Well, if I am going to Spay Timi mid-cycle as is best, I have to get moving on it, but I am torn, and would appreciate thoughts on it.
Reasons to do it now :
1) she also needs to have a tooth pulled at the same time, and I really shouldn't let that problem go on any longer.
And I also want her to get an X-ray to make sure that part of a deciduous canine tooth was not retained, because that tooth came out late, while we were playing tug, and the top 1/4 was missing.
2) we don't have a yard and Timi gets her exercise at the dog park. And it was not just the three weeks that she was in heat, but for two weeks prior, and almost three months after, she wanted nothing to do with other dogs, so that amounts to a lot of time away from the park and exercise (there is NO WAY that I could walk her enough on a leash for it to be significant exercise for that tiny ball of muscles)
3) Eliminating the risk of pyometria
4) get it over with, the longer I wait, the more in love with her I am, and the harder it is going to be to do.
5) I have not been happy with my current Vet for awhile, but I do really like her dental specialist, and I can have the best Veterinary Surgeon in the area come there to do the spay, so I really want to have it done there. But once it is done I am going to start interviewing new Vet's and I do feel a bit of an urgent need to get that going for Teaka's sake, because at 13, who knows when she might suddenly need top notch Vet care.
Reasons to wait:
1) the Rottweiler Study that found that dogs intact until middle age have exceptional longevity
2) the higher incidence of auto-immune/ endocrine diseases in altered dogs. Taylee, was a highly allergic dog (spayed before her first heat), and as those of you who have lived with such dogs know, it can be quite miserable for all concerned to live with. And Timi, not long after she first arrived, I thought that she was going to be the same way - she produced a lot of dander just like Taylee did, and was very itchy. I managed to get it under excellent control using the same human dandruff shampoo that Taylee's dermatologist recommended, but since she has had her heat - it is just totally gone! But I am terrified that removing her hormones may cause it to flare up again...
3) the higher incidence of adverse vaccine reactions in altered dogs. She is finished with her core vaccines, so hopefully with titers she won't need them again, but I gave her her first, one year rabies late, and even so she had a huge lump that lasted several months after getting it, so I am mighty worried about what might happen when she gets her three year rabies booster, and if being intact would be protective....
4) I don't want to have my dog cut open and have parts taken out of her. My first poodle Jolé died on the table being spayed, and I just can't help it, even though I know the risk of that happening again are extremely low, every cell in my body screams "do not take your happy, healthy dog and hand her over to someone to drug her into not breathing, cut her open, and remove the organs that Mother Nature gave her"! It was a little easier when I had my girls done 6-7 months after they came home, but I just couldn't bare it if something happened to Timi now, I am just so in love with her!
Though on the other hand, I do know that it has to happen at some point, and her chances are certainly better than now while she is young and healthy than they were for Tasia, who had to have a huge, but benign reproductive tumor removed at age ten (she did fine, and it was the same surgeon who is going to do Timi's spay).
5) Really, my experiences have been different than what the studies show - Teaka was spayed prior to her first heat, and all indications are that she will have an exceptionally long life. She has no endocrine or autoimmune diseases, she is great orthopedically, her teeth are great, her eyesight is great, she is the healthiest dog that I have ever known.
And Tasia, who was intact until age ten, died at age 12 after suddenly going into CHF, so the years of extra hormones did her no good as far as I can tell.
So, any thoughts? I really have to decide now!
Reasons to do it now :
1) she also needs to have a tooth pulled at the same time, and I really shouldn't let that problem go on any longer.
And I also want her to get an X-ray to make sure that part of a deciduous canine tooth was not retained, because that tooth came out late, while we were playing tug, and the top 1/4 was missing.
2) we don't have a yard and Timi gets her exercise at the dog park. And it was not just the three weeks that she was in heat, but for two weeks prior, and almost three months after, she wanted nothing to do with other dogs, so that amounts to a lot of time away from the park and exercise (there is NO WAY that I could walk her enough on a leash for it to be significant exercise for that tiny ball of muscles)
3) Eliminating the risk of pyometria
4) get it over with, the longer I wait, the more in love with her I am, and the harder it is going to be to do.
5) I have not been happy with my current Vet for awhile, but I do really like her dental specialist, and I can have the best Veterinary Surgeon in the area come there to do the spay, so I really want to have it done there. But once it is done I am going to start interviewing new Vet's and I do feel a bit of an urgent need to get that going for Teaka's sake, because at 13, who knows when she might suddenly need top notch Vet care.
Reasons to wait:
1) the Rottweiler Study that found that dogs intact until middle age have exceptional longevity
2) the higher incidence of auto-immune/ endocrine diseases in altered dogs. Taylee, was a highly allergic dog (spayed before her first heat), and as those of you who have lived with such dogs know, it can be quite miserable for all concerned to live with. And Timi, not long after she first arrived, I thought that she was going to be the same way - she produced a lot of dander just like Taylee did, and was very itchy. I managed to get it under excellent control using the same human dandruff shampoo that Taylee's dermatologist recommended, but since she has had her heat - it is just totally gone! But I am terrified that removing her hormones may cause it to flare up again...
3) the higher incidence of adverse vaccine reactions in altered dogs. She is finished with her core vaccines, so hopefully with titers she won't need them again, but I gave her her first, one year rabies late, and even so she had a huge lump that lasted several months after getting it, so I am mighty worried about what might happen when she gets her three year rabies booster, and if being intact would be protective....
4) I don't want to have my dog cut open and have parts taken out of her. My first poodle Jolé died on the table being spayed, and I just can't help it, even though I know the risk of that happening again are extremely low, every cell in my body screams "do not take your happy, healthy dog and hand her over to someone to drug her into not breathing, cut her open, and remove the organs that Mother Nature gave her"! It was a little easier when I had my girls done 6-7 months after they came home, but I just couldn't bare it if something happened to Timi now, I am just so in love with her!
Though on the other hand, I do know that it has to happen at some point, and her chances are certainly better than now while she is young and healthy than they were for Tasia, who had to have a huge, but benign reproductive tumor removed at age ten (she did fine, and it was the same surgeon who is going to do Timi's spay).
5) Really, my experiences have been different than what the studies show - Teaka was spayed prior to her first heat, and all indications are that she will have an exceptionally long life. She has no endocrine or autoimmune diseases, she is great orthopedically, her teeth are great, her eyesight is great, she is the healthiest dog that I have ever known.
And Tasia, who was intact until age ten, died at age 12 after suddenly going into CHF, so the years of extra hormones did her no good as far as I can tell.
So, any thoughts? I really have to decide now!