To Spay or not to spay....

[BLowry]

I can totally understand where you are coming from...I had both of my girls done at the same time back in January. Sadie was 4 yrs old and Lillie was 2 yrs old. I was a NERVOUS WRECK! to say the least. I have a very good vet that uses Sevoflourine. It's a very gentle anesthesia that is used on geriatric (human) patients. It is better to have them spayed...can reduce the chance of uterine and mammary cancer. I was more concerned about Sadie as she is the older of the two...she did better than Lillie...Sadie was rearing to go when we took them home...Lillie on the other hand took a little longer to "wake" up...But within 2 days I was running after them to stop them from jumping around...I'm not going to say I wasn't worried about them...it made me sick to my stomach. I am just so glad that I had it done and it's over with. Ask you vet TONS of questions...Have a blood panel done before her surgery. For me.....I didn't want to have them done when they were under 3 lbs....Sadie is 5 1/2 lbs and Lillie is 4 1/2 lbs.

Good luck in your decision.

[salazark]

My Sadie is also 7 months old and also 3.8 pounds. She is scheduled to be spayed next Wednesday 4/1/09. I'm scared to death about it. We are flying this weekend so I have an appointment with the vet this afternoon to get a health certificate. I'm going to ask a lot of questions. How can you know what the right thing to do is? I would just die if something happened and I could have waited. The vet, my breeder, and everyone says that now is the time - but I'm just not sure.

[DanielleAllen]

All this makes me nervous and I have not even brought Jeta home yet. I would talk to your vet. I trust me vet and love him so I would go and ask tons of questions. If it were me, I might wait until she is a little bigger.

[rosey442]

Salazark, I know what you mean. Most vets traditionally say 6 months. Rescue groups and other organizations push it as well. And in fairness to them, to reduce the population of unwanted dogs from both unscrupulous breeders and irresponsible pet owners. So, I can see it from their prospective as well. However, I don't think they really consider the risks of toy dogs being spayed at such young ages.
However, I am beginning to believe that Molly would fare much better if she were older rather than now at 7 months. I am starting to believe because of their small bodies to begin with, it is best to wait to give them a chance to both grow and to mature first. Even my daughter (I hear it from her too. Except that she also accepts and understands that it might be more advantageous for me to wait in having Molly spayed.) is doing her dog this month. But then again she's a 15 lb healthy 10 1/2 month old pug. So, I'm sure she'll fare just fine. The best of luck to you in your decision as well. Although at the same time I kind of dread dealing with her in her first heat. Perhaps, it won't be so bad.

[SweetViolet]

Originally Posted by Ellie May

Just realized I probably worded this way wrong.
Population control is not a good reason to spay/neuter in my opinion only means that one shouldn't spay/neuter to let their dogs run loose or so is makes it unnecessary to supervise. There are times like doggie daycare, etc. where the surgery would be important or the dog in heat should obviously stay home (but you may get surprises with a silent heat). For the larger dogs who spend a lot of time outside, it may also be necessary. I just mean in general I would not agree to the surgery because there are "millions of dogs that will be euthanized this year". If an owner is careful, unless there is a true accident, they aren't going to contribute to the population at all.

I have to agree with you in large part. I had a Collie who lived to be 12 (good long life for a Collie, according to my vet) who was never neutered. The only litters he sired were intentional. He never left my property without supervision. Unfortunately, too often people are not home to supervise their animals or they simply just do not know how to keep a bitch in heat safe from accidental breeding. Spaying is a worthwhile alternative to contributing to dog overpopulation, but if the owner is able to keep the animal confined, I see no reason to spay (my Peke had 15 unspayed pregnancy-, cancer-, and pyometra-free years).

I do not think that mammary and genital cancers are so common in dogs that it warrants invasive "preventative" surgery. Furthermore, I have only known of one case of pyometra in a bitch in my entire life, and I've known a lot of dogs and their people in my 62 years. I am of the opinion that when the pet overpopulation pitch didn't prove to be satisfactorily productive, the pro-spay lobby decided to ditch the "appeal to the responsible nature of the dog owner" approach and moved on to "scare them into cooperating." That is not to say that pyometra and mammary/genital cancers do not occur, but I think their incidence is sufficiently low that spaying for that reason alone is simply excessive and doesn't take other health factors into account...like the ability of toy dogs...especially tiny puppies...to survive these unnecessary surgeries.

I think that if people want to spay their dogs, that is fine. But I also think they should do it with full and accurate information, including surgery risks vs actual risk of the dog developing cancer/pyometra at a later date, and in no case should the surgery be done until a toy breed has reached her full physical development.