What health problems are common in female dogs retired from breeding?

HI, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! For female cats and dogs: Pyometra (infected uterus), vaginal or uterine prolapse, mammary cancer, dystocia (trouble giving birth, requiring C-section), puppy vaginitis, recessed vulva, urinary incontinence, pseudopregnancy (false pregnancy). I hope this helps!

Hi again! Thanks for your question. Negatives of having an unsprayed female (intact female) are uterine infections (pyometra) which can be fatal, mammary cancers, ovarian tumors, and a shorter life span because of the development of these issues. One other negative is an undesired pregnancy. Hope this helps!

French Bulldogs are so cute! Given that she is three and is still unspayed, the biggest health risks are a pyometra and mammary tumors. Spaying her when you get her will take away the risk of a pyometra, but she will still have a 25% chance of developing mammary tumors during her lifetime. In dogs, 50% of mammary tumors are malignant, so it's important to get any lumps checked out right away that may develop on her belly. Other than that, excluding the heath risks that are common with the breed, there are no additional risks to adopting a dog who has been bred. I hope this helps!

You don't mention whether your dog is a male or female, but I'll try to address both sexes. With any breeding, there is a risk of disease transmission. Brucellosis is the most commonly transmitted infectious disease between dogs in most areas but there is also a type of transmissible cancer that can be exchanged through breeding. You give your location as Canada, and I would say that TVT (Transmissible Venereal Tumor) is relatively rare there, but it is quite common in other parts of the world. If your dog is a male, there are likely few other risks to breeding. Most of the serious risks manifest during pregnancy and especially delivery, when the possibility of dystocia, or inability to give birth (a number of causes) may occur. In these cases the life of the female can be in serious danger without surgical intervention (C-section). Finally, in general, I'd ask that you really consider whether you feel that your dog and the proposed partner would produce puppies of sound genetics.Typically the only way to be confident in this is a full veterinary evaluation to include testing for known genetic problems in the breed. I'd also say that there are many unwanted dogs and puppies in the world, and breeding is not something to be lightly considered. .

Pyometra can cause damage to the lining of the womb and can reduce fertility. In many cases a 14day course of antibiotics will clear the infection in young bitches but if symptoms persist or recur before her next cycle the chances of successful breeding are much reduced and surgical neutering may be recommended. If breeding is intended, it should be done on the next heat cycle

Thank you for contacting PetCoach with your question about Lav. I've heard many owners quote the UC Davis study, and there are a number of things wrong with the study. Check out this article on it: https://humanepro.org/magazine/articles/deconstructing-spayneuter-debate Not spaying her can cause a pseudopregnancy reoccurrence, but it doesn't increase her risk of mammary tumors. That's already going to be 25% because she's had more than two heats. Keep in mind, 50% of mammary tumors in dogs are malignant. She is eight years old, so she is already at a higher risk of developing cancer simply because she is an older dog. She is also at risk of a pyometra, which is an infection of the uterus that is fatal without treatment. The treatment for a pyometra is spaying the dog, which is an emergency during a pyometra and can cost many thousands of dollars. In all honesty, it's best to spay her. It will keep her from developing a pyometra as well as a pseudopregnancy, and it will keep her from getting pregnant if she accidentally mates. Dogs over the age of six should never have puppies. In my opinion, it's best for her to health to get spayed asap. I hope this helps!

To be completely honest, having her spayed at this point of her life will not prevent future tumors but it can prevent pyometra (uterine infection), the tumors do need to be removed surgically though as they tend to grow and ulcerate at some point and the dog can no longer live this way, having them removed often solves the problem.