[livingdustmops]

Originally Posted by Brittie123

I was really scared about having Mia and Emmy spayed, but I researched for about 6 months in veterinary journals, I called many different vets at different teaching veterinary hospitals in the country, I also talked to the late Terri Shumsky for quite awhile about the subject and most everything I read and heard was the same...

For males neutering is more about behavior. Yes it does eliminate the risk of testicular cancer, reduces prostate hypertrophy, and reduces prostatic infections, but mainly it decreases marking behavior and aggression.

For females it is very much a health issue. 25% (1 in 4) of all female dogs get mammary cancer unfortunately. Spaying before the first heat reduces the risk to less than 1%! And spaying after the first heat but BEFORE the 2nd heat reduces the risk to 8%. After the second heat their chance of getting mammary cancer are just as high whether they were spayed or not, but pyometria is a high concern and is a very common and deadly disease, so in my opinion no matter how old they should be spayed to help prolong their life and give them a better quality of life. I have personally known 2 dogs in my life, one owned by my mother and the other owned by a family friend who have died from pyometria and it was a very painful and slow death that could have been prevented. I feel pretty strongly about this, its just not fair to your pets not to spay them because you're "scared", I just knew it was something I had to do to give Mia and Emmy a better life.

I did choose to use laser for both of their spays, there were no stiches and their healing time was considerably faster.

Mia was 8 months old and was less than 2 lbs when she was spayed, as long as you do your research and make sure the vet is taking all the necessary precautions your baby will be fine!

WOW - what a great post and I am so impressed that you got to talk to Terri Shumsky. Thank you for taking the time to post to this thread. You were able to put facts and figures together in a way that made very simple sense on why you should spay/neuter.