Best age to spay

[Lori Rietze]

Hello! I was just curious at what age is best to spay my puppy. The vet gave me the standard answer of between 6-8 months. I was just curious if it is better to do it closer to the 6 month mark or if it is better to wait until they are closer to 8 months so they grow a little more? Or does it really matter? The vet didn't say to much on this, so I'm just curious what your opinions are on this. Jessie is my first puppy, all of my other dogs I have had in my life were already adults and fixed prior to me adopting them.

Thank you!

[Tait & Finn]

I've read some articles that say large breed dogs (don't know if yours is but mine is) should be altered later, like 18 months due to the higher risk of cancers particularly bone cancer. I don't know if that info is true or not but its something to think about.

[Marcia & MoneyPenny]

We just had Penny spayed & she is 6 months. This is a minor procedure, only removing the ovaries which is only about a 1" incision. She also had her stomach attached to the abdominal wall to reduce chances of bloat, common to standard poodles. Our vet weighted the pros & cons of doing the procedure at different ages & we all decided 6 months was best. We will be boarding her & un spayed females require different accommodations. Nice to have it done & no male dogs waiting for her to go into heat.

[Lori Rietze]

Marcia -

I've never heard of them having their stomach's attached - I've never had dogs that bloat was common in. Honestly, I had never really read much about bloat until just recently.  I want to talk to my vet about this. How did Penny recover after that procedure? It sounds painful...

[Marcia & MoneyPenny]

Again. It was a 1" incision. She was back to her old self within 36 hours. Vet just didn't want any long walks or jumping for a few days. Our vet suggested this because of the standard poodle. They can die from bloat so this will reduce the chance. You never know which are the poodle genes.

[Robin & Josie]

Jessie is so adorable :) Our Doodle was spayed early - before we got her. However, my previous dog, a Wheaten Terrier who grew to be about 28 lbs., was scheduled to be spayed at 6 mos (which is what my vet prefers). Unfortunately, she went into heat the day before she was scheduled for the procedure and then we had to wait a month until that was done. In the meantime, I had to buy infant disposable diapers and put a hole in them for her tail (I'm sure they make doggie diapers for this purpose now), and when we took her outside, we had to be very careful to keep her away from male dogs. The vet warned us that male dogs will jump through concrete walls to get to a female in heat.

Bottom line - I'd go sooner rather than later....

[Linda And Loo]

I have had my dogs spayed at 6months. I did not want them to go into heat and have to deal with that mess and I definitely did not want an unplanned litter of puppies! I would not wait!

[BettyAnn, Holmes & Lucy]

Our vet suggested 4-6 mos. We did it at 5. Thankfully no problems! I chose to do it sooner rather than later because my puppy had started humping his things and once a guest-- very embarrassing. Never heard of a relationship to cancer.

[Lori Rietze]

Thanks everyone for your replies.  I really appreciate them! :) I am going to go ahead and do it near the 6 month mark. I didn't realize they could go into heat that early, definitely don't want that mess or excited male dogs running through fences :)