My lovely girl is getting spayed tomorrow and I can't stop crying!

[sirlee66]

I'm so sorry. I'm 7 months pregnant with my first and full of hormones and extremely emotional...

My darling baby Dog is getting spayed tomorrow and I'm so worried about her!!

She's only a baby... Well she's 7 months now.... and she is used to having me around most of the day (work part time) and is my little shadow. We have such a lovely bond and we really love being with each other.

She's also nervous of strangers and gets the shakes so she will be all alone with people she doesn't know. She won't understand what's happening to her and she'll be so afraid!!!!

And my dog loves cuddles. She just wants to be close all the time. I can't stand the thought of her in a cage all alone and scared and then in pain after her spay, alone and frightened. She might wonder where I am or if I've abandoned her. My heart is literally breaking!!!

I'm so sorry I must sound so dramatic and I can hear myself sounding so stupid and I want to get a grip but I just love her so much and I can't stop crying cause I can't bare the thought of her being scared.

Just looking for a bit of support really. So sorry for rattling on!

[Edited by MNHQ to remove identifying names]

From what I remember there is evidence for doing before first season, after first season and beyond. It's weighing up all the options which you have done and made a decision. I wanted to get mine done before her season because I was more worried about risks of cancer. As it happened she came into season a few days before the procedure and it had to be rebooked. I felt a foul because she absolutely hated her season - she cried, she didn't eat, she didn't want to go for walks, it was awful! The spay was definitely the lesser of two evils. She was so pleased to see me when I went to pick her up and the nurses said that she was fine.

All those saying she needs to socialise, you don't actually know what the op has done. I read all the books, had lots of plans for socialising and took time off work to ensure she was well socialised. We went everywhere and met everyone. She's still a nervous dog around strangers, it's just her personality! Some children are shy and anxious - no one tells their parents they should have socialised them more! Like people, dogs are all different...

Springers are one of the breeds which should be allowed to have a season.
Also socialisation does not banish anxiety. Of course not. Aniexty is an innate personality trait. But OP's posts suggest a highly charged bond which can be almost pathological.

Bullshit, PPs who are saying it's too young. Advice is that a bitch of this type should be spayed before her first season, which for a small breed could be any day. OP doesn't need false scaremongering to add to her anxiety

Actually I think what you’re saying is a load of bullshit.

Spaying before a dog reaches full maturity stunts growth and highly increases the chances of health problems.
Yes, spaying reduces certain cancers, but my god does early spaying increase the chances of other cancers/health problems dramatically.

Unless it’s for medical reasons, my vet refuses to spay any dog until she’s 18 months. Even then, they’ll only do it 3 months after her last season because of her cycle. Any vet that will happily spay a dog at 7 months needs reeducated. If you can’t deal with a bit of blood for 3 weeks why get a female dog? It’s not hard to prevent pregnancies

Well said Ribberduckies re the socialisation, dogs like humans have different personalities and are also bred for different reasons, a lap/companion dogs role is to be with their owner, that is their role in life, no amount of socialisation, puppy classes will change their basic personality and breed characteristics, so to say my dogs personality is down to lack of socialisation and training is I’ll informed and untrue.

As I understand you should let your dog have a season before getting her spayed. I have just had my 2 golden retrievers spayed at 4 and 5 waited till thief seasons were the same and had them delayed St the same time...all good up and about in a day ....no problems

With our rescue girl, the vet recommended spaying 3 months after her first season, which is what we did (15 months as it happened).
She was actually given the pre-op tranquilliser while I was with her, then I took her down to the holding cage.
She didn't appear to have pain after, just very groggy for 24 hours, then the problem is keeping them quiet!

Hi all,

Just to let you know, we've removed the identifying info as the OP had some privacy concerns.

Hi it is so worrying, I was the same thinking of my puppy frightened because my puppy is very clingy and anxious and only comfortable with me. As far as socialising her goes, I am very social and have socialised my pup largely, however, my pup is stil shy and clingy, it is a personality trait, just like children some our loud and forward and some are reserved and anxious. It's nothing your doing wrong. But your puppy wil be fine, my puppy was fine too after being spayed, after all the worry and distress I was in. I understand how you feel but she will be fine xx

Please don't spay while she's still a puppy herself. Whilst it is true that spaying prevents pyometra it is not in your dogs interest to have this done before 18 months old when she is physically immature.
This is particularly important for dogs who suffer from anxiety.