Spaying Female Labradoodle

little_miss_muppet_face

My pup is just over 6 months old now, i was wondering what peoples thoughts are on getting her spayed.. should we do it or not, we are not planning on letting her have puppies.. im more interested in it for knowing the benefits of getting/not getting it done, i heard that the girls can be very very sore for a while after it..
Please help me with my decision ?

kazschow

Personally I leave my dogs and !!!!!es to 18 month minimum to be neutered, my girl was speyed at 2.5 yrs, boy 3. I do this because I think the dog should reach physical maturity with a normal hormone level, allowing growth plates to close fully, and full sceletal and musculature develop, as well as mental development, However this means you ahve to live with a couple of seasons, which many folks don't want to do.

On the plus side for pre sexual maturity neutering, is you are removing the chance of mamarian cancer in later life, and have no seasons. it's what suits you as an owner best, no one can judge you on what ever descision you make.

Raksha

If you don't mind an eternal puppy, early speying brings some health benefits (and I speak as a fellow Doodle owner -my boy was done early before he came to me and is still a great doofus at 4 years).

Re pain - it is natures way of telling the animal to slow down, but if you can manage to keep a Doodle calm and quiet, then most vets will give pain relief for a few days initially. Most dogs are fine within 3 -4 days and then you have to stop them jumping on the table...

GemBlueTopaz1984

Hi,

My lab Molly was spayed on Wednesday. We picked he up at 5pm and for the rest of the night she just wanted to sleep (nice comfy bed next to the radiator). The next day she was herself again although she isn't a big fan of the lampshade she has to wear. I took the week as holiday to keep an eye on her, she is 1 years old, we waited til after her first season to have her done. Stitches have to be in til saturday and then the lampshade can come off, although when i have been able to sit with her for a period of time i have taken it off for abit. this was just my experience of it. I got it done because she didn't enjoy being in season it was very messy and we aren't going to breed her so we thought it best and it does reduce the chances of cancer.

Gem

D&DD

Hiya our shar pei Rosie (7 months) has just been done and shes been absolutely fine,we opted for the laparoscopy (keyhole) so she wouldn't have to wear a collar after and smaller incision etc might be worth asking if your vets do this?

TomsMom

I have a Bichon Frise who is 9 months old, she is being spayed in a month's time. She had her first season at 7 months, we do not intend to breed and even though her first season was no problem to her or us (it wasn't in the least messy, she was very clean, I just had to wash her bedding every morning because of the spotting) we are having her spayed to reduce the risk of health problems later.

I hadn't heard of laparoscopy spaying (thank you D&DD for mentioning this - I've just googled it) and am quite interested in this. I presume it would be fine for small dogs.

I live in a fairly rural area and our vets surgery, although dealing with domestic animals, does tend to do more farm animals. I'm not sure they would even do laparoscopy spaying but I will ask. Does it cost much more than normal spaying? We've been quoted approx £150 plus VAT for a normal spay.

Has anyone any thoughts on removing just the ovaries or going for both the ovaries and uterus? I know just removing the ovaries alone usually means less time under anaesthetic and a quicker recovery.

Sorry Miss Muppet, I didn't intend to take over your thread but thought this might be of interest to you to.

D&DD

Rosies cost £219 inc all meds and GA (we did have a £50 reduction as its a new procedure to our vets so its on special offer). My sis-in-law had their bichon/king charles cross done the same way at her vets but cost her around £300 (Epsom).

Rosie was home and back to herself later in the evening and right as rain the next day.You could literally see just 2 tiny knicks under her belly..amazing stuff.
Our vets include check ups after in the price too

HTH
D

P.S we also got a reduction on her chipping as it was all done at the same time

tankgirl1

Hi OP

Some practices now do ovariectomies on pre season female dogs - the usual 'spay' is a ovariohysterectomy.

In plain english, this means that pre season, it may be an option for your vet to just remove the ovaries. This means a smaller incision, less risk during surgery, and less pain. It also means that the dog will be much less likely to develop spay incontinence, but will have the benefits of no seasons, no puppies, and much much reduced risk of mammary cancer. I was sceptical, as I thought that leaving the uterine horns would leave the dog open to developing a pyometra. After researching this, I have found that there are hormones involved in the development of a pyometra - removal of the ovaries eradicates the production of these hormones.

Ovariohysterectomy is what a normal 'spay' involves.

http://www.ivis.org/proceedings/scivac/2008/kirpensteijn3_en.pdf?LA=1

A discussion with your vet will help you decide the best procedure for your dog, but also let me say that it has been said, that the procedure the surgeon is most familiar with is the safest. So if your vet is happier performing ovariohysterectomy then that may well be the best option.

Overall though, my opinion is - get her done! By whatever means, there are too many unwanted pups in this world, and there will be health benefits for her too.

malky39

I got my Husky Toka spayed after her first season on recommendation from the vet as there are health benefits of having it done earlier. She went in in the morning and was back for about 5 and very sleepy. Took a couple if days for her to get back to normal and she did have to were the cone but this was only when she was left alone which was only once. Now six months on she is alot calmer. Think the total cost was about £160. People many disagree but i feel with the amount of dogs in shelters looking for new homes it is a responsible dog owner thats has there dog neutered or spayed if they have absolutely no intention of breeding as we do not need anymore dogs going into shelters

little_miss_muppet_face

Thanks for all the replies guys.. i think i have made up my mind to get her done...

Just outta interest, if i have to wait post first season do i need to keep her out of the public areas when walking her, i,e, just let her out in the garden ? I was of the impression that all male dogs would be hunting her down for miles around.. is this right ?

malky39

I would say just walk her as usual i never experienced male dogs being much different towards toka than usual in her first season