Normally, female dog will reach maturity at the age of 6-24 months (average at 9-10 months) which is different in various breed. Small breed dog will reach maturity earlier than large breed
dog and bitch can also have an estrus cycle along their life, but fertility will be decreased by the age. In male dog will reach maturity around 6-12 month old (average at 9-12 month old) which will also be different between breeds.
When dogs reach maturity one thing that most of the owners are concerned is pregnancy since some may want their pets to have puppies, but some may not. Nevertheless, there are some diseases involving reproductive system that we need to consider, but a good thing is those diseases can be prevented. Therefore, regularly health check up by veterinarian is the best way to prevent and monitor those diseases for pets.
1. Gynecologic and reproductive examination are also important for your pets such as cryptorchidism, semen evaluation and fertility in both male and female dogs. In female dogs, during estrus period, they will have bloody vaginal discharge, but they are not ready to be mating. They will be ready to be mating when the bloody vaginal
discharge stop and enter to estrus period.
2. Cytological diagnosis can be useful for detecting the differentiation of vaginal cells in order to assess the estrus cycle of the bitch. This approach is able to estimate a suitable date for mating and pregnancy. Moreover, cytology can also be used for diagnosis of other venereal diseases such as Venereal granuloma as weel.
3. Blood progesterone level detection which is able to estimate ovulation and mating date at the same time.
4. Radiological diagnosis can also be used for diagnosis in this system such as pregnancy. In the bitch that is pregnant more than 45 days, x-ray can give a 100% accuracy and also can tell us about the amount of the puppies. Moreover, x-ray is frequently used to diagnose of other diseases i.e. pyometra and prostatic disease.
5. Ultrasonography is one of the methods that is able to use to detect pregnancy and health status of the puppies, but this cannot tell us exactly how many puppies are there. Furthermore, this approach can also be used to diagnose other diseases as well.
Treatment
1. Medical treatment
2. Surgical treatment for some diseases that cannot be treated by medicines and some surgical approaches can be used for prevention or population control e.g. neutering.
