No spaying in lockdown

[Snowdropfairy85]

I have two female puppies that are Just shy of six months old, I’d like to get them both neutered ideally before their first heat to lower their cancer risk, vet says they aren’t doing it during lockdown. I’m quite worried about it, presumably this is going to go on for a while, does anyone know how much does their risk go up? I’ve read they can have medicine to delay it, would it be reasonable to ask for this? Also I’m not sure if one of them may have come on a period today, there’s quite a lot of blood on the patio that I can’t find the source of, it looked like more than I would expect for a dog period (not that I know anything about that!) but I checked them both over and I couldn’t find the source of the blood. Jet washed the patio so I could see if there was anymore and there isn’t. I already had dog knickers for when they are in heat so I put them on them both for a few hours to see which one it might be and they’re clean. How much blood would they lose in a day normally? And would it be just for a little while in the day or all day? So confused

[Snowdropfairy85]

They are toy cockapoos btw.

[frostedviolets]

At 6 months old I wouldn’t worry too much about spaying.

I think it’s preferable to spay after one or two heats when fully physically and mentally developed personally, that’s around 2 - 3 years old for my breed.

Blood, mine was only ever a few drops and dribbles, still very unpleasant.

Main thing is to keep them well away from males, I never walked mine when she was on heat.

Be aware that some females can get a touch of doggy PMS and get grouchy with others.

[Notsafetogo]

We were told to wait til after our dog’s first season. She’s just finished hers and it was very obvious because her teats/nipples(?) got quite swollen as did her vulva. She didn’t drip lots of blood, but it was really obvious she was on her season. She was quite jumpy and fussy. Very clingy to me.

[Motorina]

There are different views on where it’s better to spay before or after the first season. I fall into the former group and I wouldn’t be worried about the delay. Depending on the research you read the risk of mammary gland tumours if you spay after the first season is 5%, so still low, although if she had a second season it would climb further. Don’t worry, it will be fine.

[Motorina]

(My bigger worry is you have two same sex puppies in lockdown, when opportunities to get out have been limited. I suggest having a good read about littermate syndrome, if you haven’t already, and putting in place what you can to minimise the risk of it.)

[Veterinari]

The evidence on the link between neutering and mammary cancer is not clear cut and there are many other risks and benefits to neutering that are more significant.

Vets are being advised to only perform procedures where there is a clear welfare benefit.
It sounds like you dogs are already in season anyway and so it's not in their best interests to perform surgery. Wait until they are physically and emotionally mature.

[Ylvamoon]

What's the rush? It's better to let them grow up.

[GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman]

I'd always let a dog mature mentally after neutering one dog way too soon on vet advice. My young bitch didn't mature mentally until some months after her second season and that's not uncommon.

A season usually lasts about 3 weeks. How much blood you see will depend a lot on how much the bitch cleans herself.

[Snowdropfairy85]

Thanks for all the replies, has me made me feel better. Motorina, yes I’ve read about littermate syndrome and have taken as many steps to stop it as possible, the puppies are crated separately, have separate walks and playtimes as much as possible and are very happy and friendly little doggies, they do have the odd puppy scuffle but nothing bad. If it did ever did became a serious problem that we really just couldn’t solve ourselves my in laws are willing to have one of the dogs.