, stuff happens.

2. One or more of the placentas breaks away from the uterine wall, because it is too weak to sustain it or them, the developing puppy(s) decays and a massive infection occurs, usually causing death with little or no symptoms before it's too late. Oh well, stuff happens.

Of course, things could go just peachy, she has a bunch of cute little puppies, and everything's good, but at her age, the chance of this happening is very slim. Most likely, something will go wrong. And it could have been prevented. The vet can spay her now, even impregnated. It's probably in the dog's best interest that you do that.

Harsh? Probably, but I make no apologies. If you're going to keep an unaltered female, and I have them, that's not my argument here, you must take responsibility and not allow something like this to happen, particularly to a senior dog. Yeah, stuff happens, but when it's something like potentially life threatening, as this is, you need to lose the attitude and get her to a vet first thing in the morning and have her spayed.



Any discussion/experience on this topic ???

 

I think you put it very well, wouldnt change a thing. She needs to know that "oh well" attitude isnt going to help her dog, put her in a bad situation, and if she keeps it up theres a good chance that dog will pay the price because of "oh well, stuff happens".

 

I get what you are saying.I probably wouldnt want this person breeding either. However 9 yrs old is not to old to breed............

 

IF the dog has been bred before. 9 years old having a first time litter, that is way too much for the dog to handle, IMO.

Had this happen to my GSD bitch. We bred her a few times and she didn't take, finally on the fourth (I think, this was a long time ago) time she took. We had xrays done the day of the due date then she went 2 days overdue and when we induced labour we saw the first sings of problems, she was producing black discharge and such. Emergency Csection, she lost all of the puppies and we almost lost her. Big vet bill, emotional damage, a sick dog, no puppies and all that money lost on the health testing, breeding, transport costs and whelping box. And the bitch was only 5.5 years old. We had her spayed while she was under for the Csection. <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

 

Assuming its not her first litter.

 

Yeah, it was her first litter. I edited my post.
I think a dog can be bred when they are older if they have a litter when they are young. Personally, I don't think I'd ever breed a bitch after she's 7 unless it was a proven (for producing) bitch with outstanding health, then I may consider it.

 

Absolutly..........