When Should I Get Her Spayed?

Lilea....that is the best decision you could make.
 
Toy size breeds simply require a lot of special handling from pregnancy, thru whelping and puppy raising. Complications do include the death of mother or babies or both and that is NOT a scare tactic it is real.
 
You are sparing your girl a potential hardship and much pain since even a normal whelp...is painful for her. Pet dogs tend to also make poor mothers as they want their people more than their puppies and you might be left to hand raise them...which is no picnic and very stressful, considering even an ounce of weight loss in a Toy size pup can lead to death.
 
Good decision...hands down. Well done!

ORIGINAL: Lilea

ORIGINAL: Misskiwi67

REALLY do your research before you decide to have a litter of puppies. Its very expensive and a lot of hard work to have puppies. Do you really want your puppies going to the kind of homes that aren't willing to pay for a puppy (dogs are inherently expensive, more than just the initial purchase price) or who aren't willing to wait for an appropriate dog to come through the shelter?

Are you willing to put your dog at increased risk for things like mammary cancer just to have a litter of puppies? Are you prepared to pay over 1000 dollars for surgery if something goes wrong?

The best time to spay a dog is before or shortly after their first heat. Before the first heat greatly reduces the chances of getting mammary cancer, which is very common in dogs. There are a couple of articles out that say spaying after the first heat is best for overall long-term preventative health...

I have decided to go ahead and get Tasha spayed as soon as possible.  Misskiwi, could you possbily provide me with links to information that states it is better for the dogs overall health to wait and get her spayed after the first heat?  I am still unsure if I should get her spayed now or after the first heat.  Thank you everyone for your responses

Um... I read some excellent, but as of yet not repeated studies that showed there were benefits to spaying after the first heat. I have no idea where I saw it, but I'll do my best to find it if I can.

With LARGE breeds spaying at around 12 months allows the time for the growth plates to close. That sounds good but all I can find as to why this is good is that they won't grow as lanky and tall...which is a cosmetic issue. In a small or tiny breed...have yet to see and explanation of the negative.
 
Spay incontinence can happen perhaps that's the issue you speak of? Spay incontience can be surgery related meaning it goes away in a month or sooner after the swelling and such is over from the surgery. or late onset meaning the bitch will start to leak when she's older...like what 8-9 years or older. I believe spay incontinence can happen when a dog is older at spay time as well...but it's less likely.
 
Risk of mammary cancer and pyometra go up each cycle that passes...that much is proven.
 
We have members here that have of late gone thru a season with their small breed girls...none have really seemed that happy about it. The bleeding...mood changes...worries about escape (and they do try at times)..worries about accidental breedings etc. Xerxes just went thru a complicated spay of his Gaia which involved cystic ovaries and uterus...a risk one encounters when one allows the bitch to cycle first.

Here is some of the information... keep in mind this is more for large breed dogs. As the above poster said, keep in mind that a dog in heat is a PAIN to deal with, and the heat lasts about 3 weeks. Its a huge headache and for that reason alone I would spay her now.

written by Chris Zink, a veterinarian with a specialty in canine sports.

Early Spay-Neuter Considerations for the Canine Athlete

There are a number of studies that suggest that those of us with canine athletes should be carefully considering our current recommendations to spay or neuter all dogs at 6 months of age or earlier. A study by Salmeri et al in 1991 (Salmeri et al JAVMA 1991;198:1193-1203) found that bitches spayed at 7 weeks were significantly taller than those spayed at 7 months, who were significantly taller than those not spayed (or presumably spayed after the growth plates had closed). The sex hormones close the growth plates, so the bones of dogs or bitches neutered or spayed before puberty continue to grow. This growth frequently results in a dog that does not have the same body proportions as he/she was genetically meant to. For example, if the femur is normal length at 8 months when a dog gets spayed or neutered, but the tibia, which normally stops growing at 12 to 14 months of age continues to grow, then an abnormal angle may develop at the stifle. In addition, with the extra growth, the lower leg below the stifle becomes heavier (because it is longer), causing increased stresses on the cranial cruciate ligament. This is confirmed by a recent study showing that spayed and neutered dogs have a higher incidence of CCL rupture (Slauterbeck JR, Pankratz K, Xu KT, Bozeman SC, Hardy DM. Canine ovariohysterectomy and orchiectomy increases the prevalence of ACL injury. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2004 Dec;(429):301-5).

In addition, a study in 2004 in JAVMA (Spain et al. JAVMA 2004;224:380-387) showed that dogs spayed or neutered before 5 1/2 months had a significantly higher incidence of hip dysplasia than dogs spayed or neutered after 5 1/2 months of age. If I were a breeder, I would be very concerned about this, because it would mean that I might be making incorrect breeding decisions if I were considering the hip status of pups I sold that were spayed or neutered early. Interestingly, this same author also identified an increased incidence of sexual behaviors in males and females that were neutered early.

A number of studies, including the one by Spain referenced above, have shown that there is an increase in the incidence of female urinary incontinence in dogs spayed early. This problem is an inconvenience, and not usually life-threatening, but nonetheless one that requires the dog to be medicated for life.

Yes, there is the concern that there is an increased risk of mammary cancer if a dog has a heat cycle. But it is my observation that fewer canine athletes develop mammary cancer as compared to the number that damage their cranial cruciate ligaments. In addition, only about 50 % of mammary cancers are malignant, and those that are malignant don't metastasize very often, particularly in these days when there is early identification and removal of lumps found on our dogs.

In addition, when considering cancer, there is another study of 3218 dogs that showed that dogs that were neutered before a year of age had a significantly increased chance of developing bone cancer (Cooley DM, Beranek BC, Schlittler DL, Glickman NW, Glickman LT, Waters D, Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2002 Nov;11(11):1434-40), a cancer that is much more life-threatening than mammary cancer, and which affects both genders.

Finally, in another study, unneutered males were significantly less likely than neutered males to suffer cognitive impairment when they were older (Hart BL. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2001 Jul 1;219(1):51-6). Females were not evaluated in that study.

For these reasons, I have significant concerns with spaying or neutering dogs before puberty, particularly for the canine athlete. And frankly, if something is more healthy for the canine athlete, would we not also want that for pet dogs as well? I think it is important, therefore, that we assess each situation individually. If a pet dog is going to live with an intelligent, well-informed family that understands the problem of pet overpopulation and can be trusted to keep their dogs under their control at all times and to not breed them, I do not recommend spaying or neutering before 14 months of age.

Chris Zink
Another article by the same vet:
[linkhttp://www.caninesports.com/SpayNeuter.html]http://www.caninesports.com/SpayNeuter.html[/link]
This one has several references for follow up.


Here is some more info on early spay/neutering:
[linkhttp://www.mmilani.com/commentary-200509.html]http://www.mmilani.com/commentary-200509.html[/link]
Here's the follow up article:
[linkhttp://www.mmilani.com/commentary-200511.html]http://www.mmilani.com/commentary-200511.html[/link]
Another:
[linkhttp://www.danesonline.com/earlyspayneuter.htm]http://www.danesonline.com/earlyspayneuter.htm[/link]

Chris Zink has done some awesome stuff but it is good to bear in mind that her primary concern is keeping the canine athlete sound and eking out that tenth of a second potential over the lifetime of the dog. I really don't think it makes a difference that makes a difference in non-athletic or small breeds.

Canine athletes are NOT the same as companions, or I would be able to get away with feeding normal food. [8|] Certainly in my opinion there is not enough of a difference to run the risk of an accidental breeding, or even face the inconvenience of a heat. Most vets I know concur, including a couple of orthopaedic specialists.

Chinese crested breeders routinely spay their bitches quite young, before the first heat (at about five months!), because Cresties are very highly sexed little fiends. They would not do this if it adversely affected the health of their pet dogs, since that's the primary purpose of a Crestie. Don't think because your dog is small she will be easy to contain. Zhi gets angry when she's crated - just for normal stuff, she's spayed - and will chew through a plastic airline type crate in a New York minute. And a small dog can be easily bred through the bars of a wire crate or kennel.

Yes. I don't see anything wrong with mixed dogs.

Neither do I. My problem is with breeding mixes when there are pure bred dogs dying in shelters every day. Puppies, adults, good dogs, bad dogs, pure breds, and mixes all die together. It's not worth risking your dog's life to produce more mutt puppies.

The one negative I have heard about spaying before the first heat is that it can cause your dog to be fearful.  Does anyone know if this is true?
 
Also, I qualify for low cost spaying and I am waiting for a certificate to come in the mail.  If Tasha goes into heat before I get the certificate, can she be spayed in the middle of it or will I need to wait until she is out of heat?

That is not true.  There is a fear imprint period that coincides with the time frame of the first heat (approx. 7 months) but that can be addressed with some adequate prep and post training.  I would not worry about that unless the dog is fearful and timid to begin with.  Then it really wont matter, you will still need to do the training and desensitization.
You need to wait until after a heat cycle, since the surgeries should only occur during the cyle in an emergency situation.  In most situations your low cost coupon would not come close to covering the cost of an in season spay.

Thank you MRV, I didnt know that about the fear imprint thing.  It makes sense how the first heat theory came about then.  Could you possiby point me to an article or something so I can read more about that?

I read somewhere that the fear stage is before 6 months. After 6 months is ok to spay.  We spayed our purebred bullldog girl at 7 months.  Her personality is the same now at 9 months.
 
My opinion on breeding is that no way could ever give up my dogs puppies so I would never do it.  I stood to make $2000 (if any made it) and up per pup if I did it but no way would I ever deal with a bulldog pregancy and 24/7 for 8 weeks care.
 
My mutt from the shelter is a wonderful dog and there are millions of them.  Why would deliberatley bring another mutt into the world.  Face it, you may find homes for the ups but a percentage of them will not stay in those homes for one reason or another.  They may even dump the pup back in your lap.  Please spay your girl.   My girl can now continue to roughhouse with her big brothers and I don't worry. 
 
I also adopted a purebred unwanted bulldog from a rescue.  There are too many homeless dogs.  The 10 homes you may have, will take 10 possible other dogs chances away.

ORIGINAL: Hollysmom

I read somewhere that the fear stage is before 6 months. After 6 months is ok to spay.  We spayed our purebred bullldog girl at 7 months.  Her personality is the same now at 9 months.

...Please spay your girl... 

The 10 homes you may have, will take 10 possible other dogs chances away.

That is simply not true, as I have said a couple of times before, there are simply ZERO small dogs to be found in the shelters here and many people cannot have larger dogs, so all of those people are just dogless, whether I breed Tasha or not.  Also, I have already said I'm getting her spayed. 
 
I looked that up about the fear imprint stages and there are two fear imprint stages.  One earlier like you said, at about 8-11 weeks, but there is also one that comes at 6-14 months.
  [linkhttp://www.spcaonline.com/Puppy_development.pdf]http://www.spcaonline.com/Puppy_development.pdf[/link]

Lilea, I was not necessarily saying 10 dogs were small dogs.  Several of yuor tentative buyers might take a larger dog if a smaller dog was presented to them by you.
 
It is BS that shelters don't have small dogs.  WARL in DC has a special room for the small dogs.  There were about 8 of all types when I looked in there about 6 months ago.  A cute chi, a cute poo whatever mix, to name a few.  They had a specail needs bulldog in there I wnet to see. The adoption fee is $125 there.

ORIGINAL: Hollysmom

Lilea, I was not necessarily saying 10 dogs were small dogs.  Several of yuor tentative buyers might take a larger dog if a smaller dog was presented to them by you.

It is BS that shelters don't have small dogs.  WARL in DC has a special room for the small dogs.  There were about 8 of all types when I looked in there about 6 months ago.  A cute chi, a cute poo whatever mix, to name a few.  They had a specail needs bulldog in there I wnet to see. The adoption fee is $125 there.

It is not BS Hollysmom and I really don't appreciate being called a liar by you.  I asked for opinions, not insults.  I don't live anywhere near DC.  In fact I live on the opposite side of the country from DC, so whatever dogs they have in shelters in DC really has nothing to do with anything.  I said the shelters around HERE do NOT have small dogs.  If you do not believe me  feel free to pm me and I will be happy to give you the number to my local humane society so you can call them for yourself to find out how often they have small dogs for adoption.
The people I am talking about would not otherwise buy large dogs.  They live in apartments like myself and there are weight limits.

I quickly googled small dogs rescues, and it came up with a ton of websites, organizations etc.
 
Here's an example:
[linkhttp://www.unitedyorkierescue.org/lookingforlove.shtml]http://www.unitedyorkierescue.org/lookingforlove.shtml[/link]

and another...
[linkhttp://www.1-800-save-a-pet.com/]http://www.1-800-save-a-pet.com/[/link]

ORIGINAL: CoCo Chanel

I quickly googled small dogs rescues, and it came up with a ton of websites, organizations etc.

Here's an example:
[linkhttp://www.unitedyorkierescue.org/lookingforlove.shtml]http://www.unitedyorkierescue.org/lookingforlove.shtml[/link]

and another...
[linkhttp://www.1-800-save-a-pet.com/]http://www.1-800-save-a-pet.com/[/link]

You can google that all day, or as I did for three years, you would be extremely, extremely lucky to find a small dog in my area, that doesn't cost a fortune, that is ok with kids, and that they will let go to a place without a fenced in yard.  Those links you rovided don't have any.  Dunno why people are trying to be judgemental about this like I'm making it up or something.  But anyway,
I'm glad I finally got so lucky after all that time and found Tasha[]