Why you should consider having your pet spayed or neutered? And maybe why you should consider getting a second dog or an older dog.

A personal anecdote from the President of the SQDA.

Just to relate a personal experience with you and to demonstrate that “ignorance may be bliss” but knowledge helps everyone! I currently have a ten year old female Beagle that I only had spayed at the age of 8 because she suddenly developed tumors next to a couple of her nipples and on other parts of her body. The tumors and her uterus and ovaries where removed, biopsies done, everything was benign. Apparently she (and I) were lucky. She recovered well from the surgery (it did take a lot of time though and it was major surgery), she had never gotten pregnant, the cost was a few hundred dollars and she and her biped companion (me) went through a lot of stress with this surgery. This all may have been avoided had I had her spayed when she was younger.

Why didn’t I have her spayed earlier?

Well I thought that it was a crime to cut out healthy tissue from an animal; I thought that it would be nice to have puppies from this lovely dog; I thought it would be easy to avoid her getting accidentally pregnant (unlike a cat, a female dog only comes into season twice a year); I thought her personality would change; I thought she would become obese.

Then I found out that Beagles could have litters in the double digits, I could easily place three or four puppies but not a dozen! I also found out that protecting her from males when she was in season was not as easy as I thought, I would transport her in the car miles away from home and let her walk in the woods to leave her aphrodisiacal smell miles away from the house. Nevertheless we always had a number of Romeo’s (males that had not been neutered) hanging around my house during her seasons, which also meant that I was contributing to dogs running loose and upsetting my neighbors. Once the surgery was done, her personality did not really change, if anything she is a little mellower. She did gain some weight, but the Veterinarian and I put her on a special diet and now she looks Gorgeous!! People are incredulous when I say she is 10 years old, they think she is a much younger dog! Her coat is shiny, her spirit is strong, she is very playful, she still tries to sneak out of the backyard (she is a Beagle after all), and she is svelte and still as affectionate and gentle as ever. (I see an extra little tinge of white fur colouring her face and her lashes are now paler, but that is all).

One extra thing I did do following surgery; Sméagol (my Beagle), was having a rough time recovering from this extensive surgery (not only did they remove the Uterus, the Fallopian tubes and the tumors, but also removed two affected nipples and three bumps on her chest and a shoulder). Apparently the formation of bumps in an older dog is not unusual. And as I indicated before, she was eight years old and being supervised by a Vet and by me and all excised tissue was analyzed and everything was benign.

This was extensive surgery, and Sméagol was recovering slowly, so on the recommendation of my Veterinarian and my own personal research I decided to do the following: I got Sméagol a canine companion!!

I first checked with the Municipal by-laws, I live in Laval, we are allowed two dogs per household. So Ok on that front. I looked up information for Beagles, and all indicated the same thing, Beagles are pack animals, ideally you should think of having at least two!

So the next thing I knew, by happenstance, another dog came my way. (This is a long story, a lovely story, a touching story, but for another time.)

So now I have two dogs, two hunting dogs, two females, both spayed, both extremely affectionate and the best part is they get along marvelously.

The new one is younger and more active so this has rubbed off on the older one and the latter being older and wiser has influenced the new arrival.

So now I am most pleased to say that I share my household with Sméagol the Beagle and Lyla the Jack Russel (aka Lyla the Werewolf).

Yes there is a literary connection between my dogs names and their breeds and a volunteer from Animatch has figured it out and Animatch has received a special financial contribution from myself for solving this puzzle. My offer to Animatch was that to anyone who could make the literary link between my dogs through their breeds and names would receive a special financial contribution. Can anyone out there reading this (of course not related to Animatch) solve this puzzle? If so I will make the same financial contribution to the SQDA.

In conclusion, I would like to indicate that I now share my household with two dogs, two rescue dogs; two dogs that I acquired at an older age and not as puppies, two dogs that are healthy, happy, affectionate and sterile and I could not imagine my life without them. And the best part is I am pleased to report that Sméagol since her surgery has had no further bumps (tumors)!

My best regards to all reading this message and hoping that it may give you “paws” for reflection,

Toni Andrea Belschner

President of the SQDA, and always open and ready to learn new information about animals.