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	Hormonal Injection for GSD? Q: I have a ten month old GSD bitch who is starting to show signs of coming into her first season. I also have two whole male GSD,s who live in the house. My vet will not spay my bitch until she has had her first season. I have been told that there is now a hormonal injection which can be given to my bitch to stop her season but have been advised very strongly by my vet against using this. I wonder if you could give me any further information about this injection, as i want to prevent any accidents happening until such time as my vet will spay her.

A: Dear GSD owner,

It sounds like you have your hands full with 2 entire males and a young female all in one house! It is going to be extremely difficult to prevent one of them from mating her. It may be worth considering putting the two males in kennels, or sending them to a friends for a few weeks, if there is anyway that you could organise it. Some vets are happy to neuter bitches before their first season, while others prefer to wait till afterwards. But once a bitch has started with a season, it is normal to have to wait until a few months afterwards, when the blood supply to the womb has calmed down and it is an easier operation.

As regards the injection to stop her coming into season, it was quite popular a while ago, but is not used so much now - it is years since I have used it in practice. This is because of the worry of after effects. It is a hormone injection and can cause a serious womb infection (although this can happen anyway). It can cause increased appetite,lethargy and weight gain in some bitches. It will only work if given before or in the very early stages of a season. Too late and it will have no effect. If given in time, it takes up to 5 days to work and the bitch can mate and get pregnant in that period, so you still need to keep her away from males.

So, you will probably have to cope as best as you can. Remember that it is normally at the very end of the bleeding that bitches ovulate, so the few days after they have stopped are often the most dangerous and that is just when some people relax! If she does get mated, there is a very effective injection to stop her getting pregnant {like the morning after pill} - normally given on day 3 and 5 after the mating. There is a slight risk of this prolonging the season, but this does not seem to be very common. If the worst happens and she still gets pregnant, your vet may be willing to spey her when the pups are still very small, if that was what you wanted.

Good luck!

Maeve Moorcroft MVB MRCVS

{PetPlanet Vet}

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