# Spaying and weight gain



## DaniCh07 (Mar 10, 2016)

So I have been told by a few vets that spaying or neutering does not cause weight gain. However, every dog I have ever known to be spayed has blown up like a balloon after being fixed. I would appreciate hearing your guys' experiences with this. Did your dog gain weight? Did your dog NOT gain weight? Any feedback is welcome. This is the only thing holding me back from getting my dog spayed. I don't want her weight to be and issue for joint problems later on down the line.


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## MineAreWorkingline (May 2, 2015)

I had one adult dog neutered due to health reasons and he went from a thin dog who never could gain weight to a dog that was over weight. 

Neutering decreases metabolism. Dog food nutrients are based on calories so when you reduce food intake to compensate for a reduced metabolism, you are also reducing necessary nutrition which can create a hungry dog as well which can compound the problem.


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## dogma13 (Mar 8, 2014)

I've had three girls over the years that were spayed and none of them had a weight problem.My current girl puts on a couple of extra pounds over winter when her excersice level goes down.But I'm to blame for that


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I have one spayed bitch. 

She resembles a coffee table, and I feed her half of what my other normal-sized bitches get. She will be 9 in October, and was spayed I think a year ago. 

I have one neutered dog. He was 3 in the end of January. He is tall, skinny, and gangly and has a knowledge bump. I got him back at 18 months old, and he was neutered when I got him back, from his looks probably prior to 7-8months old. I feed him as much as he wants, usually 6 cups a day, and he can steal Hepzibah's food as well. There is always food left behind when I go to feed him. 

But yeah, spaying an older female might cause weight gain. I really don't know about spaying them young though. I think that when you spay them at an age when they are already likely to be slowing down, the chances of them putting on incredible amounts of weight go up.

ETA: Babs, Jenna, and Heidi are not spayed. They will be 11 (Babs and Jenna) and 10 in August. Babs weighed in at 89, Jenna at 85, and Heidi looks to be about 78 pounds. Jenna is maybe 5 pounds overweight. Babs is 14 pounds overweight. Heidi is about right. My spayed bitch, Odessa weighs a hundred at least, and I am at a loss at getting that weight off of her. She should weigh about 73 pounds -- she is littler than Jenna and Heidi in height.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Not true for mine. I have two females. My almost 12 yr old has weighed 57 pounds since she was about 2. My almost 5 yr old female GSD weighed in at 72.1 on Sunday and she is tall(28 inches). The vet considers her slim and slender and said she is ideal. It just depends on diet and exercise IMO. The GSD was at 68 until she it about 3, she will go up to 78ish in the winter and I'm ok with that. She will never go over 80.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

llombardo said:


> Not true for mine. I have two females. My almost 12 yr old has weighed 57 pounds since she was about 2. My almost 5 yr old female GSD weighed in at 72.1 on Sunday and she is tall(28 inches). The vet considers her slim and slender and said she is ideal. It just depends on diet and exercise IMO. The GSD was at 68 until she it about 3, she will go up to 78ish in the winter and I'm ok with that. She will never go over 80.


How old were they when they were spayed?


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

selzer said:


> How old were they when they were spayed?


They we're both about a year or so. It's the same with the males. Apollo is real slim and muscular at almost two, he was fixed the latest at about 16 months or so.


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## Jupiter_0203 (May 5, 2016)

DaniCh07 said:


> So I have been told by a few vets that spaying or neutering does not cause weight gain. However, every dog I have ever known to be spayed has blown up like a balloon after being fixed. I would appreciate hearing your guys' experiences with this. Did your dog gain weight? Did your dog NOT gain weight? Any feedback is welcome. This is the only thing holding me back from getting my dog spayed. I don't want her weight to be and issue for joint problems later on down the line.


 @DaniCh07 - Jupiter was spayed very young at around 10 weeks. We adopted her when she was 12 weeks old. But from day 1 she has been a tall, slender and beautiful girl. She doesn't gain much weight, may be about 2 lbs a week. This picture was taken on June 5th.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Actually I lied about the males. Midnite went up to 100 pounds and I put him on a diet, he has stayed between 80-85 since then. Tannor my golden also gained weight and I got him down to 80 where he has stayed for about 4 yrs.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

llombardo said:


> They we're both about a year or so. It's the same with the males. Apollo is real slim and muscular at almost two, he was fixed the latest at about 16 months or so.


See, my girls tend to be very trim until 3 or even 5years. (Hepsi is 4 and still skinny, Milla is 7 and was very skinny until about 5 years old.) I wonder if you spay them young, then their bodies may just adjust to the lack of hormones, no problem. But when you wait until they are 7 or 8, maybe even younger 4-5 years, their bodies might not adjust to that lack of hormones on its own. And as they are at a point where they might be slowing down anyway, they tend to put on weight. 

Babsy and Jenna at 8 years old were not slender, but ideal, as Heidi is now, at almost 10. But both older girls have now put on weight. Babs weighed in at 75 six months ago. So she has put on a ton this six months. 

Odie though, she put on weight like Babs did but 2 years earlier than Babsy. And I think I got Babs to lose a little already, I have been fighting with Odie's weight for months, no luck. I think Babs' natural hormones are starting to shut off a bit, Odie's were cut off at once. I think the weight gain in older bitches who are spayed later in life might be explainable or typical, of course my sample size is one. I spayed Arwen at almost 8 years, she did put on weight, we checked for diabetes and thyroid, she came in a smidgen low on T4, and we started synthroid, but then she died before she was 10. So, maybe my sample size is two. I just checked, Babsy for thyroid and other senior bloodwork. They said she would not be diabetic -- they lose weight with diabetes. I checked Odie's out a few months ago.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

selzer said:


> See, my girls tend to be very trim until 3 or even 5years. (Hepsi is 4 and still skinny, Milla is 7 and was very skinny until about 5 years old.) I wonder if you spay them young, then their bodies may just adjust to the lack of hormones, no problem. But when you wait until they are 7 or 8, maybe even younger 4-5 years, their bodies might not adjust to that lack of hormones on its own. And as they are at a point where they might be slowing down anyway, they tend to put on weight.
> 
> Babsy and Jenna at 8 years old were not slender, but ideal, as Heidi is now, at almost 10. But both older girls have now put on weight. Babs weighed in at 75 six months ago. So she has put on a ton this six months.
> 
> Odie though, she put on weight like Babs did but 2 years earlier than Babsy. And I think I got Babs to lose a little already, I have been fighting with Odie's weight for months, no luck. I think Babs' natural hormones are starting to shut off a bit, Odie's were cut off at once. I think the weight gain in older bitches who are spayed later in life might be explainable or typical, of course my sample size is one. I spayed Arwen at almost 8 years, she did put on weight, we checked for diabetes and thyroid, she came in a smidgen low on T4, and we started synthroid, but then she died before she was 10. So, maybe my sample size is two. I just checked, Babsy for thyroid and other senior bloodwork. They said she would not be diabetic -- they lose weight with diabetes. I checked Odie's out a few months ago.


The first thing I checked with the golden was the thyroid. I couldn't believe how big he got. He had trouble running and was tired. I think it was then that I decided that no matter what they weren't gaining weight. They all do a lot of swimming which I'm sure helps. My dads dog is way overweight and he is older but that is lack of exercise and way to many treats.


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## MineAreWorkingline (May 2, 2015)

selzer said:


> I have one spayed bitch.
> 
> She resembles a coffee table, and I feed her half of what my other normal-sized bitches get. She will be 9 in October, and was spayed I think a year ago.
> 
> ...


Thank you for posting this. There was a thread not so long ago where I said that neutering and @ what age was readily, visually identifiable and every body posting acted like I had three heads.



llombardo said:


> Not true for mine. I have two females. My almost 12 yr old has weighed 57 pounds since she was about 2. My almost 5 yr old female GSD weighed in at 72.1 on Sunday and she is tall(28 inches). The vet considers her slim and slender and said she is ideal. It just depends on diet and exercise IMO. The GSD was at 68 until she it about 3, she will go up to 78ish in the winter and I'm ok with that. She will never go over 80.


Robyn too? I know I have seen you post differently on a few threads where she was spayed at a very young age.

http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/health-issues/644385-post-spay-complications.html


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## MineAreWorkingline (May 2, 2015)

llombardo said:


> They we're both about a year or so. It's the same with the males. Apollo is real slim and muscular at almost two, he was fixed the latest at about 16 months or so.


I am sorry, my computer is acting up. This was the comment I meant to reference.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

MineAreWorkingline said:


> Thank you for posting this. There was a thread not so long ago where I said that neutering and @ what age was readily, visually identifiable and every body posting acted like I had three heads.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


No, you don't have three heads, but it is kind of a  thing, that when the cause is right you can lie all you want, or shame folks for thinking such a thing. Yes, dogs do not grow the same as they would have if they were not neutered young. Breeders know this. People who are pro-spay/neuter deny it, but know it too. The thing is, if they admit that the legs will grow longer, and the secondary sex characteristics will not develop, and you might just get a bitchy-looking dog, then some people might not neuter their dogs, and their dog might impregnate some bitch, and then there will be a litter of puppies, which will swell the shelters because the people went and got an adorable puppy rather than an older dog that someone rejected.


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## MineAreWorkingline (May 2, 2015)

selzer said:


> No, you don't have three heads, but it is kind of a  thing, that when the cause is right you can lie all you want, *or shame folks for thinking such a thing*. Yes, dogs do not grow the same as they would have if they were not neutered young. Breeders know this. People who are pro-spay/neuter deny it, but know it too. The thing is, if they admit that the legs will grow longer, and the secondary sex characteristics will not develop, and you might just get a bitchy-looking dog, then some people might not neuter their dogs, and their dog might impregnate some bitch, and then there will be a litter of puppies, which will swell the shelters because the people went and got an adorable puppy rather than an older dog that someone rejected.


Yes! The bolded was an understatement of what happened on that thread that night!


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## WateryTart (Sep 25, 2013)

My girl was spayed at about 15 months.

It isn't that she's fat - in fact, she's trim. But it isn't as easy to keep her that way. We cut her food down to just over a pound a day and we make sure to walk her a lot (a typical week is 15-20 miles for the dog, between the two of us), as well as giving her opportunities to run around and play. 

If we weren't doing all that, she'd be right back to being skinny fat (slender but untoned and paunchy).


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