If you’ve been following along on Instagram, you have seen me posting about my parents’ Golden, Tessa. I drove down to their home in Southern California to help with getting Tessa’s OSS (ovary sparing spay) and, after posting about our experience at Rose City Veterinary Hospital (highly recommend), I was surprised to hear so many of the questions I thought I’d answered on Instagram.
So.
Let’s get into it.
When a female dog is spayed, it is via one of three methods. One, both ovaries and uterus are removed. Two, just the ovaries are removed. Three, the ovaries remain and only the uterus is removed. All three prevent pregnancies. The first two remove the ovaries, depriving a female dog of her reproductive hormones. Only the last prevents pregnancies and preserves the hormones (it “spares” the ovaries).
I have been posting about this third option for quite a few years now (including a deeply insightful and educational conversation with Dr. Christensen at Kokopelli, which you can watch here on YouTube). Many followers reply, sharing their vet’s opinion of an OSS for their Golden girl. These responses fall into roughly three categories.
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