When to neuter nervous pup

[graduatedbob]

I'm looking for advice about when to have my puppy spayed. She's almost 8 months old, a mixed breed rescue pup and currently weighs about 20kg. We've had her since she was 8 weeks and she was very very nervous for the first 5 months or so, but has got a bit more confident recently. I keep hearing different opinions about the best time to do the op with some people saying it's better to wait till after the first season and others saying just get it done to avoid the risk of various health problems. Will delaying having her spayed help to make her less nervous? She's our first dog so just want to do what's best.

I'd say wait until she is 18 - 24 month old. That's when she is fully grown and her personality should have changed from puppy & adolescent to adult dog. However, you will find, that a lot of people (on here & vets) will advise for asap. Unwanted puppies and health being the main reasons. The first one is easily preventable and the second one is pot luck.

There is no evidence in bitches that timing of neutering makes a difference to temperament. There is evidence about this in dogs and hence advice for them should be at least 12 months and not at all if they are nervous.
There is evidence that spaying carriage dogs can lead to urinary incontinence, but this has to weighed up against the risks of pyometra which is best treated by spaying a sick dog and reducing the incidence of mammary cancers. Urinary incontinence can be controlled with drugs.

Has she had a season yet? The risk of mammary cancer increases with each season (up till about 3rd, iirc), but personally I would prefer to let a bitch mature emotionally and socially before messing with her hormones. Smaller dogs tend to mature earlier than larger ones.

Pyometra is a real risk, but neutering is not 100% benefit.THIS is a very helpful and informative link, though it's not 100% up to date. The tables at the end are a really useful summary, but you do have to scroll a long way to find them.

We had our nervy sprocker pup done at 6 months to get it out of the way. We have a male entire cocker spaniel so there was no chance of letting her have a season. She recovered really quickly and it's not affected her at all. The vet also explained that the chances of mammary cancers are massively reduced by early spaying.

We waited until our previous labrador was 2, and let her have 2 seasons but she took a lot longer to recover and that's why we decided to spay early this time.

You might not see any bad results from early spaying straight away but eventually you probably will! Early spaying reduces growth hormones drastically.

Yes the chances of certain cancers increase by each season but by spaying early you’re increasing the chances of other cancers and health problems drastically more. There’s no way on earth I’d spay a puppy - no different than performing a hysterectomy on a teenage girl

Unless it’s life saving (for pyometra etc) my vets don’t spay or neuter until 18 months

Thanks for all the information. Sorry I should have said that she hasn't had a season yet. We are unsure of her breed, but believe her to be some kind of Collie cross if that makes any difference. The vet nurse said he reckoned she would have her first season around a year old and suggested having the op at around 9 months but it's up to us.

We have a male dog so not quite the same issue but again the time to have castration is controversial.

I would read up on the pros and cons and book an appointment with your vet to discuss them. I found mine was very happy to acknowledge them and we talked about the issues, the new research, the odds of long term complications and practicalities for us as a household.