Let's start with an imaginary dog.
Her name was Mitzi.
She came from your neighbour's friend's mother in law's girl she knows from yoga class.
She was unexpected, but loved, and for free.
You got her when she was five weeks old,
At first she cried and felt alone and affraid,
But after a few visits to the vet,
You became her hero, her rock, her surogat parent.
She was six months when she went into her first heat.
You kind of knew what was going on, but not really.
Luckily,
No harm done, she didnt stay pregnant, she didnt bleed a lot and it went well.
You might have visited your vet regarding these changes she was going through
And they started advising surgery, sedation, a cone, abdominal cavity, three layers deep incission and all kinds of scary stuff were mentioned.
Why on earth would you put your Mitzi through all this terror, when she is such a tidy little girl that caused no issues during or after her season?
The vet must just want the money. What were they on about?
You probably wondered, would they have done it to their own dog? I bet not!
Well let me give you a little peak into Mitzi's future if she doesn't get spayed:
A) Unwanted pregnancy
B) False/ phantom pregnancy
C) Pyometra (infection of the womb)
D) Mammary gland tumors
So if you really want what is best for little Mitzi, find a vet that you trust, schedule a check up and talk about when is the best time to get her spayed.
If you are scared of anesthetic drugs and what they might do to her, trust me, so are we, every time when we (veterinary staff) have no medical history on the animal. The vet will offer you pre-anesthetic blood work panel, to add to her medical records and unveil the mistery of possible underlined complications.
And if you still for some reason believe, we are suggesting this just to make money on Mitzi, let me break it down to you fair and square:
A) Cost of spay: between 300-500 ($,£)
B) Cost of false pregnancy mastitis complication treatment 200-400 ($,£)-often re occurs and is not a 'once off'.
C) Pyometra surgery 1200+ ($,£) That is, if she makes it at all. This is an emergency procedure, and it will involve additional diagnostic testing and monitoring.
D) Mammary gland tumor diagnosis and removal will cost around 2000-3000 ($,£)where surgeries are often multiple, and frequently done at an advanced stage of tumor and therefore not curative.
So, you see, a spayed Mitzi brings up to 500 ($,£) to the clinic.
An unspayed Mitzi brings:
B+C+D,
B+D,
B+C
And not to mention, a possibility of C-section, which I will elaborate more upon in a different article.
*The costs are rough aproximations, made from several clinic's I have worked in, in 4 different countries. They are representing the occasions where Mitzi has no underlined disease, complication or adverse reactions to any of the treatments
*Mitzi in this text is a fictional character. She is a cross between a Portugese Water Dog and a King Charles Cavallier. She loves laying in the sun, barking at the post man and cuddles. Her absolute favorite thing is when her dad takes her in his truck, on a sunny day, and puts the window down so she can feel the wind in her hair. Sometimes her ears hurt a little bit afterwards, but she still thinks it is worth it.