# My Havanese seems depressed and less interacting



## ASherif (5 mo ago)

Good morning,

I have a one year Havanese Female dog, recently I noticed she is less interacting and sitting alone. I took her to the vet, she is suffering from inflammation in her stomach, a little pressure in her spine which both getting better by medicines in addition to hormonal disturbance as she had the heat 3 times in less than a year. Doctor confirmed that the hormonal disturbance is the reason for these symptoms as she recommend to spay her but I refused so she recommend to regularly check up on her every three months.

Did anyone experience similar conditions? I am wondering if I get her another puppy would it make any difference to feel better?

We walk her daily and weekly outing to meet other dogs which we also noticed her less interacting with them

Thank you!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

It is HIGHLY unusual for a female to have been in heat three times by a year old! While I am certainly NOT typically in favor of early spay, this girl has a real problem, and I think you should listen to your vet. Getting another dog is NOT going to help her physical problems.


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## Melissa Brill (Feb 22, 2017)

I'm curious as to why you refuse to spay her. I do understand why some people choose not to - but that is with, in my opinion, normal healthy dogs. 3 heats in 1 year is not normal and is causing her distress (unless you don't trust your vet's diagnosis, in which case I would suggest getting a second opinion) - so wondering why you are against spaying in this specific case? This doesn't sound like a situation where she's missing interactions (so getting another pup will make her "happier") but a real physical thing that is causing her to not feel good and therefore not want to interact or do things normally.

To answer your questions specifically, no, I don't think getting another pup would help - it might actually make things worse since the cause of the "depression" is physical and having a puppy around bothering you when you're not feeling well is likely to just cause fights.

My recommendation would be to either spay her or if you don't believe your vet, get a second opinion.


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## ASherif (5 mo ago)

Thank you both for the reply here. I am afraid for mainly 2 reasons, first my wife and I want her to experience having pupies and being a mom but the vet says that even that wont fix her hormonal disturbance - Second, we are afraid this doesnt fix the issue and we take the wrong decision. We feel its a hard decision and cant feel sure if this is the right thing to do if you know what I mean.



Melissa Brill said:


> I'm curious as to why you refuse to spay her. I do understand why some people choose not to - but that is with, in my opinion, normal healthy dogs. 3 heats in 1 year is not normal and is causing her distress (unless you don't trust your vet's diagnosis, in which case I would suggest getting a second opinion) - so wondering why you are against spaying in this specific case? This doesn't sound like a situation where she's missing interactions (so getting another pup will make her "happier") but a real physical thing that is causing her to not feel good and therefore not want to interact or do things normally.





krandall said:


> It is HIGHLY unusual for a female to have been in heat three times by a year old! While I am certainly NOT typically in favor of early spay, this girl has a real problem, and I think you should listen to your vet. Getting another dog is NOT going to help her physical problems.


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## Melissa Brill (Feb 22, 2017)

ASherif said:


> Thank you both for the reply here. I am afraid for mainly 2 reasons, first my wife and I want her to experience having pupies and being a mom but the vet says that even that wont fix her hormonal disturbance - Second, we are afraid this doesnt fix the issue and we take the wrong decision. We feel its a hard decision and cant feel sure if this is the right thing to do if you know what I mean.


Personally I don't feel that dogs are missing out of anything by not having puppies, so I don't think they "need" that experience (and that experience can go really wrong - read through the Panda puppies thread - even with all the right health tests, and extremely good vet care and owner care, Karen (krandall) had to deal with the scary situation of Panda having to have a C section and all of the care for the puppies and Panda that followed). Second, I wouldn't breed a dog with a known physical issue (i.e. the hormone imbalance), not sure if there is any genetic component there, but I wouldn't take the chance of passing it on (in addition to having all of the right health tests and confirmation checks before breeding). 

If you're not sure it will fix the issue then I would consult with another vet and get a second opinion. However, even if it doesn't fix it, spaying is a very normal procedure and won't "hurt" her in any way (except not being able to get pregnant). People usually recommend waiting til a little later - but usually that's waiting til after their first heat. You said she's only 1 year old and has already had three heats - poor baby.


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## Tom King (Aug 2, 2006)

I agree with everything that has been said by Melissa and Karen.


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## LWalks (Feb 7, 2021)

I agree with everything that’s been said… will just add that my girl is also 1, and just finished her first heat, and it was definitely hard on her and she didn’t seem to feel good. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to go through that three times at such a young age!


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## EvaE1izabeth (Nov 14, 2017)

I’m sorry you and your Havanese are going through this! I don’t know if this is true but if she isn’t healthy and something is causing her to have hormonal imbalances or abnormal heat, isn’t pregnancy risky? I think it’s great that you waited to spay since a lot of dogs are spayed/neutered when they don’t need to be, but your circumstances are also unique  Her special job is to be part of your family and love you and be loved by you so don’t worry she’s missing out. If you feel like it would be good for her to have some kind of unique experience in her life maybe there’s a class you can take together? Are you able to get a second opinion, at least to put your mind at ease?


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## mudpuppymama (Mar 24, 2012)

I am wondering if there is something “off” with her entire endocrine system or part of it. Everything sort of works together. Could she have been exposed to any endocrine disrupting chemicals? Is she on any medications? What about flea preventatives? Did you notice any changes in behavior after vaccinations? I don’t think dogs miss not having puppies. I never had any kids and I don’t think I missed out on anything. Not that I wouldn’t have minded having some. It just never happened and I fulfilled my life in other ways. They say you don’t miss what you never had. I think this applies to dogs too. I would seek a vet that who look at the entire body and not just parts of it. Breeding a dog with dubious health issues is not a good idea. And getting a second dog to fix the first dog’s problems is definitely asking for trouble. I would focus on fixing the first dog’s health issues.


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## tdbird (8 mo ago)

ASherif said:


> Good morning,
> 
> I have a one year Havanese Female dog, recently I noticed she is less interacting and sitting alone. I took her to the vet, she is suffering from inflammation in her stomach, a little pressure in her spine which both getting better by medicines in addition to hormonal disturbance as she had the heat 3 times in less than a year. Doctor confirmed that the hormonal disturbance is the reason for these symptoms as she recommend to spay her but I refused so she recommend to regularly check up on her every three months.
> 
> ...


Unless you plan to breed it might be a good idea to have her sprayed. If she isn’t feeling well another dog will not may her feel better


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## Tere (Oct 17, 2018)

Carrying a litter of puppies is going to put even more stress on her body. You need to spay your girl. I can't even imagine why you are refusing. This is a no brainer.
A litter of puppies is so much work and expense and hard on the body of a healthy female, much less one that is already in pain.


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## Dee Dee (Jul 24, 2015)

I agree with what has been said, letting her have puppies would be the worst thing you could do for her. It's very stressful on their body even if perfectly healthy and she may have a genetic condition causing her health issues which could be passed on to her puppies. It's painful to have puppies and so many risks and takes a toll on the body, your girl isn't in any condition to withstand that well. In addition the world has so many dogs that thousands of perfectly wonderful dogs have to be killed every year due to not enough homes. The only reason to breed would be to strive for healthier dogs and to do that, you would need to really study genetics and all of the things that go into having that possibly happen. No reputable breeder would breed a dog with your pups health issues.


I agree about listening to your vet and having her spayed, heat cycles also aren't easy for dogs to go through and with her issues will likely be even harder for her. I can tell you love her and want the best for her and will do right by your little one.


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## 79665 (6 mo ago)

ASherif said:


> Good morning,
> 
> I have a one year Havanese Female dog, recently I noticed she is less interacting and sitting alone. I took her to the vet, she is suffering from inflammation in her stomach, a little pressure in her spine which both getting better by medicines in addition to hormonal disturbance as she had the heat 3 times in less than a year. Doctor confirmed that the hormonal disturbance is the reason for these symptoms as she recommend to spay her but I refused so she recommend to regularly check up on her every three months.
> 
> ...


Please don’t stress her out with another dog! She needs medical help, and spaying is not a death sentence. I’m not sure you want her bred…she’s probably not healthy enough presently. Get another opinion if you don’t agree with your vet.


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## Pamela M K (5 mo ago)

ASherif said:


> Good morning,
> 
> I have a one year Havanese Female dog, recently I noticed she is less interacting and sitting alone. I took her to the vet, she is suffering from inflammation in her stomach, a little pressure in her spine which both getting better by medicines in addition to hormonal disturbance as she had the heat 3 times in less than a year. Doctor confirmed that the hormonal disturbance is the reason for these symptoms as she recommend to spay her but I refused so she recommend to regularly check up on her every three months.
> 
> ...


I did have this happen decades ago with my young female German Shepherd. I was given the same advice, which I did take, and had her spayed. She was over a year old at the time. We just recently got a female Havanese puppy and I am against early spaying and in fact, have concerns about spaying at all, so I feel for you. I will tell you though, that the spaying did solve the problems that my shepherd was having long ago.and I was relieved that she was fine after that. I hope I've helped in some way. Best wishes to you and your little girl.


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