Dear Dr. Forsythe: I’m planning on breeding my 5-year-old Great Dane for the first time when I come across the right female for him. The trouble is that he has begun to develop some arthritis and also has a few bad habits such as roaming and mounting anything, or anyone, who comes into the house. This has been going on for a few years now, but I’d love to get a litter out of him before I make a permanent change like getting him fixed. Do you have any advice on the subject, and can you tell me where I can find a female that would complement his rare blue color?
Karen, Sonoma
Dear Karen: Please don’t take offense when I remind you that your Great Dane is getting up there in years. Most people begin the breeding process around age two, and by age five, your pet has become middle-aged. Breeding him now may not be the smartest move, unless he is of a superior pedigree or you have already “finished him” in the show ring as a champion. Since you did not mention this in your question, I assume he is just a good pet, and as such he deserves to stay in optimal health. Neutering him would likely reduce his tendency of wanting to roam. Hopefully it would also lessen his propensity to get up and mount any living creature that comes his way. My suggestion would be to celebrate this season by taking your big sweet Dane to your vet soon so he can be neutered.
Thanks, and have a great, safe holiday.
Dr. F
Dear Dr. Forsythe: My poodle, “Freddie,” began straining to urinate a couple of weeks ago and you diagnosed him with large bladder stones after taking an X-ray. Thank you so much for doing the surgery and returning him back to good health. My question is: How could those stones have developed in him over time without any symptoms? It seems like he would have gotten sick long before they could have developed to that point. I was so surprised to see how many you took out and how big they were. Was he an unusual case to not show any symptoms until the stones got that big?
Mrs. C, Sonoma
Dear Mrs. C: Thanks for a good question. No, it is not too unusual for a pet to be very stoic and well behaved like sweet Mr. Freddie was … that is until the stones in his bladder got so large and became so numerous and uncomfortable that urinating became very painful and you could see blood coming out in the urine. Quite often our dogs and cats are so tolerant of pain and discomfort that they will put up with great annoyance and difficulty before they even let on that something is wrong: such was the case with Freddie. I suspect that it wasn’t until a couple of the smaller, pea-sized stones traveled out of his bladder and down into his distil urethra that it became really painful and he let you know there was a problem by licking himself and whining. Thankfully, you were astute enough and attentive to him and got him in for an X-ray, so I was able to diagnose the problem and help him. Isn’t it amazing how appreciative and wonderful our dogs and cats are, and aren’t we lucky to have them in our lives? Thanks for being such a great human for Freddie. He, and I are lucky to have you in our lives.
Dr. F
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