[CloverTheLabradoodle]

Clover is 10.5 months old.
When she got spayed a few months back, the vet called me in the middle of the surgery to say that she could not find a right ovary, even after extensive searching, so probably Clover was born with just one.

Fast forward to today when I took her to the vet for what I thought was a UTI only to find out that she's in heat.
Now, of course, the uterus and left ovary were removed during the spay so it's just the right ovary in there.

SO, now I'm debating do I go back and get the right ovary removed in a couple of months or just leave it? I have a six year old (neutered) male dog and there hasn't been a problem between the two of them *yet* during this process. My biggest concerns with leaving the other ovary, and having her have a cycle (would she only have half of the normal amount of cycles since there's only one ovary??), once or twice a year are:
the mess of it all
her wanting to possibly bolt and search for male dogs

That's about it. If those could become non-issues, and it would be to her benefit, health wise to keep it, it's fine with me.

I'm looking for pros/cons, what would you do, and one more question...at what age does the cycle usually cease completely?

 

[Keechak]

Bolting is totally a training issue. If your female is prone to bolting out the door she wont be more prone to bolting just because of being in heat, and if she isn't prone to bolting being in heat wont make her bolt.

 

[SDRRanger]

If her uterus has been removed there will be no mess when she goes into heat.

 

[luv mi pets]

Your neutered male dog could possibly get 'tied' to your female when she goes into heat. I get my females spayed because I just do not want to deal with the hormonal issues. So I would probably go back in and have her ovary removed. I might even consider going to a speciality hospital for the procedure. Thats just me. I like not having to deal with mess of a dog that is in cycle.

 

[Kyllobernese]

I know a friend of mine took his German Shepherd who is about two years old, in to be neutered as his testicles had never come down. They searched everywhere and could not find any. He has never shown any interest in females even when one of the other dogs in our Obedience was in season. I had never heard of that before or not being able to find an ovary because she must still have one. Strange things sometimes happen in nature.

 

[5 s corral]

If it were my dog I would go back and have the surgery

 

[sassafras]

The problem with leaving the ovary is that unless an ovary sparing spay was specifically done, your dog is at risk for something called stump pyometra, an infection of the remnant of the uterus that is left behind in a traditional spay. I would do the surgery, but it will be easiest to find the ovarian tissue (which may or may not be a normal ovary, sometimes it is just cystic ovarian tissue somewhere in the abdomen) during an active heat.

 

[PatriciafromCO]

My heart goes out to you on this one.. Will any type of external scan pick up the ovary , to try to locate it before going back in to remove it?

 

[spotted nikes]

Hey Op- I would take Sassafrass's advice and consult with your vet about removing the ovary while she is in heat. (I know you don't normally spay during heat, but Sassafrass is a vet, so I would tend to take her advice more seriously). So consult with your vet, and see about getting it removed now.

 

[SDRRanger]

The problem with leaving the ovary is that unless an ovary sparing spay was specifically done, your dog is at risk for something called stump pyometra, an infection of the remnant of the uterus that is left behind in a traditional spay. I would do the surgery, but it will be easiest to find the ovarian tissue (which may or may not be a normal ovary, sometimes it is just cystic ovarian tissue somewhere in the abdomen) during an active heat.

Curious...if you (an owner) decided to keep the ovary could you have the stump of the uterus removed and keep the ovary or is it too late then?

 

[sassafras]

Curious...if you (an owner) decided to keep the ovary could you have the stump of the uterus removed and keep the ovary or is it too late then?

I suppose either could be done, depending on how easy/hard the stump was to find vs the ovary. If this dog is going into heat, she obviously has ovarian tissue. But based on the vet's description and difficulty finding it, it's probably not normal - either in a weird place, or ectopic tissue rather than a true ovary... something. So it might be very difficult to find, and if so I think it would be perfectly reasonable to do an impromptu OSS and just take the stump out instead if someone was comfortable with the risks/benefits of OSS in general.