Advice plz - spaying ?

At what age can a dog be spayed ?

Im in a bit of a tis at the moment. My pups breeder contacted me yesterday - one of my diesels brothers needs a new home as his owners are unable to keep him.

I would love to give him a home - But I would need to have my diesel spayed and my vet says they only do spaying after the first season...which she hasnt had yet.

I wouldnt want Diesels brother neutered as his is a fantastic example of a blue staffy pedigree and would make a stunning stud dog with his background.

any advice appreciated ..

x

Hi,
I'm going to spay Stella at some point and from what I read and what I was told by my vet the best way is to do it before the first season.
I googled plenty of info and let say 9 of 10 pages confirm that a female should preferably be spayed before the first heat which almost eliminates the risk of breast and other 'female' cancers.
Stella is 4 months 1 week now so I'll have to do it sometimes in mid/second half of November. I'm SO worried already now!
But try to google information and you will see... Xxx

Everyone has different views on this one. Now my first was done before her first season and Moo would have been too, it never did either any harm.

We have had a lot of debating on here and the general opinion is that a bitch needs to come into full sexual maturity so ideally a bitch should be done after 2-3 seasons.

The op is much simplier in males, so I personally wouldn't have a stud and get the male done.

It is your choice though x

The advice from my vet was the same, to have Millie spayed before her first season and got the same advice yesterday when i had Bella in for her injection. It turned out Millie got it done after her first saeson as she had it pretty young.

Oh, this is such an emotive subject.

Although the risk of certain cancers is higher after a bitch's first season, the risk is very small. Compared to other problems that could occur such as incontinence, nervousness & staying immature (mentally & physically) I would always advise spaying after at least one season & preferably after 2. In my own opinion your vet is 100% right & you should not spay until after her 1st season.

Have a look at this site - it's a balanced view (neither for nor against neutering) but gives information that a lot of other sites never tell you...

http://www.doglistener.co.uk/medical/neuter.shtml

If you must have the dog, then I would advise you to ensure that you have a safe way of keeping them apart during your girl's season. Personally I wouldn't have two siblings from the same litter, there are too many comlications.

Ah another spaying/neutering topic!

Be prepared for some debate on this one. I'm gonna weigh in and agree with Janey. I personally would have the male done, a)- because breeding is much too indiscriminate at the mo and very few of the proper health checks etc are done and so many puppies are moved from home to home and inevitably end up in rescue as a result of them being sold on to anyone who will take them rather than breeders finding and checking homes BEFORE pups are even born and b)- rescues and shelters are overflowing with thousands of staffy and staffy x's looking for loving homes.

However, having said that, I wouldn't personally neuter the male until he is mature, at around 18 months to 2 years of age, so you would still need to keep them apart during the bitch's season, which I appreciate can be difficult.

There is also the issue as Caryll mentioned about having 2 pups from the same litter. I have no personal experience of this, but have heard that it can cause serious problems. However, the fact that it is a dog and a bitch bodes less problematic than if you had 2 dogs or 2 bitches from the litter.

It's a hard choice. Good luck, let us know how it goes

Thanks Caryll for the link, I had seen it before but now I was reading it more and I will definitely think once again about when to do it with my wee monster.
It is really not an easy decision....
Stella lives with Ben (a 6 years old male tricolor collie, not spayed) almost all the time but it wouln't be such a big problem to keep them separated for the first season if it was better for Stella.
I have been 100% decided to follow my vet recommendation and have it done at 5-6 months but now I'm really hesitating...
Hard choice.

It is a hard choice, and you'll get so many conflicting opinions - even vets can't agree!

Although I, personally, wouldn't get my dogs neutered unless it was a medical necessity, I'm not actually against neutering as long as it's done at the right time & for the right reasons.

I hate it when someone neuters because they 'can't stand the mess' with a bitch, or 'can't put up with the humping'. These are things you look into BEFORE you get a dog. The mess isn't always that bad, tbh, and humping can be controlled with proper training. Also, contrary to popular belief, very few entire males will escape their homes at all costs to chase an in-season bitch that happens to be withing 5 miles of him!

If you're doing it for the all-round good health of your dog, and that's what you want to do (after reading ALL the pros & cons) then fine, go ahead.

Hi,
yes I'm not concerned about 'mess' definitely, it is the 'phantom pregnancies' which cause females to suffer emotionally I think and breast and ovarian cancer and stuff.
I know that not all of them get these, though...
I won't do it that early as I planned, I will wait for Stella to be mature, to go through at least 1 season.
I see now that some vets recommend spaying before first season, other are against...It is hard to decide, really.
Thanx

@ carryl

thx for the info - can i ask why 2 siblings from same litter is a bad idea ?

ty

I wouldnt spay or neuter any of mine its a personal choice although I would want them to mature first I also think its not right to neuter when matured its so conflicting.
I have had my bitch spayed my reasons were she was suffering every season I tried her with a dog on 3 occasions but she didnt want to know that answered my decision and it was right in her case

my vet said before the first season as well but my sisters vet said by doing this would give weak bladder problems later on so who do you believe

Thats the thing the vets dont agree too but to let a dog mature then have it spayed /neutered goes against nature in my book

going to veta 2morow so will ask and let you know what they say

Jackieb wrote:@ carryl

thx for the info - can i ask why 2 siblings from same litter is a bad idea ?

ty

It can work, but you'll often get problems as they've been brought up together from birth - they form their own 'pack' and can exclude the human family to a large extent. Not always, of course, but it can happen. I also think it's one helluva lot of work trying to train two pups right from scratch at the same time!

billy and kya wrote:my vet said before the first season as well but my sisters vet said by doing this would give weak bladder problems later on so who do you believe

The spay operation can produce incontinence whether it's done early or later. The biggest problem in spaying early is that the female genitals do not grow to the correct size & remain small. Obviously as the bitch grows so does her bladder & the small vulva cannot cope properly with the increase of urine. You therefore can get leakage and urine burn. Both needing thorough cleansing of the vulva & surrounding area every day.

Personally i would never have a bitch spayed before her first season preferably at least 2 seasons as i feel it allows her to mature properly

OMG, had no idea the genitals don't grow to the correct size!!!! We had Rascal spayed at 5mths, before her first season because the vet recommended it So wish we had checked here first oh well, can't do anything about it now

We had milly spayed before her first season some vets do it before a season some dont.Vets for pets do spay before a first season they spayed milly