My 10 year old Weimaraner has just been 'caught' by my 8 month Boxer - in fact I caught them in the act and don't think they were at it for more than a few seconds. I will take her to the vet tomorrow, but it is always useful to hear anecdotal info from other experienced dog owners. She is fit and healthy, but has never had a litter. As far as I can tell we have three choices - the injection, to spay her, or to have the litter (should there be one). As she is getting on a bit I imagine all three are pretty risky. (Please don't berate me for letting this happen, I have been doing that myself and have managed ten years without any slip ups - he jumped a gate!) Any advice would be welcome. Thanks.

Hi Kathryn - bet you're not too happy just at the moment :(

Don't beat yourself up - things like this happen to the best of us, and you are being proactive about it.

My advice would be to talk to your vet about having her spayed ....the older bitches get the more likelihood there is of them getting pyometra, so it would be advantageous healthwise in any case - and I believe - though someone will certainly put me right if I am wrong - that the injection can leave a chance of pyometra ....but I can't find anything to substantiate that statement.

A litter at 10 would just be so wrong - although she is strong and healthy, she is still bordering on elderly.

Hope this is of some help to you.

Margot

I would discuss it with the vet as they are best able to assess her fitness for all these options although having the litter, of course, carries far more welfare consideration than just the dams.

Whatever you do please don't go ahead with a litter, she is far too old at 10 to be having puppies (and she is likely to get pregnant even at her age) - especially never having had any before, having pups and looking after them would put a huge strain on her at her age :(  I honestly think having pups would be the riskiest option.

If she were my bitch I would have her speyed, as long as the vet feels that it would be safe, that way there would be no chance of her getting caught later on, leading to a much more relaxed household ;)

I would have her injected and then have her spayed in 3 months time.   Don't worry about it, you're not the first person this has happened too and you won't be the last.  AND at least you aren't going to let her have the pups and call them some ridiculous name like Boxmaraners.

Having 2 males used at stud now I can see the obsessive nature of a dog after a bitch! I would also discuss with the Vet any planned treatment. The up side of having her neutered is that a) she definatley won't get caught again and b) it significantly reduces the risk of a pyometra. I am sure you are well aware of the risks with a pregnancy, but I feel sure you will not go down that route either? Hope everything goes ok for her. Don't beat yourself up, things happen, we're not all invincible!

I would not let her have the litter, in human years she would be 70!!!
Normally vets recommend between seasons but i'm sure this would be acceptable in this case. If she is fit then she should be fine under anestetic(sp).

Thanks for your helpful advice everyone, and for being so kind! I think we will try and go for the spay option, asap. I wouldn't like to put her through the injection and for it not to work properly but obviously we'll see what the vet thinks is best. Her last season was very protracted and we thought about having her done after that - Ah! Hindsight! Don't worry - no Boxmaraners round here (although I am very curious as to how they'd turn out!). And I'm still happy - just feeling like a bit of a nitwit.

>just feeling like a bit of a nitwit.

We are all only human and we all make mistakes.  I think spaying would be the best option but the vet is best to give advice I think.

Just remember for future referance if you have two entire dogs of oposite sexes....at least two doors at all times between them!  Hard work and not the most convinient.  When our girls are in season we have either them in the cage, or the dog in the cage and keep swapping them over carefully.  Also two cages, one for the girls and one for the boys.  Awkard, and not the best solution for the dogs being caged so much but it is only for 3 weeks and better then unwanted pregnancy.  doesn't effect them too much and they never have to be forced into the cage...