Best Time to Spay Your Doodle?

[Shari Becker]

Hello all, I am totally baffled by differing pieces of advice that I received about when to spay Lexi.

We have two vets. One who is far away and we consult with on more holistic issues, and one who is local and urban. Our first vet (holistic, country) is fierce that it is healthiest for a dog to cycle once before being spayed. When we visited our local vet, she was horrified that at 7 months, Lexi isn't spayed. She told me that I need to spay her immediately or else she'll have a higher chance of getting Mammary cancer. However, she doesn't do any surgical work.

I called back first vet who basically said she didn't want to spay Lexi - that ideas about spaying are changing, and it's best to wait.

My husband re-read his Monks of Skeet book, and apparently they recommend waiting until one cycle, too, so we decided to wait. We know the holistic vet is an excellent surgeon, and we would trust her to do the procedure...

HOWEVER, just this morning, my husband was at our small, neighborhood dog park and an un-neutered male Lhasa began chasing Lexi and tried to mount her three times. My husband had to ask the owner to keep her dog away from our puppy.

Still, it was stressful. We did a little more research online tonight. It's clear that there is a wide window for spaying ... until 15 months is considered legitimate. But what we didn't know is that Lexi would have to be kept in our city condo unit away from other dogs for three weeks, with dog pads, and then we'd have to wait until all the swelling goes down before she could be neutered. We don't have a yard. We rely on that dog park for all her fun, running, socializing.... We want to do what's best for the dog. But we are totally baffled, and we'd love any insight folks have....

Thanks!

[Shari Becker]

This is exactly what my holistic vet was saying. That dogs aren't finished with their growth until they have completed one heat cycle. It gets tricky though with these breeder health guarantees and the legal docs you sign. Also, it's tricky when you don't have a fenced in yard to protect your dog to keep her quarantined AND properly exercised. It's been subzero temps here, and Lexi is insane. It's too cold for us to walk her for more than 15 minutes at a time, and she's been waking up wanting to play at midnight all week. Could you imagine a month weeks of having to entertain your dog until midnight in a small, urban two-family with no yard? Stella, I'm please you are concurring with my lovely holistic vet - I know she's not kooky, but argh! (All this said, I believe at almost 7 months, 28 lbs that Lexi is almost done growing. She's just no spurting up anymore if that makes sense.)

[Stella]

I feel your pain. I walked my dogs (very quickly) in -36C yesterday morning!! I do agility so my boys are used to getting a lot of exercise, they are both antsy from not bein able to run around outside.

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

My two vets are not holistic vets, they are traditional vets. They are associated with Penn and the latest research.  Both told me it would be best that I wait until the growth plates had closed or as close as I could get to 12 months old. I guess they meant as long as I could stand it. Smaller dogs mature sooner, larger dogs take longer. Finn had already been neutered at 7 weeks so the advice came too late for him.  He's at higher risk for certain muscular-skeletal disorders and at a higher risk for bone cancer.  Seven months is better than 7 weeks though.  Just wanted to make the point that this isn't a viewpoint held only by holistic vets.  

[Shari Becker]

Cheryl, our holistic vet asked us to wait until 12 months, or the first heat, the conventional said 6 months for sure. I don't think there is a right answer. I just found this article that I think sums up this debate well: http://news.vin.com/VINNews.aspx?articleId=27205

 In the end, after reading everyone's input and this piece, there isn't a clear cut answer, but I think spaying at a very young age is probably not in a dog's best interest.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I agree with you.

I think it's also important to note that one study discussed in this article involved Golden Retrievers, and some other data discussed involved Rottweilers. Large breeds mature much later than small breeds. I do think that's another factor that needs to be taken into account. 

[Shari Becker]

Hi everyone, I just wanted to let you know that my husband just called from Lexi's pre-op vet visit. This is being done at a conservative clinic with holistic approaches. He brought all the literature we found online, including the UC Davis study on Golden Retrievers. The vet there said there is a new approach to spaying, but that it specifically applies to male dogs. She says, the research shows it is much better to wait until a male is 12-18 months old to spay, and that many, many people are making that choice. However, she says the science is very grey around females, and that a young dog having puppies presents as many possible health complications as spaying. In addition, she says the data on mammary cancer reduction is the only solid piece of science that has come to light. All the other female data falls under the "maybe" category. Just food for thought for those who may ask about this again....

[F, Calla & Luca]

Richard posted a blog about chemical neutering yesterday or so.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This is good info and makes a lot of sense to me. Thanks for posting it, Shari. 

[Leslie, Yogi & Maci Bear]

I was originally going to neuter yogi at 4 months, but advised to wait longer for the growth to be more complete and for his personality to develop, but not by his vet. The vet didn't feel like it made a difference. So I'm going to wait until 6 months, let him mature a little more.

[Jordan & Daisy]

Shari, I am curious what you decided to do re. spaying? They have Daisy scheduled to be spayed and she will be 32 weeks..I am torn as to whether I should wait a bit longer! :(

[Shari Becker]

So, we ended up waiting until she was 7 1/2 months. In my ideal world, I probably would have waited until she was 8 / 9 months, but there were a variety of factors at play. We have a few un-neutered males in our dog park, we signed a contract with our breeder saying she would be spayed by 7 months, and I am not set up to care for a dog in heat in case I missed that "window." My breeder said none of her dogs had gone into heat before 10 months, so we probably would have been safe, but it felt a little risky. I do, however, feel like she was done with most of her growing by the time we spayed her, and that was the key issue for me. Most of the research focuses on spaying male dogs too early, there's a lot less information on female dogs. 

And, one more thing: Once it's all done and over, you kind of forget about how much you agonized over the decision. ;-)

[Jordan & Daisy]

Okay that is helpful! I am feeling the same way about the timing..I want to wait a bit longer but I'm scared about heat, the breeder contract, etc so I am probably going to stick with our appointment