My vet has said that he always prefers bitches to have at least one litter before they are spayed.

HOwever I have no experience of breeding at all.

How seriously should I take his avice as I have heard there are other vets who advise the exact opposite

This is a bit of an old fashioned attitude now and most vets won't recommend a litter first.
It's not very responsible of him to suggest it :(
Ask around at other vets - I'm sure they'd willingly give their advice :)
Lara x

My own bitch never had a litter and it never did her any harm either :)

Hi, I have no experience of breeding either. However I have a Black Lab bitch who I didn't want to breed from and had her spayed after her first season. (Wanted to let her make sure she knew she was female if you know what I mean.. and that worked - you should see her flirt when she meets a boy lab!)

She is now 10, a little stiff when she first gets up, but full of life and with a glorious shiny black coat.

Not having a litter didn't do her any harm at all.

~Sharon :)

The cynical side in me would suggest that he knows he gets more business - potential complications in whelp followed by spay.

But then I am very cynical!

That is a very oldfashioned attitude to take, and one I haven't heard for many years. I've had several bitches who never had litters, and to be honest, they have had fewer problems than the ones that had pups. It's only with bitches spayed after pups that I've had (very slight thank goodness) problems with urinary incontinence - the maiden bitches, whether spayed after their first season, or later in life when they grew up to be unsuitable for breeding, have been fine.

I would be tempted to change my vet.
Hope this helps :)

if you have no experience of breeding and dont want a litter....have her spayed!. its your dog not his!.

I think your vet is being very irresponsible giving this advice. What if there were complications during or after pregnancy, so much so that you lost your bitch? You would be heartbroken & wished you'd never bothered.
My advice is to let her have at least one season & then have her spayed around 1 yr old (I,m not sure of the age of your bitch & so this may vary)

THankyou all. THat is what I thought you would say. The vet is a senior partner and seems quite old. I think next time I'll just ask for another vet because the others within the practice have been excellant.

As much as I would love to have a litter of puppies, it would be for purely selfish reasons and I know I wouldnt be able to sell them to people I didnt know!!!!

Will have her spayed whn shes big enough as I had originally planned!!!

Good for you and give your vet a kick up the back side from me. As you can tell, Ive just lost two pups and had a few beers!
Seriously though, I would mention his attitude to the younger partners in the practice.

whilst your vets advice is a little old fashioned, I have to say that overall I would prefer an old fashioned vet who knows how to treat a dog like a dog, than some of those new fangled youths who appall me with their anthropomorphistic behaviour. Your older vet is wrong on this occassion but do not lose faith in him....he will undoubtedly have some good old fashioned husbandry up his sleeve on future occassions.

I would agree with Sam too. My vet is not old, maybe late 30's, but he's very experienced, deals in a lot of large animals as well as small animals and I like this because he's not afraid to voice his opinion, he will listen to what I have to say and will get on with the job in hand. I have seen younger vets before and when I ask them to give the injection into the base of the tail because my breed are prone to reactions in the neck area as experienced with my bitch, they look at me as if I have two heads. I've lost count of the amount of times I have had to show them where to put the injection. :rolleyes: The older vets simply just do it. :-)

Maybe it is no longer taught in vet school that there are more injection sites than the neck area

I had a jack russell terrier who never had a litter, unfortunately she wasn't speyed either and suffered a pyometra at 16yrs old but then went on to live until nearly 19yrs. :-)

Rachael, are you sure the vet didn't say to let her have at least one season before spaying? Because that would be the usual advice by most British vets. Have the spay done 2-3 months after the first season so that she is mid-cycle at the time of the operation.

I agree with Sam's comments about your older vet though. He will have a whole lifetime's experience to fall back on, yet should still be up-to-date with modern treatments if there are younger vets in the practice. Some of the young vets I've seen look like they should still be in short trousers! They can't possibly have the same depth of veterinary experience behind them. Still, they are usually better looking! :D

Monty's Mum :)

no he definitely said let her have a litter because he said if I was determined to have her spayed without first having a litter thanI should let her have a season first.