I wonder if anyone has any advice.

My Doberman bitch is now 1 year old. At 9 months, she had her first season. Now, 3 months later, she is having a phantom pregnancy & has been put on anti-biotics for acne!
She is not eating & losing weight, has a slight discharge, & has been booked in to be spade in a week on the advice of the vet. However, being a Doberman, I understand she has an increased risk of becoming incontinent after such an operation & I am reluctant to allow her to be spade.
However, the vet has said that as she has a slight infection, she is at risk of developing an infection every future time that she comes into season. This infection could become (what is called) TOXIC, which could kill her.
Does anyone have any experience of this happening to their bitches? Is there a safe alternative to getting her spade? Is it very likely she will end up incontinent if I have her spade?

I have a 4 days left to cancel the appointment & really don't know what to do for the best. I just want her to be healthy in the future. Any advice will be gratefully received.

Hi! Personally I'd wait until your bitch is over her phantom before having her spayed, because spaying while the hormones are upset has been known to cause problems, both physical and behavioural. I would also treat the infection with antibiotics first. Spaying does indeed increase the risk of incontinence, which is distressing for the bitch (and annoying for the owner, especially if she's allowed on furniture). However the risk isn't hugely increased (entire bitches can also become incontinent) and there are medicines to help control it. However the increase in risk from spaying after the first season is less than that from spaying before. Also the risk of urine scald from underdeveloped genitalia is greatly reduced.

The risk of pyometra is a serious one however, as it is a killer, and the only sure treatment if it develops is an emergency spay - and obviously it's safer to operate on a healthy dog than a sick one. Which is why I'd get her infection treated before operating.

Hope this helps.

Is she going to do some digging??? :D :D :D LOL (spade???)

Also the risk of urine scald from underdeveloped genitalia is greatly reduced.


Can you explain what this looks like please? My girl's peacan has always been a dark colour,the hair around it is very dark brown as if she has continuously licked it and discoloured the fur(she doesnt lick it).Could this be urine scald?

LOL newfiedreams,that was bugging me too :o

Thanks for your advise.

I have decided to delay the operation until I get more facts. I felt rushed into the decision anyway.
She has now finished 3 weeks of anti-biotics to clear up the infection but I still noticed discharge 2 days ago. The op is supposed to be in 2 days time but she has not yet finished her 5 day course of Galastop.
Also, I have been chatting to somebody with an 8 year old doberman bitch who says I should really find out if there is Von Willebrands in her ancestry, before she has an operation, as this is a blood clotting disorder. So I have e-mailed the breeder.

I am worried about pyometra, as Bonnie was so ill last week & is still not eating healthily (although full of energy), but think a delay of a month won't harm. Her first season was last September so I have time before the next season.

Hi Queenie

You did not get back to me and I did ask your question on the forum - the general concensus so far seems to be to get her spayed.  She may or may not be incontinent but it is generally not too bad and is treatable.  If she has a full tail she is less likely to be incontinent I believe than if she is docked.

I thought that the theory of incontinence due to docking relates to faecal incontinence, whereas the incontinence due to spaying relates to urinary incontinence?

Not specificially, although all the muscles are in the same area

Thanks for your help.

I have decided to delay the operation until I get more facts. I felt rushed into the decision anyway.
I have known of 3 doberman bitches being spayed (all docked). Two were spayed at 6 months, on the advice of their vets. One has been incontinent ever since, the other (now 4 years old) is fine so far. The 3rd bitch had an emergency operation at 8 years old after developing pyometra. Luckily, the owner is experienced & recognised the seriousness of her dogs illness straight away. She is not incontinent. I was wondering whether to let Bonnie at least have a 2nd season so that she can mature a liitle more before being spade?

Hi, I have a 3 year old Doberman with a docked tail, who was spayed about 6 months ago.  I have never had any problems and she is just fine.  Hope this helps.

Like Jeangenie I would get the infection cleared up and wait for the phantom to subside before spaying.

My first Dobe (docked) was spayed at 18 months and was then incontinent for another 12 years, and any amount of drugs available couldn't control it. In the end it came down to lots of washable vetbed and plastic beds.

when i was a child our docked dobe was spayed at 6 months for an infection. she was incontinent untill she died age 9.

I would hate for Bonnie to end up incontinent when she seems so perfect at the moment. The vet said that even if she is fine after the op, incontinence can develop later in life (at about 5 or 6 years old) because of being spayed. However, if she were to develop pyometra, the consequences would be a lot worse.