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To spay or not to spay???

4K views 26 replies 21 participants last post by  Love's_Sophie 
#1 ·
My vet recommended me to spay my dog when she was 7 months old.After her first heat.I was not sure if i wanted to spay her,so she had her second heat 2 months ago.

Now i don't really know what to do...!
Is it TRULY good to spay a dog?Will her character change? Those hormones aren't necessary for the body?
What would you do if it was your female dog?

I won't breed her,she is Greek canis familiaris(mixed breed!haha)!:D
there is no breed to improve and we have THOUSANDS of stray dogs.THEY deserve a home and not my ''hypothetical'' puppies:p

Any thoughts?...
Thanks in advance!
Nikos-Hiona
 
#2 ·
Hello,

I think it's better to spay for many reasons. One would be so that no accidents happen since male dogs are ready to do just about anything to mate with a female in heat. A second would be that there is much less risk of cancer for your dog in the long run.

I think she's old enough to be spayed without any ill effects to her health or her behaviour. My male dog was neutered at 7 months old and his behaviour has not changed at all, he's still muscular and active:)
 
#24 ·
If it was my female, it depends on the situation. I'd either spay at 2yrs old or leave her intact.

Sometimes spay females have aggression issues that are possibly linked to spay. Other then that I can't think about personality change. Most of mine are the same after really.



This is a hard post to follow.

What "horrible and very painful disease" would that be?

It is worse then the serious cancers spayed females are prone to?

So I or any other person with an intact female don't love them unless we spay them?
 
#8 ·
I prefer to spay females because of the risk of pyometra and mammary gland cancer. So, personally, I would spay her at this point.

If you don't let her run loose, and you ALWAYS supervise her properly when she's in heat, there's no NEED to spay her. But if you choose to leave her intact, educate yourself on the symptoms of pyometra, because it's fatal if untreated.
 
#9 ·
If you do not intend to breed than it would be in the best interest of you and your dog to spay. Besides being a pain when she is in heat (pads, intact males coming to visit you, etc.) you will not have to deal with this:

http://www.thepetcenter.com/sur/pyo.html
 
#11 ·
Everyone has its own opinion.:D
It's confusing.
I don;t let her run loose,i keep her in the house-yard the heat days,i keep her safe from males,i ve been reading for a long time aboun pyometra.

I will probably spay her cause i don't want her to stay in for 20 days,wanting to mate as crazy etc...BUT,I don't know if it is the right thing.

Thank u for your help!!!:)
 
#15 ·
yia sou, Nikos

I would go aheas and spay her now. She's gone through two heats and is physically mature at this point so it's not a case of do I let her mature first. Since you have no plans to breed, spaying will just make things easier all the way around for you.:)
 
#12 ·
If it were my dog, I would, as I did with Sadie.

I believe we have to make decisions for our dogs as they are in our care. Yes, spay and neuter is something pretty drastic. Some people think it has more benefits than risks, some the opposite. I think for most owners spaying is worth the risks.
 
#13 ·
Personally, I don't want to think about the possibility of having an oops litter. I don't want to be responsible for a litter I didn't plan. If I chose to not have my bitches spayed, I know I could watch them during their heat cycle as much as possible, but what if someone else couldn't? What if I go on vacation and one of my bitches starts her heat cycle while I'm away? Should I know when to expect her heat cycle? Yes, but at one point I had 3 bitches. I'm not going to be able to plan my life totally around their heat cycles. Boarding them at a kennel still worries me. I'm sure the people would take appropriate precautions but the What Ifs still linger in the back of my mind.

I know one person on the forums (sorry don't remember which) listed a whole bunch of possible risks from spaying. (I believe the list is one the thread about how we think dog overpopulation could be controlled... sorry don't feel like looking it up). Even after reading that list, I was still not convinced that spaying my bitches did more harm than good.

It's a personal choice.
As for character change, I doubt it.
Lady- nothing changed after being spayed
Shadow- She DID calm down a bit and was much much MUCH less aggressive to other bitches
Holly- nothing changed after she was spayed
 
#17 ·
When we were breeding Scottish Terriers, the one and only time I boarded a female in heat (we were moving) she had one little puppy two months later. It looked like one of their poodles had got to her. We found it a good home and as they were friends and we had moved several hundred miles away, I just let them know about it. It was the only time we ever had an "oops" litter and until I got Susie, I had never had a spayed female.
 
#19 ·
I took in an unspayed rescue dog five months ago. My vet did not think she could stand the surgery and wanted to watch her and treat her with antibiotics at the first sign of any "suspicious" discharge. This went on for a couple of months until she got so bad that the university had to do an emergency spay for closed pyometra. My local vet was checking her every week with sonograms, bloodtests, etc. I wasted a lot of money and nearly cost her life by not having it done immediately. I don't know anything about unspayed female dogs --I hated living in fear of every little discharge and worrying about leaving her outside in fenced area. Dog breedersd know the signs and know what to do--I did not. The dog is around 15 and got along great.
 
#20 ·
I say spay - my Lady was spayed at 12 years of age. She had pyometra and I had no other choice but to do emergency surgery to save her life. The reason why i didn't spay her before is simply to save myself some $$$. I knew that the chances of her getting pregnant was slim to none so i didn't feel as though i needed to spay her. Boy did i learn my lesson - good luck with your decision.
 
#25 ·
Spay unless she is a giant breed (I don't know how big she is, sorry).

For me, all females will be spayed after first heat unless they are a dog that will be 100+ pounds fully grown. All males will wait until they are fully grown (2 years for medium dogs, 3 for large and possibly more for giant).
 
#26 ·
I think it's awesome that you have decided to spay her. There are increased risks if you don't spay, such as the possiblity of pyometre and increased risk of breast cancer. I work for a veterinarian and have seen dogs with both of those conditions. Trust me, it's not something you want your dog to go through. Also, if you spay your dog, she won't have to go through heat cycles which can be messy and inconvenient.
 
#27 ·
I would definitely spay.

The main reason being that she is a mixed breed; another being that accidents happen...she could get out at the wrong time, and then you have puppies to rehome.

The next being that she will be much healthier, and happier without all those raging hormones. Pyometria is very common in older females, as well, and often a dog can go a long time without you even knowing that fluid is building up in the uterus...

You will not 'lose' your dog by spaying her, and often, you might get a calmer, and more attentive dog.
 
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