get spayed or not?

Was just reading the thread about Voilet coming into season and I remembered I wanted to ask this.

Whats peoples views of getting a bitch spayed?

The vets suggested I should wiht Bode, but I'm not 100% sure of there motives.

I'd love to hear some genuine views on this.

I don't plan to breed her, or I certainly haven't considered it anyway.

Should I, shouldn't I?

When if I do?



Thanks a lot everyone.

Rob

this topic always has mixed views lol
MY opinion on the whole spay/castrate or not spay/castrate is, if they are not been used for breeding then a huge YES! on spay or castrate! .. it helps reduce risk's of serious diseases and problems .. it prevents a dog from dissapearing .. it prevents unwanted puppies etc etc i could go on and on but i wont lol, not too mention how many staffys are in kennels also, an unwanted pregnancy would just add to that.

some people would argue that the procedure causes the dog to gain weight etc etc which i dont agree with as both my boys (my old boy b4 vinnie) have been spayed .. and skye was meant 2b spayed but came into her season on her appointment lol but in 3months shes having it done .. but i know many spayed females that are in perfect condition.

Very divided subject.

I will always agree to desex, my first was done before her first season, Moo was also booked in but came into season on the day of the op. Moo has grown and developed into a lovely dog.

There are arguements about yes/no, too young/weight/health............

Its up to you at the end of the day Xx

For me, having seen the massive hassle of my aunties dog having pups, the vets bills and the pups that didn't make it, plus mamadog being completely adverse to the idea of raising the pups, it's just not something that I'd want to do. I would also be completely heartbroken if anything happened to Violet as a result of being pregnant At the same strength, I have no idea about medical benefits, or anything like that, so it would be interesting to hear any views on that side of things!

It is a personal opinion and one which will never have a right or wrong answer. For me though it is my opinion that if I don't intend on breeding they should be done. I had a male as my previous dog and he was done to attempt to calm him down slightly. It worked he did calm but not necessarily all down to the op.

With females though, I have worked in a vets for many years previously and have seen way too many pyometra's (infection of the womb) and have seen how severe it can become if not treated promptly. Unfortunately the fatalities I have seen because of this has swayed my opinion that any bitches I own will be spayed. there are other factors contributing to my decsion though with Tinkerbell, it is because I don't intend on breeding her, she has possibly had pups before we had her, and I can't be bothered with the seasons and keeping her away from other dogs etc. So she will be spayed. She was meant to be done after her season in august but we were too slow booking her in so she will DEFINATELY be done after her next season!

staffy-lover89 wrote:it helps reduce risk's of serious diseases and problems

it just stop getting cancer there but there are other 100s of different problem that could kill your dog just all ready lined to replace it getting dog spay/castrate isn't going make sure he going have a long healthy life .

me i have always got my female spade becasue no one want to put up with blood everywhere for 14 plus years that is the only reason why i got my females spade becasue it was getting everywhere on the walls on the cailing but i'm not going to get my male done there no point...

Steve wrote:

staffy-lover89 wrote:it helps reduce risk's of serious diseases and problems

it just stop getting cancer there but there are other 100s of different problem that could kill your dog just all ready lined to replace it getting dog spay/castrate isn't going make sure he going have a long healthy life .

me i have always got my female spade becasue no one want to put up with blood everywhere for 14 plus years that is the only reason why i got my females spade becasue it was getting everywhere on the walls on the cailing but i'm not going to get my male done there no point...

i didnt say that Every disease would happen if you didnt castrate lol just saying it helps PREVENT them .. it reduces risk of cancers, pyometra, phantom pregnance's altho they can happen anyway and pregnancy complications etc lol.

like i said before everyone has diff opinions

Ok, I cannot see me ever wanting to breed her, it would be too much, I'll leave that to the experts!

So based on health and well being of my pup only:

When should I get her done?

I hear certain ages it's cheaper than others, but I'll never put saving money before her health, is that statement true anyway?

I have also heard mixed opinions on when to get her done..

Some say before she has her first season, others have said she should have one season first as this will help her mature better, any info on this please?

Thanks for the comments so far, this is such a big important decision for me, I really appreciate hearing peoples views who genuinely have the dogs best interests in mind rather than anything else!

IMO around 2/3 year old

You really need to make it your desision.

Some will argue that it should be after 3 years, after 3 seasons, after maturity, so on, so on.

Again personal choice, Scrumps was done before her first season and Moo after her first season. Hasn't done either dogs any harm and both have developed into adults perfectly fine.

I am all for it, in whatever aspect. Your choice though Xx

personally thats down to you .. alot say let her mature that bit during her first season and others say before her season and others say older .. its all up to you.

but there are health issue if you get them done before they mature you just take that risk.

next time you take her too the vet ask the vet to give you the pro's and con's of spaying .. what it prevents and what risks etc etc .. tbh theres risks with everything! .. that way YOU can decide on the decision YOU want to go with

Damn it, I take it back, none of you are helping, your all too diplomatic lol

Rob wrote:Damn it, I take it back, none of you are helping, your all too diplomatic lol

Lol its a personal preference and can be a touchy subject on here as seen by previous posts .. some agree, some disagree only you can really decide on it .. as i said have a word with a vet and have a sit down and think lol.

vets will want you to get her becasue they think of extra ££ signs becasue that there job

not all .. my vet got a vet nurse to talk to me for about 20mins about pro's and con's .. depends on your vet tbh.

I think my personal view is that if there is even the slightest chance it could help reduce health risks, I'll get it done, it would just be the problem of when....

Again its all a matter of choice and vets can advise and we can put our opinions across. Up to you at the end of the day.

My choice was sooner, and when I rescued you don't get a choice Xx

when it's your dog time its your dogs time there nothing we can do about it or even an vet. if you look at my xena she has an weight problem i feed her once an day i take her out 2/3 walks a day for 45mins plus every time. IMO the weight will end up killing her the weight problem is becasue i got her spade in my opinion

It is a touchy subject,as others have said it is up to you when you get her done,its worth talking to your vet.Cairo was done before her 1st season but others say you should wait untill they have has a season before its done.It never did Cairo any harm in getting her done before though.

Ok, I think I'll pop bode to the vets tomorrow, it's 2 minutes away and I wanted to get her weighed again anyway, I'll ask to talk to them about it all and take it from there, as well as considering everyone's comments here.

Thanks a lot everyone, I really like the fact this forum is so active and full of great people, much appreciated!!!

It is a personal preference, and in our case Sophie has had one season and will be spayed in 2 weeks time, which is roughly 3 months after her season.

Read this and talk to your vet and I'm sure you'll be able to make up your mind. http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/longtermhealtheffectsofspayneuterindogs.pdf

My girl is done she was done at 3 years old I made the decision as it was in her best intrests at that time having said that she lost a little spark and wasnt quite the same dog after the op so I dont know if it was really for the best.
I wouldnt have my boy done and Id never let any vet decide it would only be done in his best intrests
I think neutering is a total different subject to breeding I dont beleive you have to neuter a dog just because you dont plan to breed from it.
Thats my take on it

here the pro and can from ane links

On the positive side, neutering male dogs
• eliminates the small risk (probably <1%) of dying from testicular cancer
• reduces the risk of non-cancerous prostate disorders
• reduces the risk of perianal fistulas
• may possibly reduce the risk of diabetes (data inconclusive)

On the negative side, neutering male dogs
• if done before 1 year of age, significantly increases the risk of osteosarcoma (bone cancer); this is a
common cancer in medium/large and larger breeds with a poor prognosis.
• increases the risk of cardiac hemangiosarcoma by a factor of 1.6
• triples the risk of hypothyroidism
• increases the risk of progressive geriatric cognitive impairment
• triples the risk of obesity, a common health problem in dogs with many associated health problems
• quadruples the small risk (<0.6%) of prostate cancer
• doubles the small risk (<1%) of urinary tract cancers
• increases the risk of orthopedic disorders
• increases the risk of adverse reactions to vaccinations


On the positive side, spaying female dogs
• if done before 2.5 years of age, greatly reduces the risk of mammary tumors, the most common
malignant tumors in female dogs
• nearly eliminates the risk of pyometra, which otherwise would affect about 23% of intact female
dogs; pyometra kills about 1% of intact female dogs
• reduces the risk of perianal fistulas
• removes the very small risk (
0.5%) from uterine, cervical, and ovarian tumors

On the negative side, spaying female dogs
• if done before 1 year of age, significantly increases the risk of osteosarcoma (bone cancer); this is a
common cancer in larger breeds with a poor prognosis
• increases the risk of splenic hemangiosarcoma by a factor of 2.2 and cardiac hemangiosarcoma by
a factor of >5; this is a common cancer and major cause of death in some breeds
• triples the risk of hypothyroidism
• increases the risk of obesity by a factor of 1.6-2, a common health problem in dogs with many
associated health problems
• causes urinary “spay incontinence” in 4-20% of female dogs
• increases the risk of persistent or recurring urinary tract infections by a factor of 3-4
• increases the risk of recessed vulva, vaginal dermatitis, and vaginitis, especially for female dogs
spayed before puberty
• doubles the small risk (<1%) of urinary tract tumors
• increases the risk of orthopedic disorders
• increases the risk of adverse reactions to vaccinations
One thing

Pros and cons will be an ongoing disscusion and neither can be proved. Statistics are there, for and against.

Personal choice. Xx

ouch, this is a horrible decision to make..

It has to be a personal choice. Everyones opinions/statistics are different.

I always say that you should get it done after the first or second successful season. It can let you know that all her bits and bobs are working correctly, and if she has an abnormal season then the op can be done with that in mind instead of just going in there and facing a problem!

and tbf they are all "statistics" the chances are your dog won't just die of old age peacefully in her sleep, lets face it i have never known any dog to die like that. fact is your dogs chances of getting some sort of cancer is about 70/30 anyway, and spaying can help prevent some of them, but VERY UNLIKLEY to be the cause of any of them.

staffy-lover89 wrote:next time you take her too the vet ask the vet to give you the pro's and con's of spaying .. what it prevents and what risks etc etc .. tbh theres risks with everything! .. that way YOU can decide on the decision YOU want to go with

Unfortunately most vets won't give you the full 'cons'. They'll tell you all the pros, but will leave things out, like urinary incontinence & urine burn, nervous aggression, not maturing fully. Pyometra rarely occurs in young bitches, its occurrence 98% of the time is in older bitches of 5 years or more.

Rob wrote:Damn it, I take it back, none of you are helping, your all too diplomatic lol

I'm not diplomatic. I don't agree with neutering before maturity, for the above reasons. As a personal preference I don't neuter my dogs, but that is a personal preference. If I were to neuter I would wait for full maturity. With a breed like the stafford that would be at least 18 months old for a male (preferably 2 years or more) and after at least one season for a female (preferably two).

I would read as much as you can before you go to the vets & ask searching questions, backed by any facts you have picked up by reading. The following site is quite a good one. It's neither for nor against neutering, but is against early neutering.

http://www.doglistener.co.uk/neutering/spaying_neutering.shtml

It really is a personal opinion/choice. Just google it, all the links posted have been from there. Found this one, very unbiased and interesting; http://www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/dog-spaying.html#faq-spay

It really is a matter of gathering all the information & then making up your own mind without bias from vets or even us!

Like the others have said it is a personal choice but can also be a choice of the vet regarding when to get it done. Some vets won't neuter before a season, others think it is best to neuter before a season. So if you do want to stick with one vet in particular you may have to follow their practice procedures. I think your best bet is to ring the vets and discuss it over the phone or arrange to go and speak to one of them or a nurse about it.
There really is no right or wrong answer though and as you can see it can cause quite a commotion with different opinion's. Bode is still young enough though to give you time to make an informed choice, and well done you for actually thinking about it and researching the pro's and con's before going ahead because obviously when it is done it can't be changed.

Oh woh , reading this just goes back over all our family conversations of the past with Tilly. We decided from day 1 she would be done as we would not be breeding , wanted to reduce risks of health and also selfishly of us to reduce the mess, though it became something else when she had her first season as she got really mopey and sometimes looked suicidal, on her 2nd season she picked up a water infection and had that to deal with as well. Our vet wanted to do her before her first season as he is German and it is well supported in Germany though in the UK a lot of Vets will apparently refuse, my Mother In Law who has had 2 bitches scared us out of this as she had incontinence problems with both of them which she claimed was as a result of them being done befor 18 months, when I asked our Vet he just said it can happen but it is treatable with drugs. Anyway we are now having Tilly done after completion of her 2nd season (from November) so will be booking her in sometime around the February and fingers crossed everything goes well for her

i have never had a bitch spayed even lottie was done before we got her so i have never had to make the decision. i have been told though that a female can be done any time because the affect is not the same for them as for a male. it is your decision and your choice all you can do is read what others have put above and go with your instinct. you know your dog and will know when the time is right.

Personally I have not owned a female dog in over 18 years due to the spaying issue. I would not want pups and not sure I could handle the season stuff.

It is very interesting though reading everyone's views

Have a look at the thread Steve has started about the pros & cons of neutering......it's really very good & unbiased.

From a personal experience I had with My bitch Meg I would always spay a bitch if I had no plans to show with a view to breeding.

I am also in the if it ain't broke don't fix it camp lol.

My Meg had just finished her 3rd season and became ill very quickly,I had her to the vets the following morning,they admitted her with suspected open Pyo,she was put straight onto a drip and had bloods and a scan done which confirmed our worst fears,indeed it was Pyo,she was taken straight into emergency surgery to be spayed.She was extremely poorly and was hours away from death.

Until Meg was struck down with Pyometra I had never experienced it, and it's not something I would ever want to see again,Pyometra if not treated quickly will kill bitches,so my advice would be to always spay if there are no plans to breed.

Vets prefer to spay between seasons,when the hormones are settled and there is a reduced risk of bleeding.