FutureFurBabyMom
New Member
Hi, everyone.
I'm glad to have found this forum. A bit of history. Our first cocker spaniel was an older male who literally walked into our house the day we were moving to another state. He was already neutered and spent 7 years with us before crossing the Rainbow Bridge. 2 years later we got a brother and sister. The male we had neutered, but the female was left intact. We weren't sure about spaying and had a hard time finding a good vet. She was somewhat unusual, I think, because she never showed any visible signs of being in heat. Her behavior didn't change in any noticeable way either. Sometimes she would groom the top of her brother's head (aka every day) and she fostered a duckling and a gosling on separate occasions, but those events didn't occur around the same time or as part of any pattern. I heard dogs in heat sometimes go all mothering. But she never went out and collected toys or stuffed animals or anything like that. A little while ago she died at age 5 when a hit and run driver struck her in front of our house.
Anyway, in a week, we are getting a new girl puppy. And we are again conflicted over whether or not to spay her, since our previous unspayed female was in perfect health...but I can't help but think our first girl was highly unusual. We want to do what's best for our puppy of course. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
I'm glad to have found this forum. A bit of history. Our first cocker spaniel was an older male who literally walked into our house the day we were moving to another state. He was already neutered and spent 7 years with us before crossing the Rainbow Bridge. 2 years later we got a brother and sister. The male we had neutered, but the female was left intact. We weren't sure about spaying and had a hard time finding a good vet. She was somewhat unusual, I think, because she never showed any visible signs of being in heat. Her behavior didn't change in any noticeable way either. Sometimes she would groom the top of her brother's head (aka every day) and she fostered a duckling and a gosling on separate occasions, but those events didn't occur around the same time or as part of any pattern. I heard dogs in heat sometimes go all mothering. But she never went out and collected toys or stuffed animals or anything like that. A little while ago she died at age 5 when a hit and run driver struck her in front of our house.
Anyway, in a week, we are getting a new girl puppy. And we are again conflicted over whether or not to spay her, since our previous unspayed female was in perfect health...but I can't help but think our first girl was highly unusual. We want to do what's best for our puppy of course. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.