Macie is too small to be spayed.
 

Macie is now right at 7 months and Ive been prepared to get her spayed before her heat comes. Well she ended up being smaller than I thought.

She weighs 2.5lbs. Give or take a little when she eats alot. My vet wont spay her and I completely agree with him.

My concern is getting her teeth extracted. She has some double teeth that need to be removed.

Can the anesthesia be harmful for her since shes so small? Im not sure what to do about her teeth because I dont think she can just have double teeth. :confused:

Also, does anyone have any pointers on getting her to gain weight? Shes healthy, she just needs to grow. :p

If you do want her spayed, I think another vet would be willing to do so. There isn't any reason a qualified vet wouldn't spay a female this small, vets spay puppies and kittens (I don't always agree with this, but understand with shelters and such it's necessary), so an adult tiny dog would be no different in terms of any risk. Maybe you could wait a few more months to see if she will grow a little more. I know many yorkies do continue to grow up til about 12 months. My Ruby was either right at or just under 3lbs when she was spayed, with no complications. She had her retained puppy teeth removed at the same time.

It's possible she will still lose her retained puppy teeth over the next month or so. If not though, those retained teeth will have to come out.

As far as gaining weight, if/when she is spayed she will likely gain a little.

Do you leave food down for at all times?

Yes. Shes free fed dry kibble and in the morning, she gets wet food mixed in.

I agree. Also, was any bloodwork done on her, just to rule out anything medical preventing normal growth?

No blood work has ever been done. To spay her or get any teeth extracted, he will do blood work first though.

You need to find a new vet. If you vet does not feel he's qualified spay her there are plenty of others that are qualified. You as well as I both live in Chicago and there are many facilities in our area that have the vets that can do a simple spay regardless of her weight.

My vet spays and neuters hamsters, guinea pigs and ferrets. I think if he can do them, a small dog is no problem.

If your vet is uncomfortable with spaying her, I would not hesitate to seek out a vet more experienced with spaying smaller animals.

And it wouldn't hurt to wait a bit longer... give her as much time to grow as possible, as long as you can keep her safe. I know many people who wait till a tiny is over a year old, to allow maximum liver growth, as the liver is responsible for ridding the anesthesia from the body. The bigger the liver, the quicker the recovery. You could request a Bile Acid Test to test her liver function.

The highlighter portion of KJCs post I agree with 100%! As for the liver I am not sure about this statement but if you would like I will speak to an anesthesiologist the next time I am at work to clear up this statement. :)

I took my 17 week 2 lb. 4 oz. Yorkie girl for her last puppy shot two days ago and the Vet. said I should have her spayed. I told her I wanted to wait till Jilli Ann is 6 months and has more weight on her but she didn't think that spaying her now would be a problem. I may change Vets. ;)

My friend has been a veterinarian for 20+ years. I consult her on every pet medical issue that I have, even the horses and she is not an equine vet. Jersey and I will be traveling back to NJ (where I lived my entire life except the last 2 1/2 years) next month to visit and my friend will neuter him. I know it is not as invasive as a spay but at this point he still has a retained testicle, so if it does not drop it will be a little more like a spay. (I so hope it drops!) He is 4 pounds.

I get nervous any time one of my pets has to have anestesia. She said of course there is always a risk, but the anestesia part is the same technique to administer no matter what the weight is, so that is not the tough part. She said that the tiny females are harder to spay because what they need to tie off or cut out or whatever they do (don't remember exactly what she said) is tiny and paper thin. (I remember that part, LOL)

So the jist of it is (from what I got out of the conversation) that it is harder to do when they are tiny. Your vet is probably hoping that she gets a little bigger so it will be easier for him/her to do. I would probably look for another vet that is not hesitant to work with tiny dogs. What would happen if there was some emergency with a tiny dog? I would be worried.

Cailee was 4-1/2 months old and was almost 3 lb when she was was spayed. I talked to the vet about it and same comments as others. There is always a risk but they operate on much smaller animals all the time with success. Cailee came through just fine.

As for your question about weight gain, I'd say it depends on your pups genes more than anything. Cailee is now 7 months old and has been 4 lbs for several months even though she eats like a little piglet. As long as she is eating, I don't think I can do much about her weight.