[emibomber]

Hi,
I'm brand new so I apologize if this is annoying, but I've already looked through a couple of the dog pregnancy threads and couldn't find an answer. Basically, I've got this sweet little rotti/lab/belgium shepherd mutt who's a year old today, and she started her period/came into heat about 2 weeks ago. Now before everyone jumps on my back about neutering her/backyard breeding, I'd like to say that we have every intention of neutering her. Unfortunately, my s.o. lost his job and we haven't had the money to do so yet. So, when she came into heat, we just assumed we'd keep her in the house more, keep the gate locked, and monitor her outdoor time so she wouldn't get pregnant.

Well somehow our older black lab decided to use her superpowers to escape (seriously, this dog has to be some kind of wizard), and managed to take our little girl out on a stroll around the neighborhood. She wasn't out for more than 10-15 minutes before we finally found them both, but...we're pretty sure she's pregnant.

We've resigned ourselves to a life of indebtedness to the vet, but our appointment isn't for another week, and I'm worried sick. I've heard that 1 year old is too young to have puppies, and it should never be her first heat. Is this all true? We are Catholic so we'd never dream of aborting the puppies, but is our dog in trouble? I'm sorry if I sound like a rube, but my family never had dogs so this is a new experience for me, and my s.o. has had one pregnant dog but he was a kid when it happened and she was full grown.

 

[cshellenberger]

Well, it's too soon to tell if she's prego, so get her SPAYED asap BEFORE the eggs have a chance to implant. A heat spay isn't as complicated as a pregnant spay or a c-section (which she could well need).

I'm not going to claim that her life is in danger but it will be FAR more expensive to raise that litter (especially if she needs a C-section) than to have her spayed and it will better for her in the long run to never have pups. I only hope she didn't end up with a doggy venereal disease (yes they get them too).

 

[emibomber]

Thank you for your response, I really appreciate it. I'll make sure to ask the vet about V.D. testing as well when we are there, I hadn't thought of that. Hopefully things will work out and we can get her spayed before this turns into something much more problematic. Again, thank you!

 

[cshellenberger]

What part of VA are you in?

Many of these places will do it same day.


http://www.petsandanimals.org/spayneuter_services.html

 

[emibomber]

We are in Roanoke. Thank you for that list, it actually has a place in Roanoke on it! Very excited to hear, I'll have to give them a call today.