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Originally Posted by Oscar's Mummy  Actually, it's the opposite. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but I believe that a female's chances of cancer increases something like 50% after their first heat. Most vets/breeders would recommend spaying BEFORE the female even has her first heat. |
That's correct. If a female is spayed before her first heat, she virtually has NO chance of getting mammary cancer. If she goes through her first heat cycle, her chances double (but it is still a pretty small chance). After the second heat cycle, it becomes about a 1/4 chance of getting mammary cancer! Also, most mammary tumors grow faster under the influence of estrogen so if an intact female gets cancer, it is always recommended to spay her to slow down the growth of the cancer. By spaying before the first heat cycle you prevent pyometria, false pregnancies, and real accidental pregnancies.
Early spaying and neutering have no disadvantages. It was once thought that there might be some disadvantages to early spay/neutering, but those have all been disproven by the most recent studies I've read.
By letting a female have one litter, you are greatly increasing her risk of health problems than if you'd spayed her before her first heat cycle. By having a litter, she's at risk for infections, enclampsia, DEATH, whelping complications, cancer, etc. Spaying and never having a litter is the very best thing you can do for your pet.