[MyFairLacy]

As long as your dog is healthy and doesn't have any underlying health problems, it is no more dangerous to spay an adult dog than a puppy. Puppies do heal faster than adult dogs, so your girl will probably seem to be more sore longer than she would be if she was a puppy. Other than that though she should be fine. I don't think the reason your basset almost didn't make it was because of her age - there was some other problem there. Adult dogs are spayed all the time with no issues.

The fact that you called your vet an "old farm vet" does concern me. I'm sure he's a great vet, but he may not be current on the safest and newest things out there. It's really important for vets to continue their education after vet school and attend conferences and read journals and all to make sure they know the latest things developing in the veterinary world. Plus, a vet in a mixed practice is dealing with horses, cows, dogs, cats, etc and I just don't know how they can know enough about every species to effectively treat them all.

So far as your girl's spay - a blood work up is a must to make sure she's completely healthy and doesn't have any underlying health problems that you aren't aware of. Your vet also needs to be familiar with toy breeds since they are so small. Once she's through the procedure she'll need some pain meds as she heals and you'll need to try to keep her as still as possible for a week to help her heal. Even if she thinks she feels all better after a couple days, still keep her calm because she could tear her stitches.

I wouldn't wait any longer because the older they are, the harder the surgery is on them and the more chances of health problems developing with age. I would go ahead and do it. She should be just fine.