Hi! does anyone have any experience of a relationship between a hormone imbalance (from a incomplete spay) and sebaceous cysts?
one of my dogs is a four year old german shepherd bitch who was 'spayed' at 2 years old.  unfortunately, she still bleeds and has the most erratic character i've ever met.  she's never nasty but i do competition obedience and i never know whether she's going to be great or not know what 'sit' means!
she had an operation last year to remove a large (ping pong ball size!) sebaceous cyst that became infected, and she has now developed another, very close to the site of the last.
i cant help feeling that they're related as in humans, hormones control the glands (cause of acne in teenagers etc.), but has anyone heard of it in dogs?
i'd be very grateful for any comments as i seem to know more about dogs than my vets!
regards,
michaela and the gang

one of my bitches Tara gets small ones fairly often,the other ,nellie has had two in her life-one before & one after she was spayed.(taras spayed too)
maybe some dogs are just more prone to them?
my friends elkhound(spayed) gets quite bad ones.
???????im not very helpful sorry!
do you know your bitches line? are they common in that line?
i do (try) obedience too! what area are you in?

hi michelle, thanks for replying.  i've been doing some more research and it does seem that some dogs are just very prone to them; i just hope it doesnt become a habit as i'm still paying off her last operation!
i'm based in kent but i dont go that far for shows; just kent, sussex, surrey and essex.  i've just won out of pre-beginners at limit shows over the winter so hopefully i'll be in open novice by the end of this season - how about you?

Think it is some dogs and it may be hormone connected but I don't think the tendency to get the S. cysts is. If the coat becomes changed by being spayed or castrated it may make the matter worse but I really don't think it causes it.

Have one of my intact males that suffers from S. cysts, he has had one removed from his lower back, at the moment he has an infected one on his tail and one, on the shoulder, that burst a couple of months ago that is still healing, well we hope it is healing and another at his withers that is large but at the moment causing no trouble.

He is an Elkhound and, touchwood, the only one of my 4 Elkhounds that is troubled with this problem.