Pakenham veterinarian Cameron Hinkley with two dogs treated at Cardinia Veterinary Centre.By Sarah Schwager
PET owners are choosing the “morningafter pill” as their preferred method of contraception for their animals.
Pakenham veterinarian Cameron Hinkley, from Cardinia Veterinary Centre, said the morningafter pill was becoming a better option for pet owners who did not have their animals desexed.
“We prefer to use the pill rather than abort,” Mr Hinkley said. “I’ve done it quite a few times and the success rate is really good. It’s definitely the way to go.”
The method involves a series of injections, the equivalent of the morningafter pill, taken three, five and seven days after the impregnation, and stops the sperm fertilising the egg.
Mr Hinkley said the method, most common in dogs, was preferable to abortions or allowing the animal to have a litter of unwanted pups.
He said there were also many risks in animals that became pregnant, such as breast cancer.
“If they want a litter of pups I try to discourage it if there is no real reason,” he said.
Mr Hinkley said the “morningafter pill” was much more common than abortions.
“On the occasion we have to do an abortion, it’s usually for medical reasons,” he said.
“The typical thing is a mismating or something like that. For example, a large dog mating with a Jack Russell. There have been problems with that,” he said.
He said sometimes it was also a welfare issue, for example, where the owners could not, or did not want to, look after the pups.
But Mr Hinkley said the problem went beyond what he saw at the clinic.
“I’d say about 90 to 95 per cent of the cats and dogs on our books are desexed,” he said.
“The others are usually breeding animals and are well looked after.
“The clients who bring their pets in are aware of what their animals are up to and look after them.
“The trouble is I’m sure some cats and dogs around never see a vet and are never vaccinated or anything.”
Mr Hinkley said animals that had abortions were not necessarily wanted or looked after.
“It is by far and away the most covert operation. But it does happen from time to time,” he said.
Mr Hinkley said the clinic pushed desexing to prevent abortions.
“We even desex ferrets and rabbits sometimes,” he said.
He said most owners would seek to find the pups a home rather than abort them.
“That is what we prefer. We don’t want to give an injection later on to induce abortion,” he said.
“Obviously we treat it fairly seriously. Like humans, we wouldn’t take it any more lightly here.
“I think they would feel the loss in some way.
“It would be a traumatic time.
“If we can prevent that then we will.”
