Hi all

I have searched through the archives looking for info on when best to have my lab spayed.  The vet has booked her in (obviously i agreed at the time) when she will be 6 months old but having looked through all the different opinions i am now completely confused as to what will be best for my girl.

I am not in any sort of hurry for it to be done and am quite willing to wait for her first season but there seems so many different possibilities to consider.  Could someone just let me know if it is wrong and the vets are just doing it as early because it is acceptable?

Thanks
S

Neutering is a good money spinner for vets.  In the UK most of us prefer to allow our bitches at least one season if not more before spaying as we like them to "mature " properly, especially in the bigger breeds.

I do spay my bitches because I compete with them but I would never have them done before one year old at the minimum preferably 18 months old.

However I fully accept that there may be ovewhelming environmental factors which make this choice the right one eg:

If you have no fenced garden and so cannot prevent escape of an in season bitch or access from an intact male
If you have no control over your dog so that you cannot prevent pregnancy
If you have no access to a vet for a "morning after injection"
If you live with intact males

etc etc

Thanks tohme, I know you know what you're talking about having read all your advice on the boards.  I am going to cancel the appointment and wait.

Thanks

S

Sarah

You're getting incomplete advise. I urge you to read more about it and look into statistics on mammary cancer prevelence in bitches spayed before their first heat vs, between their first and second heat vs not at all. It's pretty scary to me. Cancer doesn't just stay in one place. It metastasizes.

And the likely hood of a bitch getting cancer is ?????  I believe one in eight was the figure, and of those, only 50% are malignant - therefore your bitch has a 1/16 chance of contracting a malignant cancer........

And don't forget that the 50% which are malignant have already metastasized perhaps to the lungs, perhaps elsewhere and that brings the percentage back up to a much higher number. And that many that are benign, if left unnoticed are prone to metamorphasis into malignancy at a later time.

I have a 12 year old bitch that developed a small malignant mammary tumour at age 5 (spaying early was not in the cards as I wanted to breed from her, and she had two litters).  We had a regrowth in the same spot at age 8 when she had a patial mastectomy.

Other than now loosing some of her muscle on her hindquarters she is fit and well.

I have had no problems with her daughter age 9, who wasn't spayed until nearly 7 years of age, or her Grandaughter who is 6 and a half and expecting a litter any day, or her Great Grandaughter who is 4 and a half and has had one litter now aged 8 months.

None of my girls were bred from early, so had already had at least four seasons before being bred from.

Fellow breeders in my breed inform me that they ahve very rarely had maammry tumours, and one of them has bred countless generations over 50 years.

A friedn in another breed (Welsh Springers) had mammary tumours in all her mature bitches later in life.

The study that maintains the protective effect of sopaying was discredited a few years ago as being of too narrow a smaple to be conclusive.

Experiences of breeders in various breeds would seem to suggest that this Cancer appears at very variuable incidence according to breed, but is not as high as often is quoted by the Veterinary proffession.

The decison of course had to be yours.

Some say the operation has no effect on mental or physical development, but all the prepubescently spayed bitches of my aquaintance have remained, evben into old age very puppyish and immature, often lacking the confidence of a finished adult.

From what I've gleaned from the Net (and I've been doing a lot of searching) the likelihood of a bitch developing mammary cancer is about the same as for the average woman. If we're sensible we all check ourselves regularly, then put it out of our minds and get on with life. Perhaps we should do the same with our bitches (and dogs - who can also develop it, just as men can).

Here in Australia the norm is 6mths. i would rather get it behind me and over and done with rather than anticipating it.

christine

It seems it really is a topic that every one has different views on!

I don't know what to do now but have cancelled it.  Gonna do a bit more research then decide what's best!

Thanks for all your help everyone

Sara