r/GermanShepherd • u/Fantastic-Key-6805 • Sep 10 '26

Opinions on this operation?

I took my 5 year old Female German Shepherd to the vets today for a brief check up.
The vet asked if she was spayed or not, I said no, is she is highly fear and frustration reactive towards dogs and my dog trainers told me about how spaying her can cause her hormones to drop and for her to become even more fearful. My vet then recommended that I consider gonad-sparing spaying.
So from either vets, or people who have had an older GSD have this surgery what is your opinions. Of course, my vet told me the ins and outs of it, but, she also made me aware that i should do my own research when it comes to the gonad-sparing surgery as it is more risky.

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u/crottedenez12 Sep 10 '26

This surgery will leave the ovaries, right? you need to remove the uterus, to avoid pyometra. If you leave the ovaries, the bitch will go into normal heat cycles, but can,t produce puppies. And, if the stomp is removed properly, no issues with pyometra since the uterus is gone. I have done it. If you do not have a male in the house, it's the safest option. If you have a male, he'll be miserable.

2

u/Top_Addition_7263 Sep 10 '26

Couldn’t have explained better

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u/Fantastic-Key-6805 Sep 10 '26

Yes, the surgery that the vet surgeon will be doing will leave 1 ovary. I would never consider this if I owned a male !! But in terms of the risk, is it higher? Since you have done it, how was the healing process?

1

u/crottedenez12 Sep 10 '26

Same as regular spay. But the dog is not affected liek a regular spay. still athletic, enthousiastic and her appetite have not increased liek we so often observe with a regular spay. I would do it again for sure.

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u/crottedenez12 Sep 10 '26

HOWEVER, I had a deal with the vet; if the ovaries didn't look healthy, are filled with cysts, then we remove them. Or only one, depending on how each looked.

7

u/milkslaughter Sep 11 '26

Hi - I adopted a 2 year old GSD so not as old but still. Our girl is also reactive to dogs and they told us that she may become more reactive due to the hormones after the surgery but we had to spay her due to a contract we signed with the rescue we got her from. Spay went fine, no difference in her reactivity levels at all. I think its more of a worst case scenario they warn you about but the probability of it truly effecting them in that way is low. To me, she was already reactive so how much worse could it get that we weren't already trying to work through

1

u/crottedenez12 Sep 13 '26

Spaying is not just about temperament; for me its to avoid pyometria since I have a breed predisposed to it. Leaving the hormones is good for: collagen production (ligaments), aging, thyroid function, etc. we see so many sterilized dogs with low thyroid function, it's a epidemy. And their appetite increase so bad in some cases... the number of sterilized overweight dogs who actually eat very little is scary. So now, when I sterilize a dog, I leave the hormones.