Hello, first time on forum, hope this is the right place to post my question. We have a standard poodle female that is 7 and a half months old, presently 40 lbs, torturing ourselves over when to spay. Have been doing just as suggested, soaking it all in, and the lack of consensus is pretty shocking. This is our third standard / second female (one at a time, so we're long term fans). The two main camps seem to be (a) 6 to 8 months, and (b) ranges from a couple months after the first heat to around 18 months. I have yet to find a vet to be in the second camp (even one vet that is a long-time standard poodle fan/owner).
Our last girl died at 8 years from lymphoma (after spending an insane amount of $ trying to save her, before they realized it was cancer) and she did seem to have some hip concerns starting around age 6. She was spayed at 6 months. Certainly no definite connection, but a "maybe" connection in our minds. The UC Davis paper, and looking at this link below, it certainly identifies a risk of LSA for males neutered early (like 27%), and even though not identified for females, it certainly makes me wonder about the girl that we lost way too young. So I'm leaning towards the second camp. But....I see a lot of references that say the chance of mammary cancer risk goes like this: spay before first heat risk is 0.5%, after first heat risk is 8%, risk after 2nd heat is 26%. So presently thinking of waiting until one year mark if no heat yet, and if there is heat by then we wait until 2 months after. But it is kind of distressing when our vet is strongly recommending doing it now, and we really like and trust our vet generally speaking. Even called our old vet that we used to use a long time ago, and the response was that breeders tend to have fads that come and go, and this recent trend towards waiting longer might not stick. Also called a few vet offices at random that we don't know. None were in the second camp. But at the same time, it wasn't long ago that we lost our 8 year old and that still hurts, don't want a repeat.
Oh, and for the actual questions..... For those in the second camp (wait longer before spay), were you aware of the increased risk of mammary cancer when making your decision? Does that info change anything for you? And if anyone has any additional thoughts to add, anything is appreciated.
Overall it seems like there are pros and cons either way, which explains the varied opinions, and people just need to decide the best they can. Thanks for your time.
Neutering (including spaying) of male and female dogs in the first year after birth has become routine in the U.S. and much of Europe, but recent research reveals that for some dog breeds, neutering may be associated with increased risks of debilitating joint disorders and some cancers...
www.frontiersin.org
