Can anyone give me any advise as to when to have me bitch spayed?  I seem to get conflicting information everywhere I look.  Should I wait until after her 1st heat or should I have her done before then.  I have heard that if they are spayed before their 1st heat it reduces virtually all chances of her getting mammary cancers ( after her 1st heat she has a 7% chance and after the 2nd a 24% chance).  The vet we first saw when I got her told us to to get it done when she was about 6 months then the stand in vet who we saw the second time said to wait until after her first heat! 

We were told 8 weeks after the first season.

You will find many differing opinions on the optimum age to spay.

My information is that spaying prior to the first season reduces the risk of mammary cancer to less than 1%. Spaying between first and second season the risk is reduced to 8%.

As we are talking % does anyone know what the chance of an intact bitch getting mammary cancer anyway - quoting % is not a lot of help unless you know the percentage of the risk anyway, if you see what I mean. May be I have been lucky but none of my bitches have ever had it and my sister had one case, that lump was removed and found to be, at the time of the removal, benign, now I know it does happen as it does in humans and it can occur in male dogs too but I wondered if any one has any figures, I know vets and vet nurses will say a lot but that is because they see, in the main, dogs that have problems, I wonder if there are any sound unbiased figures.

Very few I would say Jackie.

Best wishes, John

Hi John, did you mean very few bitches who get malignant hormone induced tumours or very few unbiased independent statistics or perhaps both ;)

In all my days I have only had one bitch suffer from mammary tumours. Also over the years of being involved with dogs at the dog club I can only think of two other cases. Admittedly we loose track of quite a few dogs at club as they become older but the owners often return at a later date with their new addition to the family so we do often get a follow-up on the oldies.

As you say, statistics are of no use unless you have the full story but often statistics get "Bent" to favour a particular school of thought. Yes, we need statistics but no, we should not slavishly follow them without questioning the voracity of them.

Best wishes, John

As we are not talking statistics John and as a matter of interest how many cases of other types of cancer can you recall, if you can remember. Can think of several cases of bone cancer in Labs, is it common or has my experience clouded my view and also spleen seems common in other breeds. Can't of course remove legs to prevent bone cancer but we could remove spleens and I wonder if the statistics would show that the removal of the spleen in all pups would save more cases of cancer than spaying. Total woolly thoughts I agree, because without the facts one can't make an informed decision.

Bethany died of Cancer but she was my only one. Personally I've not known many cases in Labradors although I did read that the incident of cancer in Labradors was higher in blacks than yellows! Shades of the Flatcoat there! Flatcoats of course are the higher risk but it's interesting that black Labs and black dogs generally pose more risk than lighter colours. (This came from an article from the college!!). It helps to back up my theory that as black absorbs heat more than lighter colours that maybe we are cooking our dogs?

Best wishes, John  

Our Bella (black lab) died of cancer at 13 years of age, and Ben (yellow lab cross) died of cancer when was 10.

What sort JG?  Have know 4 labs die with bone cancer and 3 were black and one was yellow, that seems a lot of dogs from the number of Labs I have known. In my dogs I have had one confirmed spleen (GSD) and one suspect spleen (also GSD). Am aware that Black dogs do suffer with the sun far more than a lighter colour from watching my sisters Newfoundlands the blacks were far more uncomfortable than the browns and even the browns were more uncomfortable than my Elks who are grey with a black saddle. Wonder if the temperature that a dogs body reaches does have a long term effect on the dog and/or if it can cause a dog to be susceptible to developing cancer.

It was liver cancer that finally finished them, but whether it had started somewhere else and spread, we don't know. There were no other signs of tumours that could be seen or felt. Of course it could have been spleen because that is surrounded by the liver so the mass would feel to be in the same place. Neither dog was PMed so we don't know for certain.

Would be very interesting to know more on this subject but because there is rarely a PM or any type of investigation after the death of a dog, it is usually put down to 'it may have been this or that' or a internal bleeding (which probably means tumour). At the time of the loss you are too upset to really think of asking for an investigation, but I guess until the death of a dog is investigated we will never have any true figures to work with or attempt to avoid the situation. Suppose the only consolation is we do keep our dogs pain free and let them go when we can no longer do so, and the knowledge that if they are not in pain, they are not worried.

A question JG, it is not unusual for quite a few dogs in an area to be related, A nice stud dog is often well used. Is there any common ancesters in your Labs pedigree? You can see where I'm coming from, a hereditory link? that could easily account for hot spots of cancer.

Best wishes, John

I've no idea John, but I would doubt it very much. Ben, the lab cross, was born in the north of Scotland in 1962, and Bella was born in Warwickshire in 1985. Glen (Ben's sire) was owned by fellow Forces personnel, so could have come from anywhere as they had him when they were posted.

Looks like that idea bites the dust then ;) Arr well, back to the drawing board. Plan "B" is around the corner somewhere.

Best wishes, John