Hi everyone.

I haven't posted for a while but I would like some advice on when to spay my 14mth Irish Setter.  Her season started 24th Jan and she had a false pregnancy.  I don't wish to breed from her and would like to have her spayed.  Is now too soon?  She was lactating and nesting a month ago (around April 10th).  She is back to normal now.  I also have an 20mth GR dog. 

Many thanks

It sounds like now would be fine.  If she stopped showing signs of her phantom a month ago, then you should be fine.  Have a word with your vet to be sure.

I would say she is too close to her next season now due in July.

Half way between is best so end of April would have been best.

A lot depends on the length between her seasons, has she had more than two to discern a pattern?

Some of my bitches have come in every four or five months at first.

A friends bitch was spayed 3 months after her last season only to suffer from internal bleeding as she was close to her next one and the internal sutures didn't hold.

Brainless, a typical setter is every 9 months on average (although yes bitches do vary!)  So in my experiance she would be due in september :)  Therefore now being a good time to spay,

As we don't know the bitches cycle we can't really comment on the best time.

I was interested to read your response, Barbara.  I've never experienced a bitch coming in to season with less than a seven month interval, even when just starting to have seasons.

My previous golden retriever had her 1st 3 seasons, lasting the average time, with an interval of 3months between each. The vet gave her a hormone injection to try to help regulate her but she found it very painful and it put her off going to the vet from that time on. We had her spayed after her third season

Wow - every 3 months!  I'm not surprised you had her spayed.

If she's showing no signs of phantom pregnancy, and her next season isn't theoretically due for another two months (could easily be longer) I'd say she'd be fine to spay now. It's about as close to mid-season as you're going to get.

Thanks for your input everyone.  I have spoken with her breeder and her mother is around 6 months and is regular.  The only reason I held off the few extra weeks is because of the false pregnancy - I wanted to make sure her hormones etc were back to normal before spaying.  She is booked in for tomorrow and I'm having second thoughts.  I could wait for another season but she could have another phantom and I'd be back to square one anyway!  (I read somewhere that it is likely to reoccur)  I think I'll take her down in the morning as planned and double check with the vet before leaving her. 

Dogs are as much of a worry as kids!  Wish me luck.  I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again  :-)

I think you will be fine if the breed and her female relatives go at least 6 months.  You are right your likely to get another phantom on the next season too.

Would it also depend on your vet? 

I wanted to get Misty done after her first season.  She came in on 27 Dec and she had a phantom which ended up with me taking her to the vets at the end of March to get checked out as I wasn't sure (felt stupid afterwards though and of course out of pocket to be told yes it was a false one) but when i was there I mentioned that i wanted to book her for 10 days time, but the vet said unless they did it within a couple of days, they wouldn't do it until after her next season as it was too close.  Unfortunately we were going away in a couple of days which is why I wanted to book her in for when we got back. 

But if they wouldnt do it whilst still having a false pregnancy, and as someone said earlier she could well have another one next season then I have only got a window of a couple of days in which to book her in before it gets too close to the next one again?????

Yep that's right.  My friend had this with two of her dobes.  With one the phantom went on and on and she had to wait yet another season before having her spayed.

If they are spayed during a phantom it can really cause problems with the signs of the phantom persisting for months, if they are close to their next season the risks of surgery are greater as there is increased blood supply to the whole are making internal bleeding a higher risk as well as causing problems with the hormones.

Personally I would wait until 3 months after her last season.

As the bitch was in season end of January she has already gone almost 4 months

Sorry, just re-read thread as I was skim reading.

Hi.  Gypsy had the ok this morning and so I went ahead and she has had the op.  She is back home now and very subdued - only to be expected I guess.  Joey (the GR) is very confused and can`t work out why shes in her crate and not playing.  Bless him.  I`ll let you know how she is tomorrow.

Hope she has a speedy recovery.

She will just be getting over the anesthtic at the moment but I'm sure she'll be back up and about tomorrow.  Just try not to let her play, run and jump too much incase she streches a little bit too much and hurts her tummy.  We found the best way with our girl was to let her learn for herself though.  She relised she was hurting herself so decided to lay on the sofa or in the cage and just sleep...

Thanks ice queen.  She`s sleeping most of the time at the mo and when she is awake she just sits there looking extremely sorry for herself.  She's not interested in drinking which bothers me, I don`t expect her to be looking for food so I haven`t offered it.  She weed and messed in her crate just now which is very unusual, she always woofs to come out.  Poor baby :-(  She is so bouncy normally.

She may still be a bit mentally out of it tomorrow, after that just keep her to lead walks for the next week and she should be fine after that.

Update on Gypsy.... eating and drinking this morning and much more with it.  Nowhere near her normal self but as she is a setter her normal self is manic and bouncy so calm is a pleasant change! :-P

One question tho` my GR dog is acting very interested.  He is entire.  Is this normal?  I am keeping them apart at the mo as they love playing together which is obviously out of the question. 

Just want to say a quick thank you to everyone for your comments.  Gypsy is back to normal now.  We`ve just come back from the vets for her post op check and she`s fine, stitches are looking good.  My only problem now is keeping her calm and not leaping around the place like a loon for the next week until stitches are removed :-P

Joey is behaving himself too, maybe he just missed her!