Do shelters abort unborn puppies?
It depends on the shelter. The one I volunteered for immediately spayed any female that came in the day after she arrived whether she was pregnant or not. The only way she was allowed to whelp was if she was already in labor or went into labor the day of her spay. At that point it’s just a c-section so no point in altering. In those cases, they’d be placed into foster care and altered after weaning the litter. If you’re wondering, this was a high volume, no kill shelter in an area with a serious over-population of unwanted animals, particularly cats (who were treated the same as the dogs). Some shelters will consider how far along the ***** is. If she’s 4 or less weeks away from whelping, they may let her have her pups before spaying her. Some shelters consider their current dog volume as well as how adoptions are going. If the volume is low and adoptions are high, they may let the dogs have their pups. If volume is high and adoptions low, they’ll abort the litter.
