Spaying a seven year old dog?

[Varga]

Hi.
I’m planning to have my seven year old Jack Russell spayed.

I know this isn’t the best age for a dog to get spayed.. But lack of education and other things have prevented me from taking this issue serious enough..

She’s has never had puppies and has never had any health problems.. But it still worries me..

My other dog Kelly died as a result of this operation so I keep getting these horrifying images into my head.. But at the same time I know it’s totally pointless of me, because if Kelly had been spayed at a younger age she wouldn’t have needed to get spayed at the age of 12/13 (she had pyometra and wouldn't respond to the medicine, which we tried out first)

Do I worry too much? What are the risks of spaying a seven year old dog? Any advice or experiences is very much appreciated..

Thanks

-Varga

[Pit Chick]

I've never had a dog spayed at that age, but I have had one neutered and he did fine. 7 is still pretty young for a small dog, since they can live a longer time so I would say go for it. I understand the apprehension since you already lost a dog, but she was in a compramised state and having problems that would have killed her if you didn't have the surgery. You'll be preventing this one from getting pyometra, uterine cancer, ovarian cancer, mammary cancer, etc. which will put you in the position to either spay her then or euthanize her so it's better to take the chance with having her spayed before she gets these problems then to wait.

[dragondawg]

mammary cancer as after 2 or more heats the chances remain 1 in 4 or 25% as compared to a spayed female that never had a heat cycle. But Pit Chick just gave 3 other good reasons for spaying.

The healing might taken closer to 2 weeks instead of 1 week in a dog that age. The good news is that an older dog won't be bouncing off the walls with energy like a puppy. So you won't have to worry about over exertion during recovery.

[wolfsoul]

While puppies heal alot faster than older dogs, older dogs do not have a higher death rate than puppies when altered. :) It's no big deal at all. Good for you!

[Varga]

Thank you very much for your replies.. I will call the vet tomorrow and hopefully get an appointment early next week.. I only have to be at school two days for the entire next week, so this is probably the best chance I’ll ever get to make sure everything runs smoothly while she’s recovering..

I know this is for the best… I sure as heck don’t want to lose another dog to pyometra..

Oh well.. Paws and fingers crossed, I guess :)

[roscoe3]

I'm not sure what the health problems would be to spay a dog at 7, I have a 7 year old male border collie that we never had done. My ex-husband would not allow me to get him fixed as his maculinity was at stake, he didn't want to be the only male in the house with two females, a female dog, two cats and a canary. By the time I got rid of the husband, I am now faced with an unneutred dog, the funny thing about it is I am sure that Gibson or Gibby as we call him, is gay. He definately is a virgin, when the next door neighbours female dog was in heat an managed to crawl under the fence, we found Gibson doing the shuffle, when he managed to get Jewel under him, he pushed her away and continued to do the shuffle on his own. Whenever our Molly gets a new haircut, or has a bath, Gibson wanders the house doing the shuffle, but only in the air. Sometimes its embarrasing but how can anyone be with a dog named Gibby.