Lois found me late in the evening last Tuesday. I was out walking Lucky and she just came to sniff at us. I assume she was dumped because she is expecting pups but that’s just an assumption based on her gentle disposition and good health which suggest that she hasn’t been a street dog for very long. Her nipples are still in rough shape from her previous litter. It’s at least her second litter back to back.
Lois is extremely friendly. She doesn’t bark much. I estimate her to be about 3-4 years old and she appears to have a clean bill of health. She is house trained and scooter trained.(See pic of her on my scooter below. If you sit on your scooter she’ll just hop on.) Not a leash puller in the least, she is quite gentle. Just a lovable animal, it’s a wonder what she was doing on the street. :s
I took her to the vet and asked to have the pregnancy terminated. It felt weird to tell you the truth. I’ve never had to make a decision like that for an animal. The vet said that because the pups are already pretty big, there are concerns for the mother’s health if she is to have the surgery. He’s saying that the bigger the pups, the more risks it involves. So I told him to wait, I needed to think it over. Lois is due in about 3-4 weeks according to the vet.
I’d like to not have a litter of potentially ill and ugly stray pups to add to the overpopulation problem(WE need homes for 8 pups as of now!) but I also hate to put the mother at risk.
Help me out please. I have to make a decision soon… Do you think I should put her through the surgery or not?
I think at this late stage not. But there again, I’m not the one that will have to look after and home the pups. :s What a shitty situation to be in, man. You have my deep respect. Fat lot of good it is, I know. I wish there was something I could do.
Cosmopolitan Vetinary Surgery near the Grand Mosque, on Xinsheng South Road opposite Daan Park, did a quite late term termination for me and the bitch recovered very well.
Gestation period for a dog is 60-65 days. Lois is around 40 days in. My immediate answer is do the surgery. But you need to trust your vet to be able to do the surgery and guarantee she will come out of it no problem.
Tough decision… If the vet can be pretty sure of a positive outcome, then you should do it. There are alsready far too many pups who need homes, and far too few homes for them to go to…
[quote=“sandman”]I think at this late stage not. But there again, I’m not the one that will have to look after and home the pups. :s What a shitty situation to be in, man. You have my deep respect. Fat lot of good it is, I know. I wish there was something I could do.[/quote]Every time you post encouraging words like this Sandman, you are doing something. Coming from you it means a lot to me.
Thank you.
I think I will see the vet tomorrow and cross my fingers for Lois. I’m hoping she’s healthy and strong enough. I comfort myself thinking she will be spayed, vaccinated, as well as she will never have to endure pregnancy while homeless again.
That must be a very hard decision. I agree with stray dog, get a second opinion about how far along she is. If she is 3/4 of the way there that seems pretty risky, also what stage of development are the pups at at 40 days? I am just worried that maybe there is that possibility that they are already big enough and developed enough to live through somthing like that. Well whatever you decide I think you have everyones support here, you do an amazing amount of stuff for all kinds of dogs out there so what ever you choose, way to go! :bravo:
Thanks all for your advice. I took Lois to our other vet this morning and he had a difficult time estimating how far along she is but he was positive that the surgery can be done with moderate risks. I then contacted savedogs and asked them if they have had this surgery done before and Maggie told me that their vet has a lot of experience and he’s done the procedure many times. She suggested to go ahead and have the pregnancy terminated. I’ve seen quite a few dogs there who got extensive surgeries from car accidents and all of them seemed to recover well aside from loss of mobility of course. Lucky was neutered there also with no problems at all. I am confident that he can do a good job.
I’m told there are two ways to do this, one is the conventional way, I’m not sure of the details. The other way is more expensive, it’s a newer procedure and it’s considered safer so we decided to do that. Time is not on our side on this one so we had to make a decision ASAP.
Lois is going to have surgery this afternoon and I will go visit her after work tonight. I’ll keep you posted and fingers crossed for Lois.
Good luck to Lois and thank you for being so kind to all the animals you take in. I bet you have changed the view of many people as to how they treat animals.
I visited Lois late yesterday evening. When she saw me she was nothing but a wagging tail. I thought the vet didn’t have time, he must have had a busy day. So I asked him “are you going to do the surgery tomorrow?” His answer was “finish, no problem.” I could not believe it. Lois doesn’t look that much smaller and she sure doesn’t look traumatized at all. It was like nothing happened. She would have had 7 pups. Hats off to the vet! :bravo: He makes it look easy.
Lois is an beautiful, calm and gentle girl and she needs a home now. I will put her info in the appropriate forum as soon as I get a chance. I am considering making her our second CNR case although her disposition and the fact that she’s already house-trained suggests that she would be a great companion for someone. We’ll see what happens.
Excellent news. With her already being house trained and scooter trained, I’m sure she’ll find a home soon. Send me some pics, my gf can put her pics and info on the meetpets site.
Tough decision… If the vet can be pretty sure of a positive outcome, then you should do it. There are alsready far too many pups who need homes, and far too few homes for them to go to…
:bravo: