to spay or not to spay?

~Chameleon~

Paradigm wrote: »

Agreed but as you can see from previous posters, it's not quite so "cut & dried".

True, but speaking from a vet's perspective I can honestly say the benefits of spaying far outweigh any potential problems, which are often extremely rare in some cases.

Katiehound

My hounds have been spayed at roughly 2 and a half years old- the time they came into recue/rehomed. They were manic during their season, strangely in each case (3), they came into season as soon as I had rehomed them!! It was a struggle to keep a strong hound intent on being mated on a tight rein!! One used to jump up at mirrors looking for a hound!!
None had side effects- they all had/have very short silky coats.
I have heard from friends that neutering affects the coat- cocker spaniel, springer, rough collie & English setter to name them.

I remember having a cocker spaniel as a child (spaying was not even considered then) and she got pyrometra- and I was the one who had to take her to the PDSA. I can't remember now the outcome- think it was her demise.

In my opinion I would always spay my girls, but not too early. As I take rescue rather than puppies this has not been an issue

Paradigm

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

True, but speaking from a vet's perspective I can honestly say the benefits of spaying far outweigh any potential problems, which are often extremely rare in some cases.

If you're one of the people whos dog has suffered from one of the "potential problems" then the benefits don't count for as much.

Like I've said, I just about lean towards "yes" but never at 6 months old &, given the growing evidence, I'm a little shocked that vets still recommend this procedure at such a young age.

shirlgirl2004

I have had two dogs spayed and both became incontinent one ta the age of 7 and she lived to 14. The other is now 14 and became incontinent at about the age of 2. It isn't fair to the dog and it isn't pleasant for the owner. That's a long time to go with having a smelly dog and rugs.

I have 4 other females which haven't been spayed. 1 has mammary tumours at the age of 12. I still don't regret the decision not to spay after all they all have to die from something. As much as we'd like them to they can't live forever.

sara_77

I had my girly done at 2 and a half yrs old, the only reason I had her speyed is because she kept having phantom pregnancies that got worse after each season. She's a springer spaniel cross and always has tons of energy but during the phantoms she'd be looking so down and sleepy, would hardly eat, she even had 2 "babies" (her favourite balls) that she would take everywhere with her, even when let out to the toilet.

If it wasn't for the phantom pregnancies I doubt she would have been speyed.

The only difference in her since is that she eats a lot more and I have to be careful she doesn't get overweight :rotfl:

Good luck with whatever you decide
xx

Bromley86

If you're one of the people whos dog has suffered from one of the "potential problems" then the benefits don't count for as much.

Except of course they may have also benefited from the positive aspects and are not correctly assigning value to that.

In our case we took the view that we really didn't want pups and, given that even experts seem to be pretty-much on the fence over the relative health benefits, that was the deciding factor.

Paradigm

Bromley86 wrote: »

Except of course they may have also benefited from the positive aspects and are not correctly assigning value to that.

Absolutely but there is no way of knowing if a dog has/has not benefited.
There is no guarentee that unneutered b!tches will suffer from Pyometra etc, they may remain perfectly healthy throughout their lives.
It is certain that those who suffer from the side effects will doubt whether it was worth it.

At the end of the day all we can do is look at "statistics" then weigh the odds & make a choice from there.

The only certainty with neutering is that there will never be any puppies.... is that enough?

BECKIN1507

I was going to start a thread about this but I'm still a little upset. A few days ago I watched my friends dog die of suspected pyometra, this is the reason dogs should be speyed! The dog was a 5 year old staffie, she had a bit of a heavier season than usual, was eating and drinking fine, showed no sign of illness. Her owner went out for a hour, came back the dog couldn't move, she ran to get me (she was heavily pregnant) I looked at her said she's in shock went to get my car by the time I got back she had died.
No not every dog will get pyometra but this is one of the reasons why your advised to spey, if they do get it, they haven't got a chance of living if the few signs are not picked up early enough.

kymrob

thank you beckin1507 think we defo gonna get it done but the 6 months is still a concern. 5 years old is so young hope the owner is ok!

squibbs25

We have 2 JRT puppies (10 month old boy and 8 month old girl)
Our girl was spayed a few weeks ago (6 and a half months)
We was very weary of her being done at such an early age but the vet said it was better to do it at this age than to wait, I trusted the vet and went ahead ( our boy was done at 6 months also). I didn't like the thought of it being done but felt the benefit to our puppy (along with the reassurance of the vet) we (husband and me) were making the right decision.

I used to have a GSD and she had an emergency hysterectomy during her first season :-( she was fine afterwards though :-)

I think if you are not breeding from her then in is better to get her done but as to when is a personal choice.
A friend wants his JRT female done but is scared now she is coming up 3 that the op is too much for her a d wishes he'd done her as a young puppy - theres no winning is there lol