Hello from Austria

by **Sunburn** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 2:20 am

Hello everybody!

My name is Chris , I´m around 40(+)and I´m an Austrian Pitbull-Owner. I´ll try to do my best to post that you will be able to understand my postings, because i´m german-speaker and do not speak/write english on a high grade. :hi

My Dog is named "Xena" and she´s now 2 Years old. I, myself am an Cartoonist which means I do cartoons and caricatures for some newspapers over here and also for personal use (Birthdays and so on).
This is my first pitbull even though I had some dogs before. My last one died because of Pancreas-Cancer, I think that came because of the industrial dog-food, so I´m going for raw feeding now(BARF)- I´m doing it for over a year and it seems to work. She seems to be in good health.
My pitbull isn´t neutered and I would love to keep it that way but my vet says I should neuter her because she was translucent pregnant two times and that this could cause breast cancer. Maybe I can find some information about this problem here.
I would like to post a pic of my dog but I´m afraid it´s not possible as a new member. Well, maybe later.
Thanks for having me as a member here :thumbsup:

Chris

by **Sunburn** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 3:04 am

So...hope you see the pics!

regards

Chris

by **Sunburn** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 3:09 am

I´m working on it to get the pics smaller-sorry for all the posts. :-)
[img][IMG]http://i1058.photobucket.com/albums/t420/SunnyBurner/th_589a05a8.jpg[/img][/img]

by **AllisonPibbleLvr** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 6:32 am

Welcome Chris! Xena is beautiful and I understood your post perfectly!

by **Sunburn** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 6:37 am

Thank you Allison! I´m glad to hear that.

by **Enigma** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 8:17 am

Hey neigbour! (I'm from Slovenia) :thumbsup:

Nice to see another European on here.. I always thought Austria enforced BSL (breed specific legislation), is there anything to it? Oh and I would agree with your vet, if a female has reccuring false pregnancies it's best to spay her. They tend to get worse every heat and can cause problems.

Xena is a cutie!

by **Ilovethepits** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 8:27 am

Welcome to you Chris and the beautiful Xena! :hi

by **Sunburn** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 11:09 am

Hello and thank you!
@Enigma:You are right with BSL, but it´s not a strikt as in Germany. Do you have a female too? Any experience with them?I´m afraid that she will become fat when she´s neutered...it´s not as easy as it is by a male dog. It´s a very serious operation. My last dog was a female to, She was neutered and became fat and her mood changed from nice to grumpy. :-/

Regards

Chris

by **Enigma** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 11:32 am

Yes I do own a spayed female and I have fostered and been in contact with many spayed females. The "getting fat" is in my opinion just a myth, both of my dogs are speutered and none of them are fat. It all depends on the owner, if you let them be fat, they will be fat no matter if they are intact or speutered. Reading this forum you will see that the vast majority of dogs here are spayed and neutered, most of them are rescues, because this is a very rescue oriented forum. Here you have a thread about dogs showing off their muscles and good shape, almost all of them are speutered:

http://pbf2.pitbullforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=139195

As far as being a serious procedure.. When you work in rescue and you go throug hundreds of procedures like this you see it's a routine procedure, not much more than neutering a male as long as your vet knows what he's doing. However it's a personal choice, I don't mind people keeping their dogs intact as long as they are responsible and don't let their dogs produce more unwanted animals. Sadly not a lot of people are capable or willing to do this.

If you don't mind me asking, under what conditions can you own a pitbull in Austria? What kind of rules did BSL enforce?

by **Sunburn** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 12:17 pm

Hello Enigma,

thanks for the link-some of them look pretty awsome! :headbang:

but, if you don´t mind me asking: How do you know they´re neutered? I can´t seem to see this on the texts, but I only went throught 5 pages I must say. My neighbor has a Pibull lady too, and she´s gotten her neutered when it was a pup- the dog´s fat now and incontinent , too, poor girl. You´re right when you say it depends on the owner but what kind of sport can you do when she´s limping? No running, not much walking...to use an abstract term-it´s not all black or white, there are some shades of grey you must also see. But I understand your point. About the BSL laws- how is it in slovenia?

Regards

Chris

by **Youaremysuicide** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 1:10 pm

Your girl is so pretty! As said earlier, a lot of the dogs on this forum are rescue/ shelter dogs and it's a requirement for shelter dogs to be spayed/neutered before being placed in a home. My girl is spayed and since she is recovering from heartworm treatment, she can't exercise or play rough, and yet she isn't fat. It is up to the owner to keep their dog in shape with exercise and proper nutrition, being spayed shouldn't have an impact on the dogs weight. But as said, it is a personal choice and if you're willing to keep your girl safe away from males while in heat that's up to you. But with her health issues I wouldn't want to risk it.

by **Enigma** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 1:22 pm

Sunburn wrote:but, if you don´t mind me asking: How do you know they´re neutered?

When you're a member on here for 6 years you get to know the dogs and their owners

You´re right when you say it depends on the owner but what kind of sport can you do when she´s limping? No running, not much walking...

Sure, it's harder to keep the weight down if your dog is injured, but that doesn't really have much to do with speutering (an injured intact dog will also gain weight if you don't put him on a diet). I also have a dog who has problems with his back because of his bad structure, but he's not fat, a good diet and moderate exercise makes all the difference

About the BSL laws- how is it in slovenia?

So far, we don't have any BSL over here. Do you need to muzzle pitbulls in public places in Austria? We're planning on taking a trip with the dogs next month and we will probably stop in Vienna on the way, that's why I'm asking :thumbsup:

by **Ilovethepits** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 1:46 pm

This is my female dog Lily. She is spayed. In fact she had the incision twice because she was a rescue and when they went to spay her they could not see a scar and opened her up and realized she was already spayed. I got her at around 1 year of age and have had her for 7 years. She is not fat and is not lazy as you can see by these photos:

I think it took about 2 weeks for her incision to be healed enough to be at top activity.

by **AllisonPibbleLvr** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 4:22 pm

My 12 year old hypothyroid spayed female dog with two torn knee ligaments and tendonitis in her shoulder has every excuse to be fat. She's still a lean, mean muscle machine! She's also sweet and soft in temperament.

by **Leslie H** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 7:33 pm

I show my dogs, so haven't spayed them until they are older. I have had a female whose false pregnancies became less extreme as she matured. No problem w/fat spayed females here.