Deciding to share our home with a dog is a great responsibility, which not only involves covering all the needs of our pet and ensuring a complete state of well-being, since it is also necessary that we are responsible for our dog's reproduction
The arrival of a litter of puppies, when it has not been planned, carries the risk that these animals end up in kennels or abandoned and under no circumstances should we leave this matter out of our responsibility as owners.
In this article on our site we talk about the different contraceptive methods for dogs that you can use.
Surgical contraceptive methods for dogs
Surgical methods Irreversibly and permanently affect the reproduction of our pets and can be used on both male and female dogs. However, when requiring an operative intervention, we must let ourselves be advised by the veterinarian, who will talk to us about the risks in each specific case and will advise us about the best intervention to proceed with the sterilization.
- In females: an ovarihysterectomy is usually performed, it is that is, the removal of the ovaries and the uterus, with which the dog, in addition to not being able to get pregnant, will not manifest sexual behavior. There is a second option known as laparoscopic sterilization, where the intervention is not as aggressive and equally good results are still achieved, however, the cost is much higher and can be inaccessible.
- In males: the safest surgical contraceptive method for dogs is orchiectomy, which involves removal of the testicles. With this, spermatozoa are not synthesized and, in addition, a decrease in the dog's sexual behavior is observed, as well as in territoriality and dominance instinct. The simplest method, however, is the vasectomy , where the vas deferens that carries sperm is removed. With this the dog is unable to reproduce but his sexual behavior remains intact
Chemical contraceptive methods for dogs
When we talk about chemical methods we refer to the use of synthetic hormones that interact with our animal's organism, specifically with the central nervous system, which by capturing high levels of hormones suppresses the natural hormonal cycle of our pet.
Contrary to what you might think initially, this method is not only valid for female dogs, but also for males. Once the administration of hormones is interrupted, the animal's reproductive cycle returns to normal.
- In females: the hormones we administer will aim to prevent the bitch from ovulatingand therefore a possible pregnancy. For this purpose we can use progestogens or female hormones (medroxyprogesterone acetate, megestrol acetate and proligestone) or androgens or male hormones (testosterone and mibolerone). Although various types of implants can be used, these hormones are usually administered orally.
- In males: in male dogs the administration of chemical hormones is done through injection intratesticular and, sometimes, in addition to administering hormones, irritating substances are administered whose purpose is to alter the functionality of the ducts that transport sperm, thus preventing their mobility. These contraceptive methods are known as orchiectomy and chemical vasectomy
Before using chemical methods to control the reproduction of our pet, the veterinarian will carry out an exhaustive physical examination, which can be complemented with analytical tests. In addition, he will take into account the complete history of the patient, since these drugs can cause various side effectsas well as changes in sexual characteristics. Likewise, some substances used in chemical methods still need a greater number of studies to support their use.
Other contraceptive methods for dogs
The contraceptive methods for dogs that we have shown you are the most used options, however, in the case of female dogs the possibility of inserting a device has also been studied intrauterine that mechanically blocks the entrance to the vagina and prevents pregnancy. However, the placement of this device requires major surgery and it is very complex to adjust it to the vagina of each bitch, for this reason, its use is not usually recommended
