Let me explain before you all go off on your high horses or climb on your soap boxes and shout …
In the past all my animals have undergone such operations and on the whole, there have been no complications, that is until double merles came into my life. Teija, my first went through it all only to find that there was nothing to remove, Kashi suffered an adverse reaction to the anaesthetic and it was touch-and-go while he was being revived, Berezi’s was not straight forward and little Soli had serious complications, both on the operating table and for quite a long time afterwards. That means in real terms that out of our five double merles only one went through the operation with no issues. Not good odds.
So, as you can imagine I have trepidations as far as Biscuit is concerned. She is now ten months old and it is something that we really need to get our heads around.
Asking people that I know with double merles has revealed that over half have had bad experiences as a result of this procedure. I know that a survey of about thirty people is not many on the grand scale of things, but it has done nothing to alleviate my anxieties.
I understand all the medical benefits of having it done but, again this information and common-sense logic is not outweighing my fears.
As I see it there are three options …
- Take the risk, have it done and deal with the consequences
- Don’t have it done and deal with the consequences of having a dog on heat twice a year (plus run the risk of health problems)
- Wait … see if she actually comes into season and then re-evaluate
This kind of thing has never been an issue for us before getting double merle pups but is now another logistical nightmare as a result of that mating that owners of these special dogs have to worry over.