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Originally Posted by MyFairLacy  If you spay before the first heat, there is virtually no chance of the dog developing mammary gland cancer later in life. One heat cycle does up that risk for cancer, but the chances really start to increase after a second or third heat cycle. Letting your dog go through a heat cycle also risks false pregnancies and pyometria, although most dogs don't develop pyometria that early. The chances increase for pyrometria with each heat cycle. I've seen so many accidental pregnancies on this forum...so it's so important that if your girl does have a heat cycle that you are extremely careful...not being around any intact males and never being left alone outside. False pregnancies are very common in dogs as well.
I always recommend spaying before the first heat cycle if at all possible because I truly believe it's the best for the dog, but most likely she'd be okay if you had to wait. A lot of toy breed dogs go into heat later than 6 months too...some as late as a year or more so if you do wait a few weeks or so, she may not have gone into heat yet anyway. But...she would probably be fine being spayed when you had planned...I wouldn't think her elbow surgery would make a difference |
Thank you for responding. Missy is only ever around two female dogs which are both spayed. She doesn't go outside unless she's being carried. I would never leave her unattended anywhere, she's too small. My only concern was that having two surgeries like that back to back would be hard on her little system. However, I do want what's best for her. If avoiding that first heat is super important, then we will do the spay as planned.