Hi - back again for a bit more advice.

Gemma our lab is just having her second season and we have taken the desicion to get her spayed - can anybody tell me how long after her season we should wait. Have just read something alarming on the internet that she stands a 25% higher chance of getting cancer after her second season. We were told by our vet that we should let her have a season and then bring her in to see them but time has gone by so quickly and now she's having her second one before we know it!

Also could somebody tell me how long the operation lasts for and if they are a bit out of sorts for a while. I suppose we've put it off because we dont want to take her in for the op, she's our baby and we've thought long and hard about the pros and cons of it.

Any advice from those of you who have gone through this would be greatly received.

Lesley

Hi Lesley.

Wouldn't take much notice of everything you read, and after her second season is fine. About 3 months after the season is the time to get her spayed, its a very routine operation, lasting only a few minutes. There will be a small scar, with a couple of stiches. She may be a little groggy for a day or so, but usually nothing more, do try to stop her bouncing around if you can, it helps if the stitches stay in !!!:D She should be fine.
Dawn.

Hi Lesley

Both my dogs were spayed midway between their first and second season. Bree who is now 14yr, had no problems, apart from a minor post-op infection :(
Libby who is 15 months, seemed fine, till her hair started coming out in copious quantities, i.e. almost bald in places. After several tests, the vet concluded it was an adverse reaction to the anaesthetic, her coat is now growing back. I guess dogs are like people....all individual and will react differently :)

i'm sure someone with more experience will be along shortly.

liberty

Hi Lesley,
I have had 2 bitches spayed midway between 1st and 2nd seasons, one spayed at 6 years old and one spayed at 8 years old.....no side-effects at all (apart from the 6-year-old who nibbled at her stitches and needed to wear a tee-shirt to stop her!)

The first two mentioned lived to be 13 and 15 years old - the other two are still fit and healthy 2 years later.

When you collect her after the operation she'll be a bit groggy. Let her have a drink and go to sleep. She'll have been given a long-acting antibiotic and pain-killer, and you'll have a supply of antibiotics for a few days. Next morning she'll be pretty much her usual self, and then it's more a problem of stopping her tearing about like a mad thing and pulling at her stitches!

Hope this helps.
:)

Thanks all for your advice - feel better knowing its not a long op, suppose I just don't want to leave her and her wondering "where are you going" but I know it's probably for the best in the long term. Will take her in a few months time, well i'll let my other half do the honours.

Thanks again

Hi Lesley, The reason we spay bitches in between the season is so the area is less vascular and therefore not as likely to bleed too much. Although routine it is not a little operation, it takes between 30 - 45 mins for a routine spay and is abdominal surgery.Humas are restricted for 3 months - animals are expected to walk home!. Complications may be added by the bitch being overweight. You will need to rest her after the op. Lead exercise only for 7 days. Keep an eye on those sutures and all will go well.The cancer your vet is referring to is mammary tumours and the information is correct. Your bitch is more prone now she had had two seasons but only if she were going to get them anyway. Don't worry. It really is routine and although complicated vets perform them every day of their lives.

Karen.

Mammary tumours also even if they do develop are not the end of the world, about half are benign. The important thing is to be ever vigilant when lumps and bumps appear on our dogs, and have them removed when tiny for analysis.

My bitch who had been bred from developed one at five yearsold, about the size of a pea. It was removed and analysed and found to be Carcinoma (Cancerous). Three years later it regrew in the saem spot, so this time the whole gland and the adjoining one were removed. She is now a fit and healthy 11 1/2 year old.

To be on the safe side I have had two fatty benign Lipomas removed over last few years in case they were recurrences.

Cancer may or may not get her in the end, but as we have managed most other problems, it is the one that is most likely to get us and them. Statistics show that 1 in 3 people will have Cancer at some time in their lives, and our dogs tend to mirror health trends.

Just to add to Brainless's post dogs (males) also suffer from mammary tumours, and should therefore be checked when groming as well as the bitches. And don't forget to check the testicals, in both cases looking for something that feels like a pea. Also so keep an eye on the skin as it is as like as not that is where a problem may occour.

You have to wait until she is through the season which is 21 days but I have known some vets who will spay a dog after day 16 which in most dogs is the last day that they can be bred. Probably it is best to wait out the full season as by then hormone levels have all returned to normal.

My vet here in Canada would take my dog in either the night before but usually would have me bring her in between 8:00AM - 8:30AM the day of surgery. I would have withheld food from 6:00PM and water from 9:00PM the night before. I would drop her off and her surgery would be later in the morning or possibly early afternoon. I usually call around 2:00PM to see how see is doing. She then comes home the next day. She may be a little dopey but no way would she be stubbling around drunk. She usually sleeps a lot that first day home. There would only be 4 stitches. My vet is a fabulous surgeon. In ten days I take her back for the stitch removal and check-up. None of my bitches that Dr. Arvid has done for me have had any adverse side effects and just continued to live long happy lives following the surgery.

Hope this helps.

Margaret :) Canada

Bitches vary a lot as to when they are fertile, Margaret! My last brood bitch wasn't fertile until day 18 of her season! ;)

My vet tells me that the best time to spay a bitch is in her hormonally 'quiet time', the "anoestrus" - from approximately 14 weeks after the start of the season. The uterus is still active during the 'metoestrus' period, which lasts from the end of the season for about 10 weeks. This is the time of phantom pregnancy, because the hormones are still coursing.
:)