Spay/Neuter... Later??

[Scooby4]

Yes, fixing your animal BEFORE it's first heat may reduce the chances of getting many different types of diseases. However, those diseases may be treatable in the short term. Fixing the animal later falls more into the "long term" care of an animal.
Fixing an animal later, allows them to experience some "sexual maturity". The horomone changes and bodily characteristics that come from this "change" are more important in my eyes. It allows the animal to mature properly and get rid of some of their "bad habits".
For example: What if you were "fixed" at age 13. A woman who never got a period or a boy who never got "stimulated" (Sorry folks ). Would your maturity level change who you are today? A woman never developing breasts and boy's voices NOT change?
That essentially is what is happening to our animals when we don't allow them to formally go through "Puberty". They may never get "breast cancer" but are they ever going to mature, calm, cool and collective? What would you rather have?
Ps. All my animals are fixed. One too early, the dogs just right, and the ferret already done. The one too early still has issues to this day 15 years later.

[KYS]

I have never had a female
dog with behavior issues for spaying before the 1st heat and
neither has anybody else I know that can tie it in
to spaying. (the old protocol use to be wait till after the 1st heat)

So I will stick with the opinions of the most current protocol on vet studies on spaying until I hear different.

[dragondawg]

If you have a large breed dog, and all you care about is how well it's going to perform as a canine athletic then maybe the point made about the bone structure would cause one to never spay the dog. I say maybe because the article is full of inaccuracies and should not be used by the common dog owner as a guide to spaying. Maybe because they left out an article originally published in 1975 that indicated low estrogen level was associated with hip dysplasia, and measurements could be made as early as 8 weeks as a predictor as to which pups where most likely to develop joint problems. Long before the issue of spaying occurs.

A female dog spayed before her first heat has close to a 0.5% change of mammary cancer. It's almost unheard of in spayed females. A female dog allowed to go into its first heat has a 7-8% of developing mammary cancer later in life. After the 2nd and subsequent heats, and/or pregnancy then the odds are 25%, and do not increase further. In fact mammary cancer accounts for 25-50% of the cancers found for intact dogs.

Although the statement that 50% are benign is true, the statement:

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

is irresponsible! Approximately 50% to 75% of malignant mammary tumors will kill the dog by recurrence through metastasis within one to two years.

Neither does the statement:

bone cancer...a cancer that is much more life-threatening than mammary cancer, and which affects both genders

make much sense. Osteosarcoma has a lower incidence than mammary cancer. And once a cancer has undergone metastasis it matters not whether it's mammary or osteosarcoma- in either case it will be life threatening. Also note a dog owner is more likely to note a limping dog and get medical attention for it (i.e. amputation before metastasis is usually a cure for Osteosarcoma), than to by chance alone find a small cancerous lump, and wonder how long it has been there.

It really does come down to whether or not you wish to minimize the chances your female dog will get mammary cancer?

In general for small breed dogs they are going to have their first heat sooner than the larger breed dogs. Thus 5 months is usually the target age. For larger breeds 6 months and certainly no later than 9 months which is pushing it. Per incontinence that could be a problem if you had your dog spayed very early (e.g. 3 months- which my Vet suggested and I ignored because of this reason). But once it nears the time of its first heat the surrounding tissue and structure is developed enough to maintain good muscle control on the urethra.

Both of my female dogs 80 lbs spayed at 9 months, and 74 lbs spayed at 6 months was/is active, without bone, or incontinence problems. In fact the one I have now runs like a deer. Needless to say the incidence of mammary cancer has been zero percent. Does spaying cause snoring?

Hint: A dog does not have to experience a heat in order to enjoy its life. My first female dog had a joy for life I had not seen before or since in dogs or people. Neither did she had any bad habits. That's right- the perfect dog. Something my second female has evened the score on.

[BitsyNaceyDog]

A lot of things effect the growth process, the sex hormones are only a small part. I'd rather neuter my dog and cats young to prevent both behavioral problems, medical problems when they're older, and the possibility of unwanted puppies (there is always a possibility with an unaltered pet, even when the owner is being as careful as can be).

Fixing an animal later, allows them to experience some "sexual maturity". The horomone changes and bodily characteristics that come from this "change" are more important in my eyes. It allows the animal to mature properly and get rid of some of their "bad habits".

I've seen the exact opposite with my animals. All of mine were spayed or neutered early with the exception of Charlie. (I got him neutered 4 days after I got him though.)

Charlie is a major marker. I can't take him anywhere because he marks on everything. It took awhile for me to be able to trust him in the house. I kept him tied to me or crated until I could trust him. We've never had any problems with any of the others.

Charlie can also be a bit nippy. I have to muzzle him to clip his toenails. He was a lot worse when we got him though, now he's not too bad. All the others are fine, they've never nipped at anyone.



My cats have all been spayed/neutered young too. I've had no problems with any of them. As for the sagging females I think it has to do with more the cats genetic make-up. Raisin is saggy, but she is a maine coon mix, she's a big cat by nature. Sundae on the other hand is a petite cat and she doesn't sag, she's just a small girl. As for my boys, Oliver is 12 lbs and looks perfect, he's a pretty average sized cat. Kit is a very lean, slick cat. Jimmy is my monster of a boy, he's a 17 lb. orange tabby. He's not overweight by any means, he's just a naturally large cat and he too sags.

[Pawsitive Thinking]

My vet recommended that Brody and Tobey were both "fixed" at 6 months. Had no cause to doubt him (he treated my RB Cally for free towards the end of her life and was as tearful as me the day I lost her) and neither of them have had any adverse reactions

[gemini9961]

Both of my girls were spayed before their first heat and no problems there. Grant however was neutered at the shelter. He was about 1.5 years old when we got him. He still acts like a big puppy and has some bad habits of marking. Now is that because of the neutering or his breed or his life before we got him?? I will probably always spay before the first heat so as to avoid any accidental pregnancies and/or health problems. All of the pets we have had (cats and dogs) have always been fixed early and we have had no problems. This is just my personal experience and I am sure it is not the same for everyone.

[Pembroke_Corgi]

That article was based on only a few studies done well over 10 years ago, which doesn't really seem very convincing to me.

I haven't had any problems with my dogs "sagging" and they were both spayed at 3 months of age. However, this is merely anecdotal evidence- but in my opinion sagging has to do with the competency of the vet- my pets' vet is a very good surgeon and the incision was very small and healed quite quickly. In fact, the younger the patient, the faster it typically takes for them to heal. I think pets should be spayed/neutered before or around 6 months.