Hi,
I have decided to have my puppy spayed. She is almost 5 months old.  I wanted your thoughts on when is the best time. Before her 1st season or after? Also how long will it take her to recover from the op. Are there any dangers i should be aware of?
Thanks Julie

Hi deyzismum,

I would contact your vet and ask them what their procedure is as some vets spay before the first season and some after the first when they are more mature. My mum had her bitch spayed after her first season and apart from being a little drowsy and sore for a few days she was absolutely fine. It is a serious operation and does carry risks but im sure that she will be well looked after.

Paula :)

My girl was spayed last Tuesday, not sure what is the best age though as she is just coming up 6 now.  She came home from the vet Tuesday at 4.30pm very sleepy and sad looking, slept most of the evening, came back to life a bit during the night, when she had a little boiled rice and chicken, next morning she had her painkiller Metacam, by Thursday morning she was completely back to her normal self, no longer needed the pain killers and to be honest you would difficulties believing she had just been spayed.  She doesn't have her stitches out until Friday and I am having troubles keeping her from leaping about.  :-)

Each bitch reacts differently, some tolerate pain more than others.

The only obvious dangers are the anaesthetic, which applies to any op and my vet kindly pointed this out to me as I was signing the consent form :-(

Good luck with what ever you decide, I'm sure she'll be just fine!

Put "spaying" into the search facility on here and read some of the many posts that have come up in the past on this subject :)

Then you can make your own informed decision on it ;) As you know, everybody has their own individual ideas on this subject and it may give you some more info to consider :)

HTH

Thank you for your replies. I will check out old posts.