I completely agree with Doc E. We have always tried to convince our puppy buyers to wait til their puppy is at least 1 year old before s/n. Sometimes that's hard when their vet is telling them s/n now, s/n now. Most vets really like that early s/n.

We do make a point to let the people with the females know what to expect and the precautions they have to take when their girl goes into season. If they have never seen it before, most can't believe how their sweet, innocent little girl can turn into a shameless hussey overnight!

That is an interesting article. I hope I can offer insight into the spay-neuter crazy vets and why the trend is moving towards early spay neuter for the general public. As a veterinarian I can see both sides of the coin. My retriever was neutered at 13 weeks old. Do I recommend it? Not for everyone. He's a tall, lanky, housedog. We didn't get him for hunting (although it's in his genes) and for that reason we went ahead and snipped him before he started marking behavior etc.

If I had gotten him for hunting I would have waited. I see a lot of hunting dogs and a fair amount of police dogs and there is no question that testosterone adds muscle and prevents obesity. It probably aids muscle development but until they clone two dogs and neuter one and not the other we'll have to assume there would be differences. How big a difference? Hard to say...it probably depends a lot on the dog.

There are several reasons that veterinarians recommend spaying and neutering at around the 6 month mark. Some of them are medical/behavioral and others quite frankly are for society. Many of us recommend 6 months because this is when vaccines are finished and it is a logical time to do the procedure. If we recomended that every dog wait until 1 year of age there would be many unwanted litters running around as many dogs reach sexual adulthood around 8 months. I hate to say it, but as time passes pets often become less of a focus in the family and I would guess the number of dogs spayed/neutered would be much lower if we all expected owners to come back in a few years. Those of you that breed dogs or have had a litter of puppies at your home know that it is not all fun and games. I've had several clients tell me that they want their kids to experience the wonder of puppies or that they want one litter from the dog because "it's natural". Like the world needs more black labs being sold out of the back of a pickup at Walmart. Don't get me wrong, I'm a lab guy, but when I get my hunting lab it will be from a proven line...not a backyard breeder.

Other advantages of doing it early include faster recovery by young vs old animals and quite simply, it's a safer procedure in a dog without fully developed testes. By safer I mean that there is less risk for a knot slipping and your dog ending up with a blood filled swollen scrotum. Either way, this isn't very common.

There are also medical reasons to neuter a dog. Prostatitis is very rare in a neutered dog and neutering prevents several forms of testicular cancer. Female dogs are essentially reproductive machines. Without breeding / pregnancy they have a very HIGH risk of pyometra (uterine infection). Surgical correction of this condition is never cheap and not always successful. Lastly, dogs that are not spayed before age 2 have an 80% chance of developing mammary cancer.

All I will say regarding behavior is that intact dogs tend to show more aggressive behavor than neutered animals. So when I have a client in the exam room and they're telling me that their dog growls at their child the first thing we talk about it spay/neuter.

So what will I do when we get our next dog? I'll wait until he's a year old or so. I've seen enough excellent police, search and rescue, and hunting dogs benefit from the magic of testosterone/estrogen that we'd wait it out a little longer than the 13 weeks our boy had. I also think there is nothing wrong with the 6-8 month mark. Like I said, I have a lot of clients with hunting dogs and MOST of them are neutered or spayed...and most of these were done before 8 months of age. And they still get birds.

gopherfan

You'rebasically saying, 'you're damned if do and damned if you don't'. I have a female and had her spayed at nine months old. Now she's at risk for uterine infection but not mammary cancer? If I read this correctly, the best option would have been let herhave herfirst heat cycle then spay her?

you aint kidding Mite. 2 weeks and no running.. he is bouncing off the walls already. all he wants to do is run. this is going to be tough.

okay a few things here. one is i am seeing a small amount of blood in his poop, has anyone ever had that? i called the vet and they said that it may be cause he is active and doing some running around the house. they gave me meds to calm him down. another is they gave me a cone so he wont lick, well this thing is bigger than a lamp shade, and wont fit in his kennel.
then i dont know how other states are but i got him tatooed. its a number that has his info and its a lifetime licn. well its on the inside of his leg and ive seen other dogsw/ it and its pretty small.. well not my pups its huge and it looks very bad, and he dont get much hair there so thats all you will see is a bunch of numbers on him. im not to happy about that

Sorry for the confusion. Spayed dogs cannot get pyometra (which literally means pus in the uterus). Unless the spay was done incorrectly and some of the uterus left in the animal. This is rare and I wouldn't worry about it.

In short, dogs are reproductive machines. If in the wild, they cycle and breed etc. This constant estrus cycle promotes what's called cystic endometrial hyperplasia or basically a thickening of the lining of the uterus. This condition (which shows no signs and is by itself not a disease process) is promoted by the estrus hormone progesterone. It basically sets up the scenario for a uterine infection. Since the cervix is normally closed (or sealed) until partuition the infection essentially progresses in the uterus making the dog sick. There are cases (less common) called an open pyometritis in which the pus actually leaks from the vulva and stinks.

Pregnancy reduces progesterone exposure thus dogs that breed regularly are "protected" from pyometra. This does not mean that a retired breeder cannot develop the condition. Surgical correction for pyometra is to spay the dog, however, this is never routine. The uterus is filled with pus and bacteria and often fragile and at risk for rupturing in the abdomen (before and during the surgical procedure). Clinical signs of pyometra include acute inappetance, lethargy, enlarged abdomen (not always) and increased thirst and urination.

You spayed her at 9 months and I think that was great. Her risks for mammary cancer are slim to none and you don't have to worry about her estrus cycle interfering with the hunt or emergency surgery down the road.

Regards,

Hey PA, about the blood, my dog also had itlast week. Small amount with diarrea. The day before she snitched a drumstick offthe top of the oven. Ate it bones and all. But now I check closelyon her fecesbut no blood since. If it happens again I'll call the vet. Boy, she's costing me alot in vet bills almost $100/month.

Today I took her out to a dog/nature park. Heavy wooded area with alittle swamp and trees. She pointed a nesting hen mallard. I didn't even see the bird. I stomped around in front of her nose to see if anything was there then she broke point saying, "It's here stupid!" Sure enough the mallard flushed right at my feet. Another half step would put my feet in her nest. She also flushed two more ducks but they flushed upon seeing her. Ahhh.. I got to get her broke for sure.