What age to Spay?

[Linda Flanders]

Can someone jog my memory...Sadie will be 4 months Sun but, my vet has to have very involved back surgery and I think she may be un-available for 2-4 months. 6 months seems to stick out in my mind but, I didn't know if it could be done earlier.I'll see the vet on Mon and ask but, just wanted input from folks here. We have dealt with her for 15 years and I really don't want a fill-in vet to do the surgery and Sadie also has an umbilical hernia that will be taken care of at the same time. Thoughts?
Advice? Any appreciated.

[Denise, Winnie, and AngelAbby]

My vet says 6 months too - that's when we are suppose to bring our Abby in. But I don't think it's cut in stone anywhere. I think 6 months is just so they have matured but not come in heat yet at that time. I wouldn't worry too much - they say the bigger the dog - the older they are when they come in heat. I wouldn't think you would have any problems waiting til 8 months...

[Steve Drury]

My wife is a teacher. So we wanted to have our girl fixed over the holidays in order to keep a close eye on her. She was about 5 1/2 months. She was 28 lbs at the time. Seeing as so many of the breeders insist on the surgery before they deliver the 8 week old puppies, I would think at 4 months you're going to be fine.

[Nina]

My puppy Sadie is going to be spayed tomorrow. She is 6 1/2 months. The agreement that I signed with the breeder was that I would get her spayed at 6 months.

[5a54ofb5qk1d]

Nina, how is Sadie doing?

[Nina]

Hi Jill, thanks for asking. She stayed overnight and is now home. Very groggy and confused with the cone. She finally figured out that she can stretch out and sleep, but everytime I move, she wakes up and follows me. Hopefully, by tomorrow she will be more alert...

[5a54ofb5qk1d]

Poor Baby. You should probably just enjoy her grogginess, though. It's gets so worrisome to have them feeling a little too perky for their allowed activities! I'm glad that she came through it all okay.

[Karie]

I had my Emmy done at 5 1/2 months. My vet kept pushing me, to do it younger. I read though, 6 months is the age. So I decided on the 5 1/2 mark. Good Luck!

[5a54ofb5qk1d]

Wrigley was spayed at 5 1/2 months. Vet suggested 6 months, and we asked if 5 1/2 months would be okay so she'd be fully recovered before Thanksgiving. He said no problem.

[Joni]

We just brought our new doodle baby home yesterday (3 months old) and had our well baby check up with our vet today. We have used this vet for over 10 years and she informed me today that they have recently changed their policy from 6 months to 9 months or a year for larger breeds or breeds with tendencies towards joint or hip issues. Apparently there are recent published studies that indicate that the growth plates in the knees can be somehow compromised by the earlier spaying and contribute to issues with the knees and hips later in life. She told me today that she was quite surprised to learn this at a recent seminar but she felt the information compelling enough to change their policy. I was very surprised by this change after having so many of my dogs fixed in the first 3 to 6 months!

Joni

[Debra Ference-Luongo]

Our vet also recommended we wait to neuter our pup Edgar until he is between 9 and 12 months based on new studies showing stronger bone development. Our contract with the breeder, of course, is for the standard 6 months. The vet has written a letter to the breeder and we hope we can wait to neuter Edgar at 10 months without affecting the contract.

[Adina P]

that's very interesting! Next time you visit your vet, if he would be willing to share the reference given up that seminar, I would love to read more about it.

[Nina]

Hi Everyone,

Sadie was spayed last Thursday. She stayed over night and was fine on Friday until about 8pm. She was sent home with Rimadyl for pain. I had been giving it to her as directed. On Friday night, she was wailing and running around. She couldn't stop herself. After a few hours of wondering what to do, I took her to the 24 hour emergency vet hospital near me in San Francisco. The desk clerk told me she was acting like dogs he had seen who had injested marijuna (NOT my dog). The vet who saw her said that some dogs have a very low tolerance to pain and that Rimadyl is the equivalent of aspirin. She also commented that lots of vets think pain is okay because it slows the dogs down so that they can recover. She gave Sadie a shot of Burprenex (like Morphine). It took about 1.5 hours before Sadie calmed down. She also gave me real pain meds (Tramadol) to give to her every 8 hours. She told me to call my vet the next day and ask for sedatives as well. I did and my vet gave me a sedative called Ace. There seem to be two schools about pain in the vet world. If you are having your dog spayed (don't know about neutering), you should ask for Tramadol so you have it on hand if your dog has a low tolerance to pain. I looked on the web and the behaviors that are listed for acute pain in dogs matched exactly what Sadie was doing. I suggested to my vet that they list those symptoms on their aftercare sheet so if any dogs start having those symptoms, the owners know what to do.