What age did you spay your female?
 

Lily is my first puppy. So I am wondering at what age did you get your female spayed? Rosie is 7 years old and I seem to think she was 7 or 8 months old. But I just can't remember. My Mikki was over a year old. What do you think?

I feel it's very important to do it before there first heat. Callie was 8 or 9 months. If I had another puppy I would probably do it at 7 or 8 months.

Pfeiffer got spayed around 10 mths or so. She did not have a heat before being spayed.

Curri was not spayed until she was a year old. She did NOT have a heat before then. Her vet advised me to wait until a year.

We had very minimal risks of accidental mating with no male dogs in the home and she had been deathly ill at 5 months old-before she was placed with me. There are also arguments that say its better to wait until the growth plates close. I've not done much research on that subject.

Lily is 6 months old now, so I would say its up to what you are comfortable with and what your vet advises you to do. You added the Wellness plan to cover the Spay so try to do it within your insurance calendar year as not to waste that coverage this year.

Don't worry I will! The added wellness is great. We have already used most of Mikkis with shots and dental! Lilys will be the spay and Rosie needs a dental too. Plus they reimburse for her food. So it all adds up quickly. Glad I did it though. Especially after the expense of a dental and extractions.

A year and 3 months old

I believe Haley was around 3 years old when I had her spayed. If I had known then what I do now and had it to do over again, she would've been spayed before her first heat. She developed a uterine infection and several mammary tumors that had to be removed. Luckily it turned out okay, she's almost 13 1/2 now but any female puppy I have from here on out will be spayed before their first heat...lesson learned.

We spayed at about 7 months, before the first heat. The vet told us that the odds for breast cancer are higher for those that go through the first heat.

Thanks everyone! I'm thinking maybe about Christmas break. Then I can be home with her.

ZoE was spayed at 6 1/2 months old, on the Thursday before the July 4th weekend. That way I knew I would be home for the following few days.

As It was prior to a holiday weekend, her vet gave me the option to purchase additional pain meds, as his office would be closed Fri-Sun (although he was still available for emergency via his personal cellphone). I was glad I purchased the additional pain meds.

Pip was spayed the week before last. She's 11 mths old, she'd had one season and we waited for 3 mths as we'd read it was best too, after a season.

She was sore for 2 days, then was totally back to normal.

Wishing all goes well over your Christmas break.

Billi was about 8.5 months at the time of her spay IIRC... It was important to me to do it before her first heat, tho I know some don't care about that. But I also wanted to wait until her growth plates closed, or were near and I wanted to see if any more baby teeth came out. Only 2 did, so they took 9 when they had her under.

Not a single complication and she took it like a lil champ.

Spaying if teeth need pulled is a good combo, Ginger was 5 1/2 months, needed upper canines pulled. That way you save money and risk, only on knock out for two procedures.

How old are they when growth plates close?

There is no real research in small dogs and many articles I have read say they still will close even after being spayed.

If your pup is very tiny you might want to wait until she is at a decent size before spaying. Gracie was on the small side when she was a pup and we waited until she was 4lbs before spaying. She was a bit over a year then.

It is not absolutely necessary to spay before the first heat cycle though it would be easier for you if you did. Making sure she is strong enough and healthy enough first is more important though.

I had always had my other females spayed at around 6 months before the first heat until Gracie. She was just too tiny and I was just too concerned to have it done when she looked more like a mouse than a puppy.

I am a firm believer that you should wait until they are 1 yr or older and they are finished growing before spaying, this is IF you KNOW for a fact you can keep them from male dogs.

She is about 3 lb. To me, she is tiny! :D


No males around here. We don't have that issue to worry about. She don't even go to potty outside.

I was told around 9 months is the average. There's nothing really wrong with doing it after, I've just heard there were benefits of waiting a lil longer. We were close anyway!

There chance of mammary cancer increases after there first heat.....

There's that too... It's tricky having a "tiny," trying to navigate the timing of their spay, taking their weight and heats and teeth and everything into account. I believe OP said she has a little one... In that case, it is good to wait until they have some weight and strength to them, but they reach a good healthy size after 7-8 months usually.

Just my opinion tho. Gotta throw that out there ;)

Certain cancer risks are reduced by spaying before heat, something to consider and also if baby teeth need to be pulled because they are interfering with adult teeth. The teeth to mainly watch are the upper and lower canines, if lower babies are not pushed out/dissolved, it could cause permanent teeth to not grow in properly, this can cause serious problems. Upper is not as serious but could still cause problems. Talk to your Vet, spaying has come a long way from the dark ages.


Ginger had hers the 3rd of this month, first time I've seen the internal sutures method done, just a smooth line, like a raised pencil lead , slightly red for two days. No bandages or collar. You could hardly find the line a week later. But remember the abdominal cut will take longer to heal the external cut. The swelling on that just went away a few days ago, so even though the pup acts like all is great two days after surgery, try to keep strenuous play down somewhat till you can feel the internal cut is almost smooth

Normally all is fine if they weigh 3 pounds or over I think the issues is the ones smaller then that.

She weighs about 3 lb. The vet expects her to be around 4 lb or so (give or take) for her adult weight.

Such a tiny little one. There have been many people on the board who have had there 3 pounders spayed, I think even a few had 2.5 pounders spayed. Make sure you get the pre surgery blood work. Sometimes it is cheaper to get that done a few days or a week in advance you may want to ask your vet.

I waited until Khloe was 8 months old because she was so little.

Yes, I think this is a good point, and I'd ask my vet about it. Most Yorkies have to get at least a couple of baby teeth pulled, might as well do it at the same time.

I have a Chihuahua that is tiny and waited until she had her first heat which was 11 months and she was just 2 lbs. We opt for the gas anesthesia as it is much safer and my vet is really good with small animals surgeries so I trust him. She even had a false pregnancy at that tiny size and I hated to see her go through that but a lot of the research I am seeing now talks about how it messes their little systems up spaying too early. Throwing their hormones off kilter, becoming afraid of thunder storms, etc...I know in Giant breeds like Danes which I am familiar with grow off kilter if spayed/neutered too early. It is really hard to know what is best for them. I have been on a lot of holistic groups lately that do not believe in spay/neutering at all and that spay/neutering them is actually what is causing the cancers. I am not sure what the answer is. There are dangers with both early and later spay/neuters so you really just have to research and find what is best for you and yours.

To early with small breeds normally means before 5 or 6 months. Spaying early does not cause them to be afraid of thunderstorms. The thing is with females it is so much more risky to not spay they can get pyometra and that can kill the dog VERY fast. Lately I have been hearing a lot of cases where even if they get the dog to the vet and did the emergency spay for the Pyometra the dog still ended up dying a few months later. This just happened with my Aunts dog. There is so much false info out there anymore it just makes me sick because so many people will believe it. The issues with males besides cancer is they will run away and have been known to get even very injured or even killed by trying to get to a female they smell in heat. There is also the risk that since Yorkies are one of the top stolen dogs it makes your dog worth more money and a high risk of being stolen if they are not fixed and then they could be sold to a puppy mill or byb with a life time of breeding. I can tell you Callie who has been spayed before her first heat has a flat chest with what looks like little flat black spots because the mammary tissues did not develop and its very hard to get cancer in something that's not there or there is very little of it. My Aunts dog who waited until after her heat actually has nipples that stick out and actual tissue there so she has a higher ricks of developing cancer. A lot of the opsies I have heard here are well I wasn't ready to spay my dog and I had to leave them with a friend because of an emergency, I left my female outside and some lose dog got in the fence, my dog got lose and ran away and I finally got her back and shes pregnant, or the male got passed me and I couldn't get to them in time, male dog chewed through the door and so on. An emergency spay is often times not the safest way to go but neither is letting them have the puppies so your stuck in a hard place. It is very different for big dogs.

Mine was at 2 pounds at the time, so I had some decision making to do...