My 8 month old has just come in to season, I know there are pros and cons to spaying and is a personal decision but any advice and guidance you have would be much appreciated
Hello! I don't got much for advise since I'm in the same boat at the moment, but since Millie is soon 6 months and we live very private and the neighbors don't walk their dogs I am gonna wait and see how it goes when she comes to her season. There has been a discussion about this earlier, you might find some guidance from those posts. I know someone posted an article. http://thelabradorforum.com/threads/when-to-spay.15503/
People have very strong opinions when it comes to spay/neutering. I spoke to my vet (a young English guy - early 30s) about it last week and he said that yes, early spaying is bad, but "early" means before 12 weeks like you often find performed routinely in shelters. He recommends doing it at 5-6 months. But look, it's up to you and what you feel comfortable with. There's masses of information about it on the forum, it'll probably leave you even more confused about what to do!
Our plan was to let Harley have a season then spay 3 months later as suggested by our vet as most of her growing would be done by then. She had her season at around 10 months, it lasted nearly 4 weeks. She had to have an emergency spay 2 weeks later due to pyometra. In my opinion, unless you are going to breed from her I would spay. For me the pros outweigh the cons.
We spayed at 7 months before Jessie went into season. The decider for me was that we don't plan to breed from her and every season carries the risk of womb infection (although much, much less risk in younger dogs). I just thought that we may as well cut that risk to zero and get it done early. She's been fine. There are lots of pros and cons so have a good chat with your vet.
Although have a boy I recently had a discussion with my vet about neutering Bailey, I want to leave it until he's older and finished growing, but my vet had assumed I would be doing it at 6 months. She was quite surprised when I said no (and I am not going to breed from my boy) but has accepted our decision (OH winces whenever it's mentioned ). She checked that everything was where it should be (the look Bailey gave her was hysterical ). Ultimately the decision is yours, you know your dog and your circumstances, but your vet is a good person to talk to.
Hi. Well she's had her season and she was not a happy girl, kept looking at me with her puppy dog eyes asking what was going on. She was completely out of character. I've made my decision. I live in the countryside as well so don't have to worry about pregancy but being in season didn't argue with her, good luck with yours
We've decided to have Winnie spayed at about 7 months, our vet advised to let her have a season but the decision for us is about day care. We've discussed it with the ladies that look after her in the day and as they also have other dogs the logistics for them are just too complicated.
Well since my goal is to foster for rescues, I will have to spay Millie. But I think I will wait until she is more grown up, we will see.. My husband want it done now but yea. Still discussing when, where and how to keep our daughter off Millie .
*edit* after I wrote a veritable book below, I realised you are asking about spaying an older puppy, not early spay like I'm going on and on about below. I'll still post this, but I understand it may not apply to an older puppy. A different perspective here (maybe). In the US, I did a lot of fostering. The puppies were always spayed/neutered before going to their new homes. In some cases this meant 7-8 weeks old. My first dog was from a breeder so I had him neutered per the vet's recommendation at 10 months. It was a mess - he pulled out his stitches, it took ages to heal. Wow, I thought, so much better for the foster puppies who would wake up from the OP and never notice any difference. Fast forward to my foster fail pittie female, who developed incontinence around 10 years old. I did some research, low and behold, this is a common side effect of very early spaying in females. I had no idea. Fast forward again to last Christmas when my male died a hemangiosarcoma of the spleen. I'd never heard of it. More research after he passed. Main cause? Early neutering. Yes, he was 13 and something would have gotten him sooner or later, but other high correlation health issues related to early neuter are joint issues (he had two torn cruciates, ED and spondylosis), thyroid malfunction (he was on meds) and high reactivity. Although to be fair this last is probably more related to him being bred for dog fighting prior to rescue and correlation does not equal causation...still, it makes for pretty convincing evidence. Even though it wasn't my decision to neuter him so young (it is standard procedure in CA for shelter animals and for good reason), I couldn't help but be really devastated that something I thought was ABSOLUTELY the right thing to do had caused him harm. Here in Germany (at least in Bavaria) shelters do not spay/neuter unless there is an overwhelming medical reason to do so. For pet dogs, spaying and neutering is seen as ABSOLUTELY the wrong thing to do, unless (again) there is a life-threatening reason to do so. When I first got here and had to defend my dog's lack of testicles on a regular basis (not kidding - it was a weekly occurrence) not to mention the lack of tail (also not my choice), I really thought all Germans were all nuts. Now I feel strongly that I will not neuter or spay my next dog. But I've also not ever had to live with a "testosterone-brained" male or a female in heat...ever! So I don't know what challenges that will bring. I do think both sides have very good points, this is just my own feeling after having seen very strongly correlated medical issues in both of my early spay/neuter dogs. One thing to consider is that for females there is an alternative OP that does not remove the entire reproductive system but prevents pregnancy while allowing the hormones to keep flowing (maybe like humans getting their tubes tied vs a hysterectomy?). Apparently most vets don't do it (they think it's a waste of time) but some do...I don't know more as I'd not come to that bridge yet, but may be worth looking into.
We let Cooper go through her first season, and are planning to have her Spayed next month. She is a great dog, but I don't think raising and selling Lab pups in in the card since she has no titles and she is actually too tall compared to the breed standard. I don't want to risk having a litter of mixed breed pups, and I don't want to have to keep her confined or on leash all the time twice a year. The first season was less traumatic than I expected, but I don't want all the worry again. As most of you know it is pretty much SOP to Spay and Neuter dogs in the US.
My male (still entire) dog was a normal, nightmare teenage dog. Was it worse because he had more testosterone? Maybe, maybe not - I doubt it, he was just a nightmare teenager. But even if it was, well, that's life and chopping bits off is a bizarre solution to a dog growing up - why does that need a 'fix'? It just needs a bit of time.... He is 3.5 years now, and a delight. No problems at all, he is perfect and nothing but a medical problem that neutering would help/solve would convinced me to have him 'fixed'. There is absolutely nothing about him that needs to be 'fixed'.
And another study-of-one, here. My entire male, Shadow, wasn't an awful teenager in the slightest. OK, we regressed on some training things, and environmental factors started having a bigger impact on his behaviour, but he wasn't a horror at all. He's met bitches in season and not reacted sexually to them at all. He has only once humped a dog other than his sister (and that has reduced from a couple of times a day, when he was over-excited, to almost never). The other dog was a spayed bitch, well-known to my two, who apparently was being humped by loads of other dogs that week, so there was obviously something about her that was giving out signals. That's the one and only time I have seen anything like sexual behaviour from him, and I just got him away without any fuss. I would only neuter a dog if there was a medical problem or if my dog had a high sex drive which led to him being stressed and unhappy. Willow I had spayed at 6.5 months, before her first season. The lack of evidence either way for waiting until after the season made me make my decision based on what information was available, and what was best for our living situation, with an entire dog in the house. If I ever get another female puppy, I'll reassess that decision and go with what's best at that time. Now we have two properties, it would be a lot easier for Shadow to stay with my husband at one, and me to take the girls to the other during the critical times. Charlie might disagree. If you're in the market for chopping off things that dangle off your dog, there's a little yellow one that he could probably do without...
