spayed

Just when you are right smack in the middle of enjoying puppyhood, the alarm goes off.  Suddenly, it's time to spay the dog.  A long time ago, when we had cats, we didn't think twice about neutering them.  They were both male, and we had no interest in having them mark our belongings with their horrid scent (not that that was the end of it).   But they were never going to make babies...

Every day I still marvel at how lucky we were to get this dog, this Zuzu.   Her temperament is everything we wanted in a dog, curious, loving, loyal, lazy and crazy.  We agonized, truly,  over what breed to get for 3 years.  We were so gun shy about getting a dog, where we had never been with cats (we found them on the street in brooklyn and just took them home) or even babies.  There were no questions, this was what we wanted.  And we've never questioned that we wanted a dog, so it seems crazy, now that we have the most perfect little peanut - to spay her.

Everyone told us we needed to do it.  First the breeder - it's in the contract.  She told us that it is very difficult to breed Frenchies, they cannot naturally birth their puppies, but must have a c-section, which is hard on them.  And if you know the breed, you are no doubt aware of the myriad of health issues they may have.  Finding a good stud would be a big job and we might not want to even do that to our sweet girl.

Our wonderful vet said that if you are not interested in breeding her, then you should spay her.  There are just too many puppies out there that need homes. It's the responsible thing to do.  An unspayed dog is also at risk for mammary cancer, tumors in her reproductive tract, uterine infections...

It's done now.  We're all a little sad knowing we'll never have a little bunch of Zuzus to love.  But we do have her.  And what more could you really want?