# When to Spay



## chevyfreese (Apr 26, 2018)

At my last vet appt the vet said mags could be fixed at any time her weight was good so i made the appt for the 20th she will be 16 weeks, she has a hernia. this is why i got mags. back yard breeder, beautiful parents grand champ dad, mags didnt come with papers.....they were going to have it fixed and breed her so i snagged her at the low price of 500$ and no papers.. 
anyway they said at 4 months her hernia coild be repaired. she has no complaints about it. 
s
some folks say wait til 1st heat. 
the cats were all done at 8 weeks.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

IMO: way too young. Allow one heat at least. Lots of good info on this forum regarding this topic.


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## chevyfreese (Apr 26, 2018)

yea. i tried searching spay and didnt find what i was looking for. maybe i am not wording correctly


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## camperbc (Sep 19, 2017)

Every time this topic arises on the internet it causes a huge and often heated debate, as everyone has a different opinion about spaying. Anyway, I will add my thoughts to this discussion, and you can take it as you wish. 

If this subject is discussed with your own veterenarian, they will likely recommend that you have it done prior to your dog's first heat cycle; so at around 6 months. From what I have gleaned, statistics show that this drastically reduces the odds of your pet developing mammary cancer by a whopping 98%. (or 60% if you wait until after her first cycle) The internet is filled with people who insist that one must wait until their dog's "growth plates" have fully closed, but what they don't seem to realize is that these plates actually have closed once they reach puberty, (not adulthood) so there is in fact no big medical advantage to waiting until they are older. This was the advice recently given to us by our own vet, as well as several previous ones over the past 4+ decades, when I resided in other parts of Canada. (British Columbia, Manitoba, and Ontario) Also, a well-known and respected veterinarian here in Newfoundland wrote at length about this recently on another GSD forum, in an effort to put an end to the vast amount of misinformation which inevitably resurfaces every time someone asks about the best age to spay. For what it is worth, every dog that I have had over the past 50 years or so was spayed by 6 or 7 months of age, and every one of them went on the lead a long, healthy, happy life. I hope this helps.

Glen
Focus On Newfoundland


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## Pytheis (Sep 23, 2016)

I know several people that spayed their females young. The girls they rescued were spayed at 2 months old, as they were coming out of a shelter and didn't have a choice. One of the females developed spay incontinence. She will be sleeping, and then just pee all over the bed, floor, crate, what have you. She doesn't even know she does it. They have been to the vet, and it was decided it was a result of the spay.

My golden retriever was spayed after her first heat. She has a terrible spay coat, which is common in the breed if spayed before a certain age or spayed at all.

When I get my next puppy, he will be male, but I have decided not to neuter him, and if for some reason I need to, I won't do it until 2 years old. The growth plates close at different times for different dogs, and it is usually around the 18 month mark, from what I have gathered. You can get x-rays done to see if they have closed or not at any point.

In the end, if the worst thing you do for your dog is spay her a little early, she will live a good life. There are so many animals that are spayed/neutered early and they survive. It may not be ideal, and some of us just don't want to take any chances, but then again everything you do you're taking a chance. Make the best decision for you and your dog.


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## chevyfreese (Apr 26, 2018)

i have read a lot 
she has seen 3 different vets at her clinic and they all said do it now with the hernia or do the spay now and 6 weeks later do the hernia. i just want her to be healthy. shes my buddy!.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

chevyfreese said:


> yea. i tried searching spay and didnt find what i was looking for. maybe i am not wording correctly


That's because spaying and neutering falls under the Basic Care category.  Lots of threads there.


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## chevyfreese (Apr 26, 2018)

thanks i will search under basic. I want to do what is best for her. That means def no pups this chickie!!


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

My vet told me that all females will get pyometra if not spayed. So far, none of my girls have gotten that or mammary cancer. I did just put Jenna down at 12.75 years, but not for either of those issues. I have her litter sister and her sister that is just a year younger. All intact. 

Personally, I think vets push spaying bitches for a number of reasons and most are not in the best interest of you or your bitch. Population control, the sale of a surgery, beliefs founded on very little research, or biased research -- remember, you can make your numbers or research prove your theory depending on how you choose your control groups and other stuff. 

The questions I think you have to ask yourself are:
Do I have a young intact male who will have to be separated from my female and can I realistically make that happen? 

Do I want to deal with the mess and possible loss of training/emotional upheaval of having a bitch in heat? 

Be real honest, no one need know/no one needs to judge you. It is perfectly ok to spay your bitch because you don't want to do heat cycles. It is a better reason than all the bull-ony that vets throw at you. 

I think the longer she keeps her machinery the better, but if it is a question of not being able to keep a boy away from her, than go ahead and spay her early.


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

My breeder told me to not worry about my gal-dog's hernia. She told me that often they just outgrow them. My vet told me not to worry about it and they could take care of it during my gal's spay. I waited through two heats and spay her a 18 months. The hernia wasn't even an issue by then. I did do a gastropexy with the spay since she has a lot of drive and is go go go! 

My previous mutt females I adopted as adults. I have no idea how old they were when they were spay. They had good healthy lives.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

I wonder how the show world survives if pyometra and mammary cancer is so wide-spread.


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## Femfa (May 29, 2016)

My girl has an umbilical hernia too. She's 15 months and has never had an issue with it. I do check it after intense activity and push the fluid back in, but my vets never pushed a spay to fix it immediately. If anything, it was along @car2ner's vet's opinion as well - fixable when and if I decide to spay. My vet informed me that it is best to wait with medium/large breed dogs until they are at least 18 months for growth plates, ideally after two. But she's also a vet who recommends raw feeding or kibble brands like Orijen/Acana over their prescribed diets unless otherwise unhealthy, so she's likely a rarity in the vet world.

I personally will either do an OSS (Ovary sparing spay) when my girl hits two if I have access to a reproductive specialist, or just do a full spay at 7 years. If possible, a good idea is to contact a vet who is a reproductive specialist and ask for their opinion as well. In my mind, and as a generalization, your average vet is like your average GP - great for basic knowledge, but will refer you when it comes to specialized systems. The reproductive tract is a specialized system, and personally I would rather have the input of a specialist vs. a generalist to base my decision on.

I also recommend joining the FB group "Ovary Sparing Spay and Vasectomy Info Group". Loooadddsss of research posted for different procedures, loads of awesome resources, and lots of great advice and anecdotal experiences from plenty of people around the globe.


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## Pawsed (May 24, 2014)

Is the hernia causing her problems?

We have 2 males with hernias that look just like the picture of your dog. One is now 8 and the other is 5. We were told by our vet to just keep an eye on them and if they seem to be a problem, then we will address that. Obviously, it's never been an issue for them.

I'm not a fan of spaying or neutering. There are lots of different opinions here, and the decision is definitely up to you. But I would wait, at least until 2 years of age, when the dog is more mature. Her hormones will have an effect on how she develops, so at the least, I would not want to deprive her of those until she is fully grown.


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## Muskeg (Jun 15, 2012)

Pyometra IS widespread, but bitches get it after they are done actively breeding. Just like most diseases of older age it does not affect their reproductive potential, and would have no impact evolutionarily or through natural or artificial selection because the bitch would have already passed on her genes. 

For what it's worth, I have only had one intact bitch so far, but she got pyo at around 7 years of age. So my experience is 100%. There were two other bitches in my local clinic for pyo that day alone. And it's not a huge clinic. So, it is indeed very common particularly if the bitch was not bred at all or was only bred once. 

I will most likely spay my other intact bitch when she is 7 or so, because I don't want to risk her health as she gets older, nor do I want to fork over $1,000 for an emergency pyo spay (and that is at the lower end, we caught it super early). 

Most responsible breeders I know spay their breeding bitches at around 7-9 years of age. This is because of the risk of pyometra.


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## dogfaeries (Feb 22, 2010)

I spayed Carly after she turned 6 because I was afraid of pyo. I know too many people who’ve dealt with it. Scarlet won’t be 2 until August, and I am actively showing her, so spaying isn’t a consideration for a long time.


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## Femfa (May 29, 2016)

dogfaeries said:


> I spayed Carly after she turned 6 because I was afraid of pyo. I know too many people who’ve dealt with it. Scarlet won’t be 2 until August, and I am actively showing her, so spaying isn’t a consideration for a long time.


Sorry, slightly off topic, but just wanted to ask: How was Carly's recovery time at that age after being spayed?


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## dogfaeries (Feb 22, 2010)

She recovered quickly. No complications. She’s kind of perfect, lol, so she didn’t even need a cone to keep her from licking. I basically kept her from running around for a few days. That was it.


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