Coat changes after spaying - any thoughts?

[Brenda Bernat]

I spayed my 5 year old female setter about a year ago.  Since then the coat on her back has grown thick, long, fluffy and orange.  Really makes her look dumpy.  Also she has only 1/2 the energy of her former self.  Any thoughts ?  She was so pretty and lively before.

Thanks Brenda 

[Sherry Miller]

Molly was a rescue for us and came already neutered. Orange,fluffy

coat with a funny texture seems to occur mostly on her rear legs

(mats easily and is the very devil to keep silky). Two trips a year to her 

Beauty spa keep both of us happy. We add oil, yourgurt ,etc.to her diet.

Molly didn't seem to loose much in way of being active

(12-15 months old when she arrived home) so perhaps age at spaying

might affect energy or moods?  We were just thrilled to have an 

Irish Setter in our home again that spay coat or not we fell head over

heels for our Molly. :)

Sherry and Molly

[rosie beere]

Has anyone tried a vasectomy or ovariectomy?
More vets are coming on side with this now.
Surely this would help save the coat.
Rosie

[Finding_Beau]

I chose a laparoscopic spey for Misty because it was much less invasive and only involved 2 small incisions to remove the ovaries. For anyone who is interested, this is a link to an article about this type of "keyhole" surgery on the Mercola website: Laparoscopic Ovariectomy: A Safer Alternative to Traditional Spaying. Unfortunately for Misty because she has an extremely aggressive form of mammary cancer, she then had to undergo surgery to remove mammary glands. As I have posted previously I have never noticed a deterioration in the coat of any of my English Setters after desexing/speying. With Misty, her coat definitely changed but what was even worse, far worse, was the impact on her physical body from the trauma of the surgery. Almost 12 months later, Misty's coat has improved. Everyone compliments her on her beautiful coat. My major concern will always be her health.

It is difficult to say but based on my experience I would recommend this type of surgery for the benefit of the female dog but the impact on the coat is difficult to predict. I do believe that the diet can help the coat. As for male dogs, this is only my personal opinion but I would never consider desexing the dog unless this was required for a health problem like a testicular tumour. Susan