When to spay?

[Chichichiwawa]

I've got a female rescue chihuahua puppy who is coming up to 6 months, wondering when to spay? The research I've read said that the risk of mammary cancer is reduced if she's done before her first season. Wondering if anyone can shed some light? I've spoken to my vet and he said it doesn't matter if you get it done before or after.

I was the same as you - I couldn't find anything definitive either way. My vet told me the only time they advise to wait until after the first season is with larger breeds, which doesn't apply to me (or you!).

I did find that everybody (non-vets) was telling me it's best to wait until after the first season. I'm not sure if that was based on any scientific research I hadn't been able to find, or just instinct.

In the end I decided to wait rightly or wrongly and, at seven months, she's in the middle of her first season.

Would you have a hysterectomy before your first period ?
I let mine have at least one season, that way I believe they are mature enough.

Would you have a hysterectomy before your first period ?

I'm not a dog - I'm not sure i understand your point.

Why would you have your womb out before you’re mature, your dog needs to mature for physical reasons.

I don't think you can compare a human pre puberty to a puppy who will never have puppies herself. I appreciate you taking the time to reply but I'm interested in the scientific reasons for before or after first season rather than what i would prefer from a human perspective.

There's a paper with lots of info here

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7359819/#!po=21.2963

and a table (based on that paper) which gives breed-based recommendations of when you can safely neuter is here:

www.frontiersin.org/files/Articles/548304/fvets-07-00388-HTML-r1/image_m/fvets-07-00388-t001.jpg

Chihuahuas are listed as 'owners choice' - ie no need to wait until over 6/11/23 months, which is the recommendation for some other (generally much larger) breeds

That's great thank you so much.