Is the risk for ovarian cancer really that high?
If I decide not to get my dog spayed, is the risk of cancer really that high? It just seems pointless to put her through major surgery because she may get cancer in the future. I mean it would be kind of like a woman choosing to get a hysterectomy because she may get cancer in the future. There is a very small chance she would accidentally get pregnant but only because you can never be 100% about anything. As it is, she is always on a leash and we don’t put her in the yard. The only problem I can maybe see is that our two male dogs would fight while she’s in heat, but I doubt that. They’d need raging hormones for that and they just don’t have that anymore.
I am having doubts with her because she’s already a little on the old side. With my male dogs we got them as puppies and had them neutered shortly after they reached maturity. And they are bigger. Our smallest is 15 pounds. They also came from breeders that also showed their dogs and did health screening before breeding. With her, we adopted her and she could be anywhere from 3-5 years old. If she had her teeth cleaned, she could be even older. She’s also most likely a puppymill dog so who knows about her health. As it is, she’s had a cold for 2 months now. Plus she really small. She’s a shih-tzu but weighs only 8 pounds. I’ve had rabbits bigger than her.
