To spay or not to spay

[H_Hounds]

Skye had to be spayed straight after giving birth due to complications and dead puppies inside her causing her womb to become infected. She has calmed down a lot since and is very content but that could also be due to other things like getting a bit older and that.

 

Alice is two and I don't plan to have her spayed for a couple more years because she has a lovely coat and is very healthy the way she is and spaying can make the coat go dull and fluffy. I will have her done eventually so she is is less at risk of cancer etc but not till she's about 4 or 5.

 

As gross as it is, all of my bitches are very clean when in season and Skye even cleans the laminate if some blood drips on it they get a bit needy for a couple of weeks but that's all. I've personally never had a problem of other dogs coming up to them but we do live out of the way and always walk late in the evening cos of hubby's shifts.

 

Go with your gut instinct, like Medusa says if it's for health reasons. but breeding is very hard work and heart wrenching to say the least and I wouldn't recommend if you haven't had all of the necessary health tests and prep and research first.

[Bikertec]

After the last 5 days we have just gone through with our girl getting that upset and nearly losing her I will defiantly getting her done.

[alirosdan]

Go for it. All my female dogs have been spayed, the first two after their first season at the vet's recommendation at that time, and the third, more recently before her first season. I had my male GSD neutered at 6 months. I agree with Medusa's point that there are so many unwanted dogs around and it wouldn't be fair to risk more.

 

None of my dogs had anyy complications from their surgery, and i would guess this is the case for the vast majority of dogs.

[Moonbird]

Up to now I have had 6 bitches spayed and no complications other than occasional problems with stitches, but that is to be expected every now and then, never anything serious at all.

 

While growing up we had 2 bitches un-spayed, both had lumps, one died from them, the other just died from old age.

I also rescued a lovely elderly little dog, she was too old to spay and already had a big lump, this progressed to cancer and killed her also.

 

Aside from breast cancers there is also a very real risk of phantom pregnancies and pyometra after seasons, one can make a dog very miserable and the other can be very serious and kill fairly quickly if treatment is not sought immediately.

[heresjohnny]

I'm for not spaying, my two gsd's lasted 17 and 15 years respectively with no ill effects, my current pooch is 4 and unspayed.

If there's an un-neutered dog around and you're not looking to breed then yes for obvious reasons, but i'm in the no camp generally.

[vwkittie]

Our dog has had one season which was awful - she was off her food, very upset and the mess was horrible. Also we ended up with this huge pit bull looking male dog forcing its way on to our property every day. Nearly had to call the pound and have it taken away as got so sick of it and clearly the owners didn't give a hoot what it was doing

 

Her spay wasn't easy and recovery was difficult but I'm glad its done and would definitely never have an unspayed dog, I don't see the point as I'd never breed. I am however glad she had the one season as it definitely changed her physically so I think it was beneficial to allow her lady bits to become fully developed.

 

Oh and her coat is anything but dull and fluffy, she's lovely and shiny! Her spay hasn't affected her negatively at all she's exactly the same dog but no risk of unwanted puppies and much less risk of pyo, mammary cancer etc

[claire1976]

Spay, no question about it. My parents had a border terrier when I was younger, she had a litter of pups and then was never spayed. At 15 she had a womb infection which burst and poisoned her body, after a major operation she survived but it was horrible to watch and she very nearly died.

My ridgeback x bullmastiff has just been done, she's had a few complications with the wound healing etc but I don't regret for a minute getting her done. I would not want the responsibility of a litter of pups, even pedigree's are struggling to find homes so I think leave the breeding to the professionals who have the capacity to keep them if needs be.

[Bubble3082]

Can bitches still get breast cancer if speyed?

[berlingo]

Can bitches still get breast cancer if speyed?

 

Yes but the chance is less if they have never had a season as the hormones have not been present. The more seasons they have the more the risk of a pyo or false pregnancies.

To the original poster, you can get larger breed bitches spayed with keyhole surgery and this lessens the pain, scarring and complications associated with the op

[claire1976]

I have a larger breed and keyhole wasn't possible. Her ovaries were right round near the spine and the vet said it was very tricky to get them out. She has quite a large incision and it has been hard to heal due to internal swelling putting pressure on the wound. However, I don't regret getting her done, the long term benefits outweigh the short term risk.