Spaying. What age?

[SillyTilly123]

My Tilly is 6 months now and i booked her in to be spayed in 2 weeks but i'm having 2nd thoughts. What age did/will you spay?

We spayed Alandog at 6 months. She hadn't had a season but I didn't want to get caught out and also she hates dogs so I can imagine she wouldn't entertain any unwanted attention.
She was fine, a bit grumpy and sore afterwards but recovered well and got used to her cone eventually.
My puppy trainer said it may interfere with any training we were doing, in that her hormones would be up and down but I haven't noticed any difference at all.
She was back to herself within a couple of weeks.

Can i ask what type of dog she is? I've been doing a lot of research and it says larger breed dogs should wait longer due to maturing later. I'm so torn on what to do. Also my pup is a lab x springer so not quite sure how big she will grow yet.

SillyTilley, doesn't the info about larger breeds and later neutering only apply to male dogs?

MuttDog is a Springer/Collie/something else and was spayed at 5 months. It was the right thing to do, she didn't have that 'surge' of hormones associated with puberty and has calmed down greatly since the op.

She barely suffered, in fact I would say was back to her usual bouncy self within a week. I put vaseline on her wound to discourage her from licking and made her wear a tshirt at night - so she didn't even have to wear the collar of shame!

I think the risks associated with waiting far outweigh the risks associated with early spaying, and will always spay/neuter my animals by 6 months.

Hi, ok things to think about when deciding whether to wait until had a first season -
Pros of spaying pre 1st season - eliminates chance of unwanted pregnancys, eliminates risk of mammary masses.

Cons- more likely to have urinary incontinence, some reports suggest higher rates of some cancers but this is still debated, but crucially in larger breed dogs such as your lab x it can affect bone development and therefore growth.

Oops posted to soon.
It can cause development problems and so we would always advise larger dogs especially to have a first season.
If you do go ahead pre heat spaying make sure the vet checks her vulva is mature before admitting her for the surgery.

Good luck it's a tricky decision.

toomuch that was one of my worries, (from memory) the bones continue to grow lengthways but not upwards or something making joint problems even more of a problem. Pregnancy wouldnt be a problem as i would not leave her alone outside/walk early in morning and late at night)

But my beloved 10yo cat died of mammary cancer in 2011 and i always feel it was my fault by not having her spayed early (she was 18 months because she was a house cat until then) so don't want my pup to get it.

Its such a difficult decision and one i wish i didnt have to make (or have a crystal ball to let me know the future of either of my choices)

I had my lab pup spayed at 6 months as i did not want her to come into season and be at risk of pregnancy. She had no problems and healed quickly. I am glad i had it done. I had her microchipped at the same time.

We had our first lab spayed at 1 - no probs and lived to a ripe old age (17 - positively geriatric for a lab!)

Our second lab was spayed at 6 months and suffered from urinary incontinence for the rest of her life plus needed hormone replacement therapy

So on the basis of that very unscientific sample of two, I'd be very wary ..

Okay the two main facts regarding spaying that have good quality studies involving large numbers of dogs are:

1. Spaying needs to be carried out before the third season to reduce the risk of mammary tumours.
2. Urinary incontience is not related to age at spaying. Bitches who are going to suffer from it will suffer regardless of what age they are spayed at. This particular study involved over 2000 so is massive in dog terms.

This advice came out of a clinical review meeting held in may last year with over 300 vets in attendance and led by one of the top soft tissue surgeons in the UK who is an RCVS and European certified specialist in soft tissue surgery. So this is the very best clinical opinion available right now.