My vet has recommended having my staff bitch spayed at 6mths before her first season as he said this prevents problems in later life.
I have also been told that bitches should be left to have their first seasonbefore they are neutered.

Can anyone strongly recommend either???

Please take into consideration that I have another male dog in the house.

Lisa :)

If it weren't for the fact that you have an entire male as well I would most definitely recommend that you wait till 3 months after her first season. Depending on the breed, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that spaying before maturity can lead to other problems.

However, a bitch in season in a house with an entire dog is a nightmare to be avoided. If you can't house one of them elsewhere for the 3-4 weeks of her season, then maybe she should be spayed before her season. In an ideal world it wouldn't be my choice though.

Hope this helps!

Think I would rather kennel one of the dogs than spay a baby bitch.

Shouldnt be a problem kenneling the other dog, my main concern is the health and welfare of them.

Why would the vet recommend 6mths??? Very difficult to know what to do, if you can't trust your vet to provide the correct information then who can you trust???? :(

I've been led to believe that spaying before a bitch has had a season virtually elimates that chance of mammary cancer in later life and of course means she'll never develop pyometra or other uterine probs. If you have no intention of breeding then I don't see a problem but we waited until Kayla has had her first season before spaying her. If you trust your vet go with them but if in doubt then don't do it.

Can only tell you I have owned more than a dozen bitches and have never spayed younger than 5 years old, have never had a problem. My sister has had a few more bitches than I and she also does not spay and has had one bitch develop mammary tumour at 6 years had it removed and the bitch lived to 13 and that is in a breed that normally turns their toe up at about 9 years. Think it is important to check your bitch at least once a month as you would yourself, think too much emphasis is put on the chance of a tumour after all we do not remove other bits of our bitches saying it is for their health. Most vets in the UK would not wish to perform such a major operation on an immature pup.

Someone I know had her bitch spayes at 7 months on vet recommendation. She is now 2 years old and suffers from mild incontinence. I would not have mine done before they had a season.

The problem with spaying an immature bitch is that the urinary tract is less likely to develop properly and can cause problems in adulthood with infections, incontinence or urine scald due to the vulva being abnormally small. Spaying after the first season still has the chances of mammary tumours (whether benign (which most are anyway) or malignant) less likely than for a woman.

My family have had 7 bitches over the last 30 years, spayed at various ages form 1 - 8 years, and only one developed a tumour. Ironically it wasn't that which killed her, but the operation to remove it.

I wouldn't spay such an immature bitch. I'd rather kennel the dog & wait until after she's had her first season. My bitches are usually 5-6 yrs when they are spayed & in 25 yrs (touching wood, now) I've never had a problem.