Spaying Your Golden Retriever - Health Benefits and Considerations

The decision to spay your Golden Retriever is a big decision that any owner should not take lightly. After all, there are a lot of things that can happen during major surgery and there are a number of risks and benefits associated with it.

Spaying is an important step in any female dog's life. Essentially, this surgery will remove the uterus and ovaries from a female dog to prevent the pregnancy and the menstrual cycle. Female Golden Retrievers go into heat about every six months and they are then eager to mate. Removing these organs removes the possibilities of a random pregnancy. It can also cause her to reduce her hormones that cause the heats as well.

The main reason why many people get their females spayed is to remove the hormones associated with pregnancy. Golden Retrievers that have not been spayed have about a 25% chance of developing breast cancer. If you spay your animal, you get have 6% chance to getting the cancer. There are other conditions that will cause the heats as well.

Reducing these hormones is the major reason why a vet will recommend for your dog to be spayed. Things like endometritis can be reduced by spaying.

There are other reasons that owners will consider spaying is because mating and pregnancy will bring their own risk.

A female can send out a pheromone that can be scented by male dogs for up to a mile. Larger males can jump over a fence to be with a female in heat, but mating with a large dog can be an unwanted pregnancy for the Golden that will put her at risk.

Pregnancy is always a difficult thing, but with dogs it can be even more troublesome, especially if they are larger purebred Goldens. These litters can be up to eight puppies, which is quite a strain on the mother -- and the owner. The odds of all of the puppies surviving are about half. The efforts will substantially affect the mother and owner who helps.

There are other factors that you should consider when spaying your female as well.

Females that are going through your cycle will be a messy and inconvenient situation for the owner. The heat will last about two weeks.

Having to keep the male dogs away and just tolerating their behavior will be difficult and annoying. Even when they are physically barred from the female, they can still be annoying as they whine and wander back and forth along the perimeter to get to the female. They will scratch doors and they will act very agitated.

Spaying is a serious operation and will always carry some risk with it. You should always make sure that it is done by a professional vet that is very experienced. Whenever you remove major organs, it should be a major choice. Most Golden Retrievers might want to mate their dog in the future.

Most of the time, the pregnant dogs will succeed with little difficulty. The puppies will be cared for with great skill and time. Healthy litters are born every day and having a dog in heat at least twice a year can be worthwhile if you have a healthy puppy.

Be sure you weigh the pros and cons of getting your dog spayed beforehand.

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