Dogs Are Never Too Old to Get Pregnant

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Q: Is there an age when female dogs no longer go into heat, a sort of doggie menopause? I am asking because I just adopted two dogs who have not been spayed. One is 10, and the other is 5.

Jesse Clay
Albuquerque, New Mexico

A:There is no menopause in the canine world. First, dogs do bleed a little during certain parts of their heat cycle, but that’s different from women’s bleeding during menstruation. In people, the bleeding is to rid the body of a sloughed off uterine lining because a pregnancy has not occurred. In a dog, the bleeding is a sign that pregnancy can occur.

Estrus tends to occur in female dogs twice a year. After about the age of seven, the regularity of estrus, or heat, will diminish, meaning she will not be able to become pregnant quite as often. But female dogs never lose their ability to bear puppies. Litters will tend to be smaller than when the dog was younger, and there will be more puppy deaths — the health of the newborns will not be as robust as the health of pups born to younger bitches. Whelping (labor) can be more difficult for older dogs, too. But older dogs can definitely bear litters.

The bottom line: if you are not looking to mate your new dogs, have them spayed. Along with insuring that you don’t end up with more mouths to feed, spaying will lessen their chances of developing pyometra — a potentially fatal uterine infection most often occurring in aged female dogs. Yes, the spaying will involve surgery, but older dogs in good health usually recover just fine. You shouldn’t let fear of surgery be a deterrent. Your five-year-old adoptee most certainly shouldn’t have any problems.

12 COMMENTS

  1. hello
    my 8 year old dog just give birth for the first time last friday, surprisingly she deliver the 8 pupps well, however she only have 5 active nipples to feed the pupps..we helped here take turns in feeding and bought milk for pupps but sad to say 4 of the pupps died last yesterday sunday..
    now, only four left how can i feed my old mother dog to help her nipples function well…please give me ideas how in many ways.

    thank you

  2. Hi my 10 year old Lhasa cross jackrussel may be pregnant will she be okay to deliver she is very healthy and only ever had one litter when she was younger obviously this wasn’t a planned thing it was completely an accident

  3. So I have a person that has a dog that has seizures can she still be knocked up because she’s teasing my dog and plus all these other females are not fixed like she’s got an older dog that is like a collie lab and she’s got a lot of seizures

  4. I have a dog and we don’t know how old she is and our vet said she is not aloud to have any more puppies. She just got pregnant by my cousin’s dog and he is about to turn 1 year old. what do I do?

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