josebrwn
6th March 2003, 21:03
Took the day off work today and brought lil Miss to the Vet's for boosters. She was a big smash and got lots of treats and hugs and they let her roam around in the office and beg treats from everyone. She slipped the tongue to one of the techs (a favorite trick) and made lots of friends. Digital weight was 96.6 lbs. They poked and prodded and asked lots of questions, and in the end gave her a clean bill of health. They were all amazed at how strong she was and of course I told them all about weight pulling.
I asked the vet about spaying - my trainer had said that there's a big cancer risk the longer you wait. This was before Bess was even two and it struck me as weird - can't breed before two, can't even get an OFA, or even a temp test before 18 months, but suddenly it's an emergency to breed or spay before two?? Something seemed wrong. He told me if you spay before the first heat you can eliminate the risk of breast cancer - which is usually malignant. Next milestone is two years, before that you can reduce the risk of other types of cancer. After that the only advantage is no uterine infections, simply since there's no uterus. Bottom line is, after two it's just convenience - do you want to put up with the heats or not?
About the ears, I asked barring a crop what else can be done cosmetically if the ears don't lay right. This was interesting - he said when they're pups you can weight the ears and that will cause them to lay down. Once the cartilage has formed it's too late. He was glad I'd ruled out cropping her ears. "They've already outlawed it in Canada", he said, "and they're trying to do it here. We try to stay away from it."
I asked the vet about spaying - my trainer had said that there's a big cancer risk the longer you wait. This was before Bess was even two and it struck me as weird - can't breed before two, can't even get an OFA, or even a temp test before 18 months, but suddenly it's an emergency to breed or spay before two?? Something seemed wrong. He told me if you spay before the first heat you can eliminate the risk of breast cancer - which is usually malignant. Next milestone is two years, before that you can reduce the risk of other types of cancer. After that the only advantage is no uterine infections, simply since there's no uterus. Bottom line is, after two it's just convenience - do you want to put up with the heats or not?
About the ears, I asked barring a crop what else can be done cosmetically if the ears don't lay right. This was interesting - he said when they're pups you can weight the ears and that will cause them to lay down. Once the cartilage has formed it's too late. He was glad I'd ruled out cropping her ears. "They've already outlawed it in Canada", he said, "and they're trying to do it here. We try to stay away from it."