My dog has ovarian remanent syndrome. Is it common & who pays?

Hi there! ORS, or ovarian remnant syndrome, will likely cause little issue for your dog health wise. You may notice heatlike symptoms with her from time to time (blood spotting, swollen vulva, etc). She may attract males but cannot get pregnant if her uterus was removed. That said, if she is still producing estrogens you have a small chance at her still getting mammary tumors since all of the tissue producing hormones was not removed. I hope this helps!

I do recommend taking Aarfaa back to where she was spayed to have he remnant removed surgically. This is best performed when she is displaying signs of heat/ season - eg when she has a swollen vulva and or discharge. If it is left she will typically have heat cycles and be attractive to male dogs which can be a nuisance. Potentially she could develop an estrogen linked infection of the stump where here cervix was - this is called a stump pyometra. I understand your concern for putting her through surgery again, but in the long term it will be better for her.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Reys. Yes, both ovaries need to be removed. If not, she can still experience signs of heat as well as being prone to an infection in the remaining portion of the uterus. I hope this information helps!

Yes, it's certainly possible that she may be having another heat cycle if she has an ovarian remnant. Dogs tend to cycle every six months or so on average, but there's a lot of individual variation.

Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach with your question about Trixie. I agree, this does not sound right. It sounds like she is showing heat behaviors, and this can be a sign of an ovarian remnant left behind. I'd have her seen by a vet today or tomorrow for a hormone stimulation test. This will diagnose if she does have an ovarian remnant or not. If she does, she will need surgery to remove it. Best of luck.

It is not always possible to know if a female dog has been spayed simply by examining them. Some spay scars are very small and cannot always be seen or felt. It is also possible that scars from incisions may have been from other surgical procedures, such as foreign body surgeries, c-sections, or bladder stone removal. The only surefire way of knowing if a dog is spayed is to perform a surgical exploratory to actually looking for the ovaries and uterus, or have an ultrasound performed by a boarded veterinary radiologist (although this often costs more than a spay surgery). I suggest discussing this further with the vet who performed Annabel's surgery if you have additional questions, but it sounds as though everything done was medically appropriate. As a side note, I can see in the picture that Annabel's incision is a bit red. Just be sure to keep an e-collar (cone) on her at all times for the next 10-14 days until her incision is fully healed. If she licks at the incision, it is likely to become infected and may even open. I hope that her recovery goes well!

I suggest you take her back to the vet for an exam. She may have a piece of ovary that was left behind during surgery that is causing stimulation of the mammary and vulvar tissues. The vet can do some hormone blood testing, a vaginal cytology and/or an abdominal ultrasound to check for this. ( https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/ovarian-remnant-syndrome-in-dogs )