Quote:
Originally Posted by Yorkiemom1  If she were mine, I would wait until she is a year old.....studies show that old wives tale about letting them go thru a heat cycle may be better for your dog.....hopefully, she will have hit 3 lbs by then.....I have lost a tiny little girl during surgery, and from that experience, I am terrified putting these tiny little ones under anesthesia. I know people who do it with no second thought, and it works out for them....I can not go there, and I just like them to be a little older. She will NOT turn into a pumpkin if you wait until she is a little older. You must watch her closely and responsibly during her heat cycle, but this is not impossible to do. |
I have heard this same thing and read some research online that supports it. This research supports that, for any dog, it's better to wait 12-14 months to have them fixed. There are many things linked to having your dog fixed too early like joint problems, longer legs, poor hormonal development, less muscle development, and sometimes cancer. However, these studies that have been done were not controlled studies and weren't always continued long enough to determine if cancer was a real risk.
But then you risk behavioral problems if you don't fix males early enough, and risk breast cancer in females if you wait too long. We really need more research done before we can really make good decisions about when to fix our animals. I think, personally, I'm going to wait a year.
I feel like there is a lot of important hormonal development going on in the first year, and getting my little girl fixed before then is too risky for me. But it's really up to you and what you think are real risks, and what you want to avoid.