Hi, Molly has just had her first season and will be spayed in December, but have met several people walking thier dogs who think it will ruin her coat, she is a Tibetan Terrier, is there any genuine reason to think this will happen, and is there anything that I can do to maintain a lovely coat and have her spayed? Cheers peaches

IMO the loss of coat quality is only one, and a minor one, of the things that could be caused by removing your bitches ovaries & womb. Coat loss is one of the most common side effects. I would never spay a bitch before the bitch was fully mature or for reasons of health. As to how you avoid the side effects as far as I know the only way is to replace the missing hormones with a life long course of HRT, as they do in humans if they have to remove the same organs from a young girl. A search will bring up many threads on the subject of spaying and castration. Jackie

I am starting to feel uncomfortable about having my bitch spayed now, but what are acceptable alternatives, I don,t really want to have to put up with a season from her twice a year, and if i don,t have her spayed there is a big chance she will get cancer later in life according to our vet, advice please.

Molly & Peaches,
Spaying is a touchy subject on here, to be honest. There will never be total agreement. You have supporters from each camp - to spay or not to spay: that is the question :rolleyes:

I used to be in the firmly spay arena until I came on here and read a lot of informed opinions. Now I look at a broader picture-- or at least try to. ;) :)

This is the view of what I tend to follow these days:

Having a bitch is a lot more responsibility than a dog. If you are involved in shows, breeding, and are used to dealing with heat cycles, then yes, keep the girl intact.

If you want to travel, have a lovely pet, never have dealt with heat cycles and the concerns of mood swings, aftercare, and can't guarantee protection from herself/other dogs....then look into spaying.

Health concerns will be there regardless of if she is spayed or not. There have been studies on each side of the fence in support of either argument.

Personally I believe that no matter what, a dog has a certain life span. Eventually, the dog will die of something. There are so many factors that can affect it....one of the most important is to ensure that it will remain safe in your house/yard and not escape onto the streets.

The only bitch that I have had over the years that wasn't spayed in puppyhood came to me after she had been spayed at 8 years. She had gone through massive surgery for breast cancer. She lived until 13 when her kidneys failed -- had nothing to do with being altered or not....

Pyrometra is another concern of unspayed females and is much more immediate a threat than cancer, since a chance of it is each time the bitch has a cycle, imo.

I've never had a TT, so I don't know what the coat concerns are. But on my dogs, including my mother's schnauzers, there wasn't any difference compared to their intact siblings.

There was someone on here who knew a sheltie bitch that won a lot of awards after she had an emergency spay--- her coat was apparently gorgeous and competitors were upset because she didn't drop her coat like other bitches did.

hth,
good luck with your decision,
toodles

I have all my dogs fixed except for one male ( no longer breeding). 2 pups that I kept were fixed at 5 months and never noticed a differents compared to my intact ones. The females belly is nicely tucked up and all their coats shine. Even my wolf/rott gets his full coat as seasons change, had him done at 1 years old. My shepherd collie was spayed at 1 year and her coat was still beautiful. IMO I think it probable depends on the dog. Do what you feel is best.

Molly,

We must've been lucky because we've had several bitches over the years, never had any of them spayed and no cancer problems due to them not being spayed.

One of them did have a pyrometra when she was 12 and although she recovered I would imagine a large operation later in life may sometimes cause problems.

Dot

Peaches,
I'm glad you've posted something. I left a message for you on Idle Chat. Your new e-mail address isn't working. It's not being recognised when I try replying.
Dot

Thanks for all the advice, I think I will go for it. Dot got your email and have replied to it, hope you get it, Jane