for those of you with babies under 4lbs
 

how much did your baby weigh when they got spayed/neutered... and how old were they?? did you have complications?

my baby just turned 6 months on saturday, so it is around the time that she should get spayed, but she is only 2 pounds 12 ounces & I am worried about her size. I want to give her time to grow but i also want to get her spayed before her first heat. I am unsure about what to do (wait a bit for her to grow or get her spayed asap) & I know if i ask the vet they will just say to do it now & everything will be fine...but they always say that. :confused:

I appreciate any help and/or stories you can give to help me with this

Ralphie is 5.5 pounds but I grew up with a little bitty Yorkie (she lives with my mom now) and she was 2 pounds. Her spay went perfect and there were no complications whatsoever. She also went under to have her teeth cleaned and that went fine.

Max was neutered at 5 1/2 months and he was around 2 1/2 pounds and he did great!

Roxie was scheduled to be spayed last week but came into heat. She is 8 months and 4 lbs. You could probably wait a little longer but each day you run the risk of her going into heat. My Pixie was spayed by the breeder but she was 11 months but only 3 1/2 lbs. I would make sure they do the preanesthesia bloodwork and use the iso... or sevo... anesthesia and she should do fine. I had Pixie put under for dental last week and I was a wreck but she did fine.

I say wait till she fills out a little more. London just got spayed and she is 2.8 lbs, almost 2 yrs old! I can't even believe it but she did really well. The most important thing is trust your vet and ask tons of questions, and do research on the anesthesia, etc. :)

Our little Heidi got spayed at 1 year old. She weighed just under 3 pounds at the time. We waited to give her a chance to expel her baby teeth before being spayed. That way, she only had to go under anesthesia once. To me, it's safer (and cheaper) to wait and have both procedures done at one time. There were no complications but I would advise making sure you vet uses Isoflurene for the anesthetic (a re-circulating gas). She's now 2 1/2 years old and weighs just over 4 pounds. She got a little chunky after her spay so now she's my 'little fattums'. :aimeeyork :animal-pa :animal-pa :animal-pa :animal-pa :)

:yeahthat: Chipper was 5 1/2 mo. and weighed 2.5 lbs. Came through with flying colors.

neuter
 

My Quinn was 2lbs 8 oz when he was neutered. He was 9 months old, the only reason we waited as long as we did was because he also was diagnosed with MVD and wanted to make sure he was on a proper diet with supplements before his neutering. He was closley monitored and did fine. I did notice he was more groggy then others but that was most likley due to him having MVD and not his size.

Kerri

did her temperment change at all after she went into heat? and did you have any unneutered males in the home at the time?

yeah i fear each day she will go into heat! its kind of unrealistic worrying though. what happens when they are scheduled to be spayed and they go into heat? do you have to wait till they are done? also, do you sense any personality changes with her since going into heat?

thank you for the suggestion about the anesthesia as I really do not know much about it

hum it seems like the males do better at the lower weights, maybe because it is less invasive?

Kimchee was neutured when he was 5 months old, he was 4 pounds at that time. There was no complication for him. The vet called me and told me that Kimchee did very well and asked me to take him home. I think the real reason the vet wanted me to take Kimchee home ASAP was that he was biting all other dogs' tail after wakening from the neuturing.

Mochi was spayed when she was 7 months old; she was about 2.5 pounds. The operation went well but it took her longer time to recover - a few weeks. Her surture was a bit too tight and her skin got irritated. More supervision was needed than Kimchee. She is now 10 months old and she weighs 3 pounds 1 oz.

Zoey was just spayed two weeks ago and she weighed in at 2 lbs 13 ozs. She did great...no problems. Here sister Lulu was spayed at 7 months at around the same weight as well with no problems.

The smaller ones seems to retain teeth longer. I just had Zoey spayed and she was almost 9 months. The vet wanted to wait some because he wanted more of her adult teeth to come in so he could see if she would need any pulled which she did. He also wanted her to get a good bit of her growth done because he said once the spay is done their growth is somewhat stunted because of their hormone change.

Good luck.

I wish I could tell if pebbles has her adult teeth in yet... last week two of her big back mollars came out when i was giving her some petz life oral care gel..

We had Kirby's remaining teeth removed as well during the procedure. We also had him microchipped. He was 6 months and was 2lbs 12oz. He is now 13 mos and is 3lbs 3 oz. We are hoping he gets up to 4 pounds for healths sake, but whatever is natural to him of course will be. His parents were 7 lbs and 4 lbs.:aimeeyork

Important!!
 

I agree, ask lots of questions, ask to see the surgery suite, ask what kind of gas they use. I can tell you from A LOT of experience that Isoflurane is a very safe gas but ask about the monitoring procedures while she is under. Ask if they use a bair hugger (warming blanket) during surgery, ask about post op. monitoring - all of these things can mean life or death in a very small animal. When Rambeau went to get fixed he also had many teeth pulled which kept him off the heat and under longer. The receptionist kept him in a blanket on her lap until I got there. I don't think they would have done this if I had not asked so many questions and was not as knowledgeable.

Keeping the body temperature up is very important for recovery. I can tell you from working with a lot of vets and ex-vet techs. - spaying and neutering is a very swift surgery, but that also means your little one could be swept under the rug. Make sure they have a dedicated peri- and post- op monitoring procedure. I would ask to see their SOP (standard operating procedure). The more knowledge you have the less they can pull over your eyes.

I was the same way with my precious Lupie. I waited until she was six to get her spayed because I was so worried. Even at that age she did fine, but I did threaten them with great pain if there was a problem :D

Good luck I'm sure your LITTLE one should be fine!

Melissa and Rambeau (my pride still hurts though . . .)

I agree about asking the questions and really feeling comfortable with your vet....never feeling silly to talk about anything. My vet knows I am new to things and did not wait for me to ask all these questions....he knew it was important to know, Not jsut assume I didnt need to know or that it didnt matter to me or what have you. He has two small dogs too. HE and the techs are so helpful.

Teddi got fixed when she was 6 months old and she was about 2lbs 6oz. Then when she was about 10 months she had like 6 teeth taken out and a dew claw removed (we don't know how it grew back or maybe it was never removed) and she was about 2lbs. 10oz then. When she was 1 year she had her liver shunt surgery and she was about 3lbs which is what she is now, I think. We have to go get a health certificate to fly to the meet up in KS so I'm excited to see how much she weighs.

wow this is a lot of information!! i didnt know there was so much to know! can you recommend a site that I can read through to get a better handle on all of it?

from reading this i can tell she is a strong little one! ;)

Hot Rod was 6 1/2 mos old when he was neutered. He was about 2 lbs 13 oz, I think. He also had 14 teeth removed. He did fine. He was alert when I brought him home and he was jumping off the couch 2 days later.:eek:

I'm going through the same thing as you are - my little girl Bella is 2 pounds 7 ounces and the vet scheduled her for a spay in two weeks when she'll be 5 1/2 months. Needless to say I'm am a wreck, but the vet assures me that everything will be fine. She says that she has spayed/neutered animals even smaller than my Bella. If I'm this upset now, I can only imagine what I'll be like that the day of the surgery!!

I just want to say that a member posted about misguided information on spay and neuter and health with animals.I am sorry I could not give more info but do a search and decide for yourself if spaying right now is a good idea.it talks about long term health problems from early spay.
maybe someone here will post the link(worth reading)

So far not at all..she was out of it the 1st night but then the next day she was her feisty little self, still humps her stuffed animals, still barks to be held and fights with Teddy and Sophie for fun, she's the same. Teddy is not neutered and the first night he was smelling her a lot but the next day he was back to normal.

I agree. My vet used a warming blanket i believe, they did the pre op, monitored the heart and all that during the surgery and used isoflurane, she explained the whole procedure to me so i felt safer and she did great.

Kinda have the same problem ... mine is 15 months old and weighs 2.8 lbs. she has a Dental Problem and needs surgery ....

At the time my Vet did not recommend for her to get spayed ... she weighed only 2.1 lbs back then ... she had her second heat now and believe it or not I do not see blood anywhere - she is very clean - ... the only way I know is when she acts like a "&%$#@" ... he he he

This site is quite graphic and out of date but it could give you a better understanding of what will be going on.
VM 557 - Junior Veterinary Surgery Streaming Videos

Canine Spay FAQ - VeterinaryPartner.com - a VIN company!

Again graphic but good step by step.
Canine Spay

As I said it is the most common type of veterinary surgery, just make sure they know you mean business!!

Melissa and Rambeau (YUCK mommy!)

I think this is the link for info on early spay/neuter. http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongT...uterInDogs.pdf

thanks everyone for the links!! i have a lot of reading to do!! :)