Best age for spaying??

S

sure as shootin

New member
Looked through a few of the categories and couldn't find people's opinion on this so I thought I start a new thread. My griff is now six months old and the vet suggested spaying her before her first heat cycle. I booked a tentative appointment to get it done in a couple of weeks but was wondering if I should wait? Are they're any significant disadvantages of getting it done this early?

If memory serves I got my last brit done thirty years ago at this age and she went onto being a great dog who hunted heart out. She had no health issues and lived until she was 17.
 
This topic came up on another forum, and a vet that frequents the forum said this.


I recommend spaying athletic/sporting female breeds after the first heat cycle, which usually occurs at 10-14 months of age.
 
Our youngest setter, which we were thinking of breeding had a false pregnancy on her first heat cycle, and she stopped eating / almost to her death. We waited again through another heat cycle, and again she had a false pregnancy / stopped eating again. We spayed her at this point. Hindsight is always 20/20.
 
One thing to consider is male dogs. Can you keep her isolated from male dogs? I picked up a one yo britt in February. She immediately went into heat. Had to ship my male to my brother's for a month.
 
In the past the common thinking was to spay before the first heat cycle but that thinking has changed. It is now thought to wait until the dog is fully matured and about 2 years old.

I've lost 2 female Brittanys in the past 2 years. One not quite 12 and the other just turned 8. I now have an 11 month old female and have done a lot of reading on the subject. It appears there are risks to the dog later in life no matter what you do. Spaying prior to the first heat cycle is thought to virtually eliminate mammary cancer but it also increases the risk of other cancers and diseases. I think is boils down to making sure the dog has reached full maturity before taking out those hormone producing organs.

A lot of the early spay thinking is being fostered by animal rights groups and is based mainly on animal population control. If I was you I would wait. 6 months is too young. There is quite a bit of information out there on the internet on the subject. Do some reading and get more advice. I personally don't agree with your vet and I've talked to a number of vets on the subject. Lots of schools of thought on it.
 
I have a 7mth Griff and dealing with the same concerns. After talking with my vet, were going to do it between 8 and 9mths. There's to many proud dogs running with us (our group) to mess around.
 
I agree with Zeb. Vets say before first heat cycle but if the dog is not mature the dog may never live up to their potential. I spayed a lab at 6 months and I regret it every day. She changed a great deal shortly after being fixed
 
+1 on after the first heat.

The vet that's been my hunting partner and breeds his own line is in the after the first heat camp at a minimum and is OK with after the second heat (if you know you will never want to breed her of course).

Dakotazeb:

A lot of the early spay thinking is being fostered by animal rights groups and is based mainly on animal population control.
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Yes indeed. It also seems the vet schools are indoctrinating their new grads as well. Funny story: I took the first Lab I brought home from England in to get her hips done for OFA. I explained to the nice young lady vet that this Lab was in a breeding program and I needed to get her OFA'd. All fine and dandy. I show up at the appointed time and the nice young lady vet tries to convince me that they could knock her out, do her hips and then spay her for me. I repeated that the Lab was going to be bred. The nice young vet still spent 10 minutes trying to convince me to get her spayed. Fortunately, her older partner showed up and he took control and we got the job done. I was about halfway out the door right then.
 
I raise golden retrievers and I now encourage all my buyers of female dogs to wait till after the first heat cycle. I have had a few pups become incontinent and piddle because they did not get enough progesterone before they were spayed. The solution is now they have to give the dog a pill everyday! Wait would be my recommendation.
 
Changing the subject just a little, but what about male dogs?

Everything I've read says the dog needs to be mature, male or female.

And what about an older male dog, such as one that was in consideration for breeding, but made the decision not to?
 
After tons and tons of research, we decided to wait until at least one heat cycle. I believe the train of thought on spaying as early as possible is a mix between old "wives tales" and the problem with strays/over populated shelters. Something tells me, at least Id like to believe, us hunters are not as careless in regards to this matter.
 
In my contracts I allow the owner to keep a female intact for 12-14 months. For a male I like to see 18 months to 2 years. Anything sooner will void the hip and health warranty.
Grandma shitzu can be spayed at 6 months for allI care, but these hunting dogs are hard working athletes and need to build healthy and strong bones, muscles and ligaments.
 
mstand said:
In my contracts I allow the owner to keep a female intact for 12-14 months. For a male I like to see 18 months to 2 years. Anything sooner will void the hip and health warranty.
Grandma shitzu can be spayed at 6 months for allI care, but these hunting dogs are hard working athletes and need to build healthy and strong bones, muscles and ligaments.
Click to expand...

Mstand, this is an interesting thought. Why do you void their health guarantee on hips if they spay or neuter before a prescribed time? I am interested in knowing if you feel there is a correlation between that and some sort of hip problem? I provide health guarantees for my puppy buyers as well but I don't put that stipulation on them. I do encourage them to wait through one heat cycle to help the females with the progesterone they need for incontinence but that is nothing to do with a health guarantee. But I am interested in you reasoning, I might need to make a change!
 
I absolutely believe it early spay and neuter can contribute to hip displasia. There is a ton of information out there on it, and below I will leave a like from UCDavis.
We all know that HD can be genetic and environmental. I put ESN as environmental. ESN causes rapid growth affecting growth plates. It weaken the ligaments in the legs. Most of these knee injuries that you see in sporting dogs can be traced backed to ESP.
On top of that, it void the health warranty if the dog is obese or is not on a good food because these thing can contribute to HD.
If I knew how to attach it, I post my contract for you.

Here is UC Davis article
https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/golden-retriever-study-suggests-neutering-affects-dog-health/
 
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