01

Do cats and dogs have emergency contraception?

Every spring, everything recovers, and life grows and replenishes the nutrients consumed during a winter. The Spring Festival is also the most active period for cats and dogs, as they are energetic and physically strong, making it the main breeding period. Most cats and dogs will experience estrus during this period, attracting the opposite sex to mate and reproduce offspring. In the past few weeks, I have encountered many pet owners who have come to inquire about whether a dog will become pregnant after being ridden, how can it be prevented from getting pregnant, and whether the dog has emergency contraceptives? What medication can be used to control a cat’s estrus, and so on.

Here is a clear answer to the frustration of all pet owners. Cats and dogs do not have emergency contraceptives, and female cats and dogs do not have any suitable medication methods to control and avoid estrus. As for induced abortion of cats and dogs in order to avoid giving birth to kittens and puppies, there are some.

I have looked at some so-called emergency contraceptives for cats and dogs online, which I have never seen before in the United States. In China, they are mainly produced in South Korea, but I did not see detailed information and principles in the manual. As there are few sellers and almost no information, I do not comment on whether they have any effect or whether they will cause harm. However, I think it is still necessary to mention the pregnancy test strips for cats and dogs. There are some pregnancy test strips for cats and dogs in China, and the instructions are about 30-45 days after pregnancy to test whether they are pregnant. This is generally not used. Firstly, the accuracy of the test strips is not very high. Secondly, the pregnancy period for cats and dogs is 60-67 days. After more than 30 days of pregnancy, it can generally be seen from the appearance, unless there is only one child. In addition, around 35 days of pregnancy, a prenatal examination is required to determine whether the pregnancy is good and how many fetuses there are. To prepare for delivery, it is necessary to avoid the occurrence of stillbirth in the uterus due to insufficient number of births, which can lead to toxemia. Therefore, this type of test paper is not very useful, and unlike humans who are pregnant for 10 months, the first 2 months can be known by the test paper in advance.

02

Can cats and dogs suppress estrus?

Can other online methods for female cats and dogs to become emotionally excited, sensitive, and bark when they stop estrus be used? The most common method is to use a cotton swab to stimulate the female cat’s sexual organs, making it think it has copulated, and then ovulation stops estrus. This method has almost no effect, and in daily life, hospitals often hear about cases where cotton swabs fall off and fall into the genitals, and foreign objects need to be removed at the hospital.

Pets do have medication to stop their estrus, but they are rarely used. These medications are often used by cats and dogs within 3 days of their estrus, making it difficult for inexperienced pet owners to detect their estrus in a timely manner, leading to missed medication times and drug failure. The drug achieves its effect by preventing ovulation in cats and dogs and shortening the estrus period. If it is to prevent ovulation, it needs to be used continuously for 7-8 days. If it is to miss the initial medication and only want to shorten the estrus period, it needs to be used continuously for 30 days.

Why have few pet owners heard of these estrus suppressants, because the gains outweigh the losses. The purpose of not sterilizing pets is to reproduce. If you do not plan to have kittens or puppies, there is no need to risk getting sick and not sterilizing them. However, the drugs mentioned above that inhibit estrus can harm the pet’s reproductive system, potentially leading to some uterine and ovarian diseases and giving birth to unhealthy puppies and kittens. In addition, it will also lead to breast disease in cats and dogs. If pets with diabetes and liver disease are prohibited from using it, it will lead to disease deterioration. It is precisely because the side effects of drugs far outweigh their effects that almost no hospital uses such drugs to suppress the estrus of cats and dogs, rather than directly sterilizing them.

03

Cat and dog termination of pregnancy method

It is common for female cats and dogs to accidentally mate during estrus when pet owners are not paying attention. What should pet owners do if there is an unplanned mating? First of all, don’t blame the male dog and male cat, let alone the other person’s owner. After all, this kind of thing is not controllable by humans. During estrus, the female cat and female dog will actively approach the male cat and dog, and everything happens naturally. However, the probability of successful breeding is not very high, especially for our domestic pets, who are not experienced and skilled, so the probability of getting pregnant in one go is very low. Many times, we hope that pets can create various environments and opportunities to have babies when they are pregnant, making it difficult for them to succeed in one go. So pet owners should first calm down and not be impatient when they see a mother dog and cat accidentally mating.

After solving the psychological problem, it is necessary to consider whether artificial abortion is necessary to terminate pregnancy. Termination of pregnancy for pets is also a major event, and the side effects are also quite significant. Therefore, in the early stages, one often hesitates whether to have an abortion or observe whether to conceive. There are three types of pet miscarriages: early, mid-term, and late. Early termination of pregnancy usually occurs 5-10 days after the end of the mating period (for simplicity, the mating date is calculated to be around 10 days). Subcutaneous injection of medication to dissolve the corpus luteum usually takes 4-5 days. I heard that it is injected once in some places, but I don’t know what medication is used. Currently, I haven’t seen the name and instructions of the medication. Termination of pregnancy in the middle stage usually takes place 30 days after mating, and treatment begins after the pregnancy is confirmed by ultrasound. The medication is the same as early termination of pregnancy medication, but the medication duration needs to be extended to 10 days.

The purpose of terminating pregnancy in the later stage is not to avoid pregnancy, but rather because of some maternal diseases or the possibility of deformities in the puppy caused by medication. At this point, the fetus is already quite old, and the risk of simple miscarriage may be greater than normal production, so we will try to avoid this situation as much as possible.