[BobbiB]

Originally Posted by lisaly

Urinary incontinence is very rare except for when it is done very early, as some breeders were having their pups spayed before going to their new homes. It's unfortunate that they felt the need to do so to protect their lines. Some people, even though they had limited registration, choose to breed, even when they are contractually not to do so. That's very sad.

There is a risk of weight gain when you remove hormones. Even an excellent vet nutritionist, Dr. Rebecca Remillard, states: If your pet is not neutered, you may still use our recipes but may need to feed 10-20% more per day to maintain proper body weight. This tells me that most likely metabolism will slow a small amount, and as a pet parent, we need to reduce the amount we feed our pups after we spay or neuter them. The loss of hormones doesn't make me that happy, but I weigh it against all the other risks. PetDiets - Homemade Diets for Healthy Pets

1. Pyrometra is a major threat to unspayed females. It is very deadly when not caught early. That's not a risk I'm willing to take, even though my husband daily goes over Katie's body looking very closely for any changes. I'm sure he would find anything, but what happens when he's sick and I'm trying to make sure both he and Katie are doing well?
2. Since I believe in waiting to spay after the first heat and after their growth plates have closed, I was not able to take my babies out for their long walks for a month while they were in heat, and they loved those walks. I even worried about playing out back with them, for fear that a dog could somehow jump our high privacy fence. It was worth it to keep them healthy and to help them develop orthopedically, but I wouldn't want to have to keep them from doing what they loved to do for two months of the year, every year.

The newer medications Isofluorine and Sevoflourine are much safer than older medications. If you have presurgical blood work to make sure a pup can process anesthesia and if you wait until after the first heat and growth plates are closed, you should be fine, even with a tiny baby, depending on the results. Usually there are baby teeth that need to be pulled out.

I wish you much health, love, and happiness with your babies.

I can vouch first hand that pyometra is absolutely terrifying. I had an American Pit when I was younger that was great. I thought, and by normal check ups, she was In great health. I never bred her, never planned to, and just kept super close tabs to make sure accidents never happened. I didn't know...had no idea, that not spaying could be dangerous at the time.

My perfectly healthy 50lbs dog went from normal to nearly dead In less than five hours. Turned out she had pyometra and was in need of an emergency spay with a fifty/fifty chance to live. After her surgery, she weighed 41 lbs (9lbs of uterus and pus!) and her recovery was a six month ordeal. She was never the same. I hate myself for being so uneducated, but I guess we live and learn. It has made me much more educated on the importance of spaying and neutering. There are definitely advantages in most cases, IMO.