A friend was telling me about how she wants to get another female dog as she believes her dog may have gradually begun to advance to the stage of menopause, I laughed and asked if she understood what it means for a dog to get to the age of menopause, but she just assumed it would be the same with what happens to humans, I promised to shed more light on the topic and share with her and with you too my lovely readers.
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She may be right on some of her opinions because females humans and dogs have certain things in common, but in the case of menstrual cycles, there are differences. When a woman gets to the age of menopause, her period stops altogether and this is a result of a decrease in the production of hormones.
These hormones that have now reduced functionality are called progesterone and estrogen. Normally, menopause will happen to women who are in their middle age, but we cannot say for sure that this exact age is when a woman will get to menopause, women simply believe that once they have come of age and their period stops, they have gone into menopause.
In the case of a female dog, they go through heat cycles as well, but unlike humans, theirs happens within every 6-13 months. During heat, a female dog would have a swollen vulva and bleed through the vaginal opening during the phases of proestrus and estrus, this will happen except in a case where the dog has previously been sprayed.
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A dog may be referred to as being on heat during the period of bleeding and receptivity to males is observed, and it is only during this time that a dog can get pregnant. Dogs come up with different behavioural patterns during this period and you may have to pay attention to them.
During heat, your dog may need to urinate more often, her vulva may become more noticeable being red, swollen, bleeding, and having bloody discharge, and a big dog would most likely bleed more than small dogs, some dogs do not even bleed at all and you may not notice any form of blood stain around the home, especially if your dog is highly concerned about elf-care and cleans up himself very frequently.
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I mentioned earlier that a sprayed dog may not show signs of heat. A dog is sprayed when all the reproductive organs have been taken out. Two forms of sterilization operations are usually performed on dogs, ovariectomy and ovariohysterectomy are two forms of sterilization operations that are performed on dogs.
A proper spray procedure is not a simple oversight, thorough anesthesia would be required, and a breathing tube will be used throughout the procedure to assist your dog's lungs in getting oxygen once the anesthesia has been administered.
A certified vet would make an incision that is long enough to be fou, and through this incision, the uterus and ovaries or maybe just the ovaries will be taken out and the dog stitched back up. After this procedure is over, the dog will never be able to breed again as it is an irreversible procedure.
People decide to spray their dogs for different reasons and different purposes, it may be due to population control or stopping unwanted pregnancies, and a lot more.
Back to the subject of menopause, a dog may continue to have children even in old age as long as she has not been sprayed. However, there is a risk of complications when an old or young dog gets pregnant. Pregnancy places a big strain on the body of a female dog and may result in complications, stillbirth, and premature labor if the dog is either too old or too young.
So, practically, my friend has a point in saying she is bothered about her old female dog getting pregnant. However, the dog has the ability to get pregnant unlike humans who cannot get pregnant again upon menopause, but the complications surrounding the pregnancy is problem that ought to be greatly avoided.
Refrences
thesprucepets.com/do-older-dogs
