How Your Hormone Replacement Therapy Can Affect Your Breeding Animals
By Linda Montgomery DVM, PhD
Many women over 40 are on hormone replacement therapy. Sometimes doctors prescribe oral hormones, sometimes sublingual hormones, and sometimes topical, or transdermal, hormones. The only one you need to worry about with your breeding animals are the transdermal hormones.
Transdermal hormone preparations are made specifically to penetrate the skin and elevate blood levels of hormones. These hormone preparations are very good at penetrating skin: not just yours, but any skin they come in contact with. That means your family members and your animals are all at risk for absorbing these hormones, which can cause adverse effects.
Women usually rub their transdermal hormone preparations in with their hands. Therefore the hormones are not only on the body part you rubbed them into but also on your hands. In addition, they rub off on any clothing, towel, or sheet you come into contact with. If you then touch your dog, or your clothing or sheets touch your dog, your hormones can then absorb through your dog’s skin.
Most female hormone preparations contain estrogen. If a breeding animal, whether dog or bitch, comes into contact with this estrogen, adverse effects can occur. Dogs can experience a decline in sperm count, and bitches can experience difficulty coming into season or maintaining pregnancy.
If you and your doctor determine that transdermal hormones are the only and best way for you to receive your hormone therapy, there are things you can to do protect your family and your dogs. After you apply your hormone cream, wash your hands and dry them with a paper towel, not a bath towel. That way if any residual hormones are left on your hands they are not deposited on a community towel. Also, put clothing on to cover the area where you applied your hormones. That way they are less likely to be spread to others. If you sleep with family members or your dogs, remember that hormones also transfer to sheets, so wear clothing to sleep in to keep the hormones from rubbing off on the sheets.
If at all possible, the best solution is to use oral or sublingual hormone preparations. This greatly minimizes the risk to the rest of your family or your dogs. Also, don’t stop using your hormones just to protect your dogs. Clients have done this and it can have an adverse effect on your own health. Always follow your doctor’s instructions, and discuss these concerns with him or her to find the best solution for your health and for the health of your family members and breeding animals.