When is the best time to spay?

spaying

I have heard that it is better to wait until they are around 1 years old to give them a chance to mature mentally and physically. You might want to check that out. By the way your parti is cute. I have 2 standard partis.

From everything I've read, it depends on the vet. Some want to spay early, some prefer to wait until later. If we have a male, we will be neutering him as soon as he meets the weight requirements (I've had bad experiences with dogs who were neutered at a later age), and if we have a female, I'm prone to wait a little longer, because honestly a girl's temperament doesn't vary much between spayed/intact.

Is it different to wait for a male vs a female? I have 2 male littermates who are almost 5 months old and I want to make sure they stay compatable, yet want them to reach their full potential physically as well.

The down side to waiting until the bitch "matures" is the risk of the bitch becoming pregnant.

I like to see the majority of dogs of either gender altered by 6 months of age.

You will get many reasons form many different places with many different explanations of why you should or shouldn't spay or neuter at a certain age.

They say that a dog who is neutered/spayed before reaching maturity will "never reach their full physical potential". If it is a pet, though, really....who cares. I have had many neutered pets, neutered sometimes when they were what most people consider too young because they were neutered at the shelter. I never noticed them to be physically defective in any way but they were usually mutts so how can you tell? If mine was just going to be a pet, I would probably spay by 8 months as why would you want to mess with that mess. Many standards often don't even come into their first season until they are close to a year old and I have known some to not come in until they were almost two. That is standard poodle though, the little ones I don't know about.

This is just me, but w/ a standard I would wait longer. There have been studies (I'm sure you can find them w/ google) linking early spay/neuter w/ HD. You should look them up and decide if they are relevant to your situation. IMO, there are good reasons to wait and good reasons to go ahead at 6 months or before the first heat.

Harley_chik said:

This is just me, but w/ a standard I would wait longer. There have been studies (I'm sure you can find them w/ google) linking early spay/neuter w/ HD.

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Hip dysplasia is HEREDITARY it is not caused by early spaying or neutering. The people who did this so called "study" used dogs who were not tested for HD and used breeds who are known for bad hips, I believe it was Airedales.

Just spay your dog before its first heat cycle and she should be just fine.

HD is not always hereditary and can be caused by strenuous activity at a young age or injury. It makes sense to me that if early spay/neuter can affect the way a dog structurally matures, it could be linked to(I never said cause) HD. I'm not saying any study is gospel, only that they're worth looking at IMO.


http://www.caninesports.com/SpayNeuter.html
http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf
http://www.acc-d.org/2006%20Symposium%20Docs/Session%20I.pdf

Harley_chik said:

HD is not always hereditary and can be caused by strenuous activity at a young age or injury. It makes sense to me that if early spay/neuter can affect the way a dog structurally matures, it could be linked to(I never said cause) HD. I'm not saying any study is gospel, only that they're worth looking at IMO.


http://www.caninesports.com/SpayNeuter.html
http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf
http://www.acc-d.org/2006%20Symposium%20Docs/Session%20I.pdf

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AGREED!! There are loads of cases of HD in dogs with awesome, tested backgrounds who develop HD anyways. It has been shown it can be environmental too.

I recommend waiting until a female is about eight months old to spay. Hopefully this will miss her first heat (usually at about nine months of age) but allow her to grow and fill out for some time). Males I suggest be neutered at around 14 months of age so he can bulk up and develop muscle before being done.

Sam (68 lbs now) was neutered at 5 months and Lucy (44 lbs now) was spayed at 6 months, both are 8 1/2 years old and have had not medical issues what so ever. Matter of fact they have only had to go to the vet for routine shots. Neither one has hips problems or arthritis. Sam still squats. Elsa is 12 1/2 and was spayed at 4 1/2 years, she is arthritic and it is noticable that her rear hip strength is weak (but only on the days I'm feeling the arthritis too.) All my other pet puppies have been early spayed and neutered before puberty/heat. Never had any hip problems.

Thanks for all the info. Still not sure when, but will probably try to get it done within the next 2 months to avoid her going into heat. I had just heard, now we hear and can google everything these days and sometimes that creates conflicts, to let her mature more and have her first heat. Should not be an issue with male dogs as she is in the house most of the time and we would make sure keep a close watch if she did go into heat, but I'm sure my hubby would like to avoid the mess. I just want to make we have it done at the correct time, but seems like there is no tried and true correct time.

More comments appreciated

I encourage all of my puppy owners to try and let their Poodles get to 1 yr before they are spayed/neutered. I think the secondary sex hormones contribute to better bone density and coat quality. I also prefer a male dog who lifts his leg because then he does not pee on himself.

on average when do standards go into heat? and how soon after is it safe and reasonable to spay? My contract says that she has to be spayed by nine months, i want to wait as long as possible for coat and joint reasons, so is it safe to wait till right before the nine months or should i shoot for sooner so if she does hit her heat i can allow for that? Btw thank you for starting this it was very informative!!

We have a female and we are waiting until after her first heat to spay her which will be around 6-8 months. We have read several articles and our vet and breeder agree that waiting until this first heat can clear up some anatomical anomalies in the reproductive system. The vulva changes shape with the dose of hormones and this shape change can reduce the number of chronic infections that are sometimes seen in female poodles spayed too soon. Of course there are scientific papers that back up almost any point of view but we think it might be better for all of her systems to receive the hormones they're expecting--bones, brains etc..

lil dogs can come in heat as young as 5-6 months old, and most lil guys have had their first heat by the time they're 9-12 months old. The bigger dogs mature later, so are more likely to be 9-12 months for their first heat, and I've heard of girls not coming until closer to 18 months.

And then there are always exceptions!

Cooper was neutered right before he turned a year old. I would of liked to have waited a little longer but he was humping all the females at dayplay and having to go into TIME OUT for it:doh: so I went on and had him fixed. To this day at 20 months old he does not hike his leg.hwell:. Greta will be at least a year old before I have her spaded per the breeder's request. I have been told that they need those hormones for growth and development, especially if you plan to do any type of agility with them, the later the better. Cooper loves to run and he is very fast. And Greta is small but can run like the wind, very agile.

Buck said:

especially if you plan to do any type of agility with them, the later the better.

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I do plan on doing agility, and possibly rally, my breeder is very reasonable, would it be rude to ask if i could wait past the 9 month deadline?

Raena said:

I do plan on doing agility, and possibly rally, my breeder is very reasonable, would it be rude to ask if i could wait past the 9 month deadline?

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Not at all . I would definitely talk to her about it.

Considering everything I read so far and being a biologist, I know that I personally would wait till 8 mos to a year at least - possibly longer.

Removing ANY gland in the body has tremendous effect on the development of any animal and downplaying that fact is silly, in my humble opinion.

Just because we do not see effects with the naked eye, does not mean that they are not happening.

Anybody who went through a puberty, pregnancy or menopause should "reflect" and would get just a glimpse of how much sex-hormones effect the body AND the brain.