# Should I spay before the 1st heat or after?



## princesstrish617 (Mar 1, 2009)

Okay its about that time to make the decision with Layla being 6 monthes. I know that spaying before the first heat can decrease the risk of cervical and mammory cancer but I also heard if she is spayed before the first heat her development will slow down and she might now be like she would if I waited.

What does everyone think?


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## FloorCandy (Feb 19, 2009)

I am spaying before, I feel like a bit of extra height or weight is worth the benefits of nearly eliminating some cancers.


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## princesstrish617 (Mar 1, 2009)

Is that what happens? They can get taller?


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## dan'sgrizz (Oct 22, 2008)

yah spaying decreses the risk by 1% i hear... not a good reason to spay.... also i hear too many horror stories about spays gone wrong. Id never do it to one of my animals. I dont see the point if you have control of your dogs honestly.


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## intensive (Apr 22, 2008)

spaying your female before her first heat actually greatly reduces her chances of getting "breast" cancer, i cant remember the dog term. trust me, you dont want to have to worry about dogs from miles away coming to check out your female in heat and you dont want nasty blood spots on your floor/furniture. i found out the hard way because i thought breeding my angel would be cool for her and me, since i wanted another puppy with good temperment and build. turns out i should have realized sooner that people do this everyday and it ruins out breed, and causes way to many puppys to be put to sleep at the pound everyday!!! 

do your girl a favor.:clap:


sorry if i seem excited about the subject, its cinco de mayo haha.


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## intensive (Apr 22, 2008)

and "controlling" your dog has nothing to do with it, angel listens to anything i say but if she had the chance to brake out and get some, it s her mentality to go and do it and she desires to go and do it wich puts her at risk of getting loose and finding traffic to run through or meeting the long hand of the k9 law and being put to sleep before she even has a chance for me to find her at the pound.plz do yourself and your dog a favor


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## princesstrish617 (Mar 1, 2009)

Well she's definitely getting spayed at some point. I don't want to deal with heat after heat and have no desire to breed her I just want to know the best time to do it.


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## FloorCandy (Feb 19, 2009)

It can make them a bit taller, but it's one those things that's impossible to prove, I guess if they really wanted to study it, they could do a test with dogs that are identical twins, but so far I believe its just speculation. Spaying before the first heat reduces risk of mammary cancer by a lot, I think it's like 90% or something like that. My FIL lost a dog to that and the vet said you can virtually eliminate the risk by spaying before the first heat.


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## TashasLegend (Jun 7, 2006)

I would definitely spay her as soon as you can. Most females get their first heat anywhere between 6-18 months old. I know some of the clients @ the vet hospital I work @ wait til 6-7 months others wait til 18 months. I see nothing wrong with doing it @ 6 months old.


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## PeanutsMommy (Sep 21, 2008)

dan'sgrizz said:


> yah spaying decreses the risk by 1% i hear... not a good reason to spay.... also i hear too many horror stories about spays gone wrong. Id never do it to one of my animals. I dont see the point if you have control of your dogs honestly.


i am with you dan 100% i feel you on this. my parents dog jade was spayed at 4 months and has had an issue with leaking urine every 6 months had it since she was spayed and still has it the vet said it will be life long due to early spay. it messed up the flow of her hormones.

my personal thoughts on spay and neuter is....if you are a responsible pet owner and can keep it in your dogs pants you shouldnt have a dog ot begin with...its part of being a responsible pet owner. there is plenty of studies done and published showing benefits of non reproductive reasons to keep your pet intact...but if you cant keep your dog from other dogs then spay and neuter.

though we will never ever breed peanut we have him intact because of research we have done


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## dan'sgrizz (Oct 22, 2008)

Yah there are no breeding plans for my boys either yet... Maybe they will maybe they won't.... They won't be nuerered though cuz I'd like there pipes to work fine. I wouldn't want my nuts chopped off.


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## TashasLegend (Jun 7, 2006)

IMO its easier to have an unneutered male(Legend still has all his man parts) then an unspayed female. Been there done that too messy. doggie diapers and male dog(unresponsible dog owners) outside my house.


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## FloorCandy (Feb 19, 2009)

dan'sgrizz said:


> Yah there are no breeding plans for my boys either yet... Maybe they will maybe they won't.... They won't be nuerered though cuz I'd like there pipes to work fine. I wouldn't want my nuts chopped off.


Males are different, I honestly see no tremendous health benefits to an early neuter. I waited with my male until he was nearly a year, and if he wasn't marking every time I took my eyes off of him I might not have done it. I think a lot of it came from the dog of the previous tenant marking in the house. I cleaned and cleaned, but that dog used the house as his bathroom for 5 years.


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## sydking (Jan 3, 2009)

i got my girl spated 5 days ago, when she was 5 and a half months, before her first heat,

no problems what so ever, she dosent even know what happened.

i wasent planning to breed, and dont want the hassles of blood and other males


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## princesstrish617 (Mar 1, 2009)

to be honest I was not going to spay until after 1 year old but the rescue I am fostering for is kind of asking me why my dog is not spayed ect ect and kind of let it go for the time being because she was only 4 1/2 monthes when i filled out the foster app. But they keep mentioning it.

They have a rule that all current pets must be spayed/nuetered if you want to foster for them.


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## 619luv (May 1, 2009)

princesstrish617 said:


> Okay its about that time to make the decision with Layla being 6 monthes. I know that spaying before the first heat can decrease the risk of cervical and mammory cancer but I also heard if she is spayed before the first heat her development will slow down and she might now be like she would if I waited.
> 
> What does everyone think?


Good question. something I can reflect on if I decide to get a puppy.


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## PeanutsMommy (Sep 21, 2008)

nice i get that question every vet visit honestly we tell them hes not around female dogs (intact) at all so they dont have to worry about it..we have an appointment this saturday so i am already expecting to get asked again...im gonna let my husband tell them why again.

i dont get why they are worried about your dog..arent all the dogs you foster already coming to you fixed?


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## 619luv (May 1, 2009)

PeanutsMommy said:


> nice i get that question every vet visit honestly we tell them hes not around female dogs (intact) at all so they dont have to worry about it..we have an appointment this saturday so i am already expecting to get asked again...im gonna let my husband tell them why again.
> 
> i dont get why they are worried about your dog..arent all the dogs you foster already coming to you fixed?


peanuts are you a vet or something? sounds like it..sorry if I sound like a complete idiot.


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## PeanutsMommy (Sep 21, 2008)

619luv said:


> peanuts are you a vet or something? sounds like it..sorry if I sound like a complete idiot.


yeah its his 1 year old check up time and vaccine titers and heartworm test time


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## MY MIKADO (Apr 7, 2006)

I have had a hundered or so dogs spayed and neutered in the 28yrs of rescue work I have been doing and I have never had a medical issue do to spaying and neutering. I have never hada dog lost do to the surgery either. If I can I have the pups done by 5mos of age. I had Davinci done ( neutered) at 4 mos of age it did not stunt his growth at all he is 22in tall. 

Glad you are going to have your girl.


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## bullydogla (Oct 15, 2008)

I won't spay/neuter before 1 year or even 1- 1/2 yrs, once the animal is phsyically mature. Nature put those hormones there for a reason. I also feel the dogs can't reach their full potential physically with that type of interference. Would someone remove their daughters uterus at age nine just to lower that child chance of cancer down the road? I don't think so. Maybe thats a bit extreme for a comparison but I don't think the majority of ppl are really worring about the cancer issue. I think its more of the, "I don't want puppies" issue and the " eeeww, I hate the clean up" issue. Both of which are kinda weak in my opinion. I mean its only one or two heat cycles just so they can develop, and compared to everything we do so that we can have this breed I don't feel that its that big an inconvenience.


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## LiiL_L0cz_Red_N0se (Sep 15, 2008)

thre are alot of good points on here.. first, spayin DOES dramatically drop teh risk of mammery cancer if done before the first heat, but you will have to understand that your dogs metabolism and growin process will slow. in males, neutering is not as beneficial so i can understand that lack of desire to do so. anyway, you will have to watch how much to feed, and may even need to put her on adult food so she deosnt get overweight. Also, if you are willing to deal with the heat cycles, then spay when she has reached her full potentional. but please understand that these heat cycles are brutal. you will need to be with that dog every second of the day pretty much. I highly recomend keeping her INSIDE in a CRATE while she is in heat. 

IMO i think it would be better to spay after the dog has grown. My rescue was spayed at 2 1/2yrs (roughly) and looks great! i like tha fact that she reached her adult like figure and doesnt look like a puppy still. however, the cancer could still very will be a problem later on in life for her.

I also kinda agree with Dan and Peanutsmommy. Kenya is not spayed, and will not be spayed until after she retires. I am still waiting for her firt heat(10months already) but i am ready to take control of that situation. im not implying that "ur irresponsible so u should get her spayed" but some people can manage it, and some people cant. The way i look at it is, if u can control the situation (becuz it has NOTHING to do if ut dog lisents or not, that goes out the window once they are feining for it) its about how u setup ur dog for success.


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## ATLAS (May 12, 2008)

i have always spayed and neuture ..most my dogs where from the pound so they where done at eight weeks...atlas was done at eight months..i have had no problems. .i heard or read i cant remember , well it said that male dogs focus more on the family when neutured then when they are whole....who knows to me when i get a working put i will not neuture..to each his own


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## FloorCandy (Feb 19, 2009)

LiiL_L0cz_Red_N0se said:


> thre are alot of good points on here.. first, spayin DOES dramatically drop teh risk of mammery cancer if done before the first heat, but you will have to understand that your dogs metabolism and growin process will slow. in males, neutering is not as beneficial so i can understand that lack of desire to do so. anyway, you will have to watch how much to feed, and may even need to put her on adult food so she deosnt get overweight. Also, if you are willing to deal with the heat cycles, then spay when she has reached her full potentional. but please understand that these heat cycles are brutal. you will need to be with that dog every second of the day pretty much. I highly recomend keeping her INSIDE in a CRATE while she is in heat.
> 
> IMO i think it would be better to spay after the dog has grown. My rescue was spayed at 2 1/2yrs (roughly) and looks great! i like tha fact that she reached her adult like figure and doesnt look like a puppy still. however, the cancer could still very will be a problem later on in life for her.
> 
> I also kinda agree with Dan and Peanutsmommy. Kenya is not spayed, and will not be spayed until after she retires. I am still waiting for her firt heat(10months already) but i am ready to take control of that situation. im not implying that "ur irresponsible so u should get her spayed" but some people can manage it, and some people cant. The way i look at it is, if u can control the situation (becuz it has NOTHING to do if ut dog lisents or not, that goes out the window once they are feining for it) its about how u setup ur dog for success.


Couldn't agree more! My pug is intact, and her heats are a pain, I don't want to go through that with my pit. I always worry that some male dog will bust through my fence and try to get into the house because of her, so I am having both altered this weekend. Some people are responsible and some are not, and so many accidents happen because dogs that should be altered are left intact. Just because you are responsible doesn't mean your neighbors are, so when you have a bitch in heat, or an intact male, you have to make sure they cannot mate, it's a lot of stress, and it just is not for me, I'll leave that for the pros with working and conformation dogs.


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## PeanutsMommy (Sep 21, 2008)

doing the extra work when you keep your intact dog from getting near another dog is not for everyone thats why i say if you cant do it (for whatever reason, not saying irresponsibility) then by all means..spay/neuter but personally i would recommend waiting til the dog is full grown.

we do make sure we keep peanut away from all dogs anyways as he is DA and he is an indoor dog all the time his only times outside are supervised 100% by my husband and myself so we keep an eagle eye on him. Peanut is our only dog so doing the extra work for us is easy. i can understand where it can get difficult for people to sometimes keep other dogs off their dogs so I dont bash anyone for doing the surgery..that is more responsible if you cant keep neighbors dogs away or whatever.
For us it is a decision to keep Peanut intact based of some research we have done even a report we seen on fox news when Peanut was just a few months old. Peanut will never make puppies so hes a single dog with no friends just his people friends


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## Hirihat (May 5, 2009)

Just my little 2 cents here, but we have 7 dogs and all 7 are spayed/neutered. All were done at 6 months with the exception of my oldest Rott who was spayed at 15 months (she had surgery for a hernia and then decided to magically find a mach 4 razor cartridge and eat it the next day so they had to operate AGAIN in the same place to remove it. We then had to wait until she was fully healed from 2 stomach surgeries to have her altered). We currently 2 Rotts, 2 AmStaffs, 2 APBT/Am Foxhound X and a Catahoula who are all rescues. In light of the pet overpopulation, we couldn't in good conscience breed any dog but especially since all ours are rescues with indeterminate lineage they are not sound breeding material in my eyes. We don't hate all breeders for the record but I really think breeders should have to be registered and able to prove they are breeding for the health and wealthfare of the breed (read: not trying to breed 13 inch tall, 150lb monster "pit bulls" or amateurs line breeding so you have those poor stupid dogs who have horrible health or byb's/puppy mills breeding whatever fad dogs together to make designers, etc...)

Spaying does greatly reduce the risk of mammary cancer, eliminates uterine cancer and pro-lapsed uterus entirely as well as lower certain other possible issues including eliminating gestational health issues and complications of birth. Among vets, there seems to be a great divide on the issue of when. Some vets are now spaying/neutering puppies as young as 10 weeks which several studies have found lowers their overall life expectancy and could possible affect heart health and/or be linked with diabetes and some digestion issues as well as obesity (which is more an owner issue IMO since you have to over feed and under exercise). Some vets suggest before first heat or at 1 year....we discussed this at great length with our vets and decided on 6 months because the dogs have the time to develop the crucial growth hormones but we remove/lower the possibility of certain cancers and with the females there is no possibility of pseudo-pregnancy which can cause life long depression. With early spay, some females can develop urine control issues. My personal research indicated this was more likely to occur in small breeds or in cases where the surgeon was inexperienced. 

We have had no issues at all from any of the alters other than trying to keep them calm for a few days after! We carefully researched vets in our area before we decided on our vets and they take wonderful care of our pets. 

As for dealing with heats, eh....it's not that big a deal, really. As a responsible owner, you're not really letting your dog out of your sight much anyway, I imagine, so there is no chance of pregnancy there. Your fence should keep unwanted visitors out of her yard and the new diapers for heat are washable and have disposable inserts. Most owners don't realize exactly how looooong the heat cycle really is so the confinement gets to be hard on both of you (we played rousing games of tug and toy searches and stuff in the house). The worst part with any of my females I have had over the years in dealing with heats was keeping the diapers on and not chewed off. 

Good luck!


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## PeanutsMommy (Sep 21, 2008)

okay heres alittle information....

Canine Sports Productions: Early Spay-Neuter Considerations for the Canine Athlete
http://www.nospayneuter.com/SpayedFstudy.pdf
http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf

and there is even more studies then that..


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## FloorCandy (Feb 19, 2009)

The big push for me was when people in my neighborhood started seeing a pit running loose. I have a 6ft privacy fence, but I worry that a determined male could get in, and mate with one of my girls or hurt them trying.


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