Am I doing the right thing? Plus advice re: spaying!

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welshcobmad

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I've booked my little sprocker bitch in to be spayed on the 27th Jan on the advice on the vet to have her op between 5 & a half & 6 months old. She was born 11th August so she'll be 2 weeks shy of 6 months.

I'm absolutely dreading her going in! She seems really young & still a pup for such a massive operation, I feel awful. The benefit of cutting the chances of her getting cancer is the main draw for me I couldn't risk anything happening to her plus I don't want it done over summer when she could be out having fun.

How long does she need to be kept quiet & keep the stitches in for? Also I assume I stop all walking? This is my main concern as she's very bouncy & loves her walks. Will she need a satellite dish collar or is there a jumper or something I can get to keep it covered & clean? Main problem (yuk I know) she's one of them that bowl up greeting people all excited tail between legs weeing - resulting in stinking tail & wet/dirty belly as she's wagged it all over it. So was thinking a jumper may help.

She's going in 9.30am on that Friday so I have the whole weekend & Monday booked off to look after her.

Sorry for all the questions I've always had male dogs!
 
My friend had her springerx cocker done by key hole done by key hole as she was such a bouncy jumping around dog thought it would be better, although she still had to be kept as quiet as poss after. It did cost her more too. Seemed to work well for her though.
 
Personally I think 6 months is too young for a bitch to be spayed. You are removing their womb and ovaries when they are not even full grown. I always wait until they are a year old, but that is your choice. Our vets gave is the option of the keyhole surgery as they say they recover faster, but it is a lot more expensive. I find most dogs recover very fast from operations, the worst part was trying to get the bloody dressing off. I had to resort to baby oil to remove the glue.
 
I had both my bitches spayed at six months, after careful consultation with my vet. They were both very sorry for themselves for first 24 hrs, then I had the devil of a job to keep them on bed rest! In the end we settled on quiet on lead walks for four or five days and short offlead walks for another week or so. Didn't have or need a buster collar, just kept an eye out for any excessive licking.

It is a huge operation, no doubt, but you will be amazed at how quickly she bounces back - don't panic!
 
I think six months is too young to have them spayed! I was always told that they should have one season and then spay them three months after that. Please check and double check with your vet that it is the right time to do it. Dogs are generally not neutered until at least a year old. And yes, it is very difficult keeping them quiet after the operation!
 
As a current lead walker of two boys who have just been done, lead walks are not fun!!!!!!!!!!!!

My dogs are used to 1.5-2hrs off lead every day. I cant really do much trick training etc as Dylan gets sooooo excited he starts rolling all over the place.

Buster is learning to heel though which is nice. Just doing doing lots of sits, waits and heel work with Dylan but its just not cutting it for him.

I am only on day 2!!! All I can say is thank god for beef bones and Kongs.
 
You're probably looking at 7-10 days restricted exercise (on-lead only) - if skin sutures are used then the advice is usually restrict until sutures are removed at 10 days. It is a nightmare, she will probably drive you mad, but just keep telling yourself its only for a short time! Whether or not she needs a buster collar will depend on whether she fusses at the wound, if she leaves it alone then she won't need the collar, but if she starts licking it then its probably best she wears one, even if only at night when you aren't there to stop her.

Huntley - everyone has different opinions on when the best time is to spay, often owners are advised to wait until after first season simply because of the risk that the dog might be about to come into first season. Obviously there are pro's and con's whichever you choose - the risk of mammary cancer is dramatically reduced, but some people believe it can leave dogs displaying juvenile behaviours as an adult, the list goes on.....

I have spayed puppies at 10 weeks, and if anything they came out of it better than adults, certainly the op is a lot quicker if you aren't wrestling fat out of your ligatures the whole time as often happens in adult bitches. I am sure she will bounce back well, especially as it sounds like she is going to be getting lots of TLC off you!
 
i cant advise on the age of spaying (we got betty as an 8 month old, and i chose to wait until she was fully matured at three: she's a bulldog, and are slow to mature! you'd understand if you saw her at 8 months! like three dogs stuck together!)

in my experience getting over the anesthetic was the worst bit- always is after a G.A! Restricted exercise for three weeks in total when stitches were taken out. by this i mean she was on lead walks (started shorter than normal, then built up to our normal 40 mins twice a day) then by the third week i let her have a little time off lead but not careering about!

i had betty's stitches taken out a little earlier than the vet initially said, as they were getting tight and i could see them digging in and getting a bit gross. perfectly fine when they were out though. i had to clean with hibbiscrub at this point only.

she is a very energetic dog, but she coped fine. she never needed a buster collar- as she never licked at the stitches once. i would steer clear of having a jumper or anything on her tummy, as i would be worried that they would snag in the stitches/leave traces of lint/fluff etc.

xx
 
I wouldnt consider getting a dog spayed so young, most vets recommend half way between the first and second season, for me with bigger breeds it would be about 18months. Ive heard so many horror stories of bitches in perpetual limbo after being spayed so young. Whether this is true or not I dont know but I would want my dog full grown before spaying or neutering unless there was a medical reason to do it earlier.
 
For the breed/size her growth is almost done so I would have no issues spaying this breed at this age. If she where a large breed I would say wait to allow for a little more growth, She will not remain in puppy limbo from spay, if she is going to act puppish she will do do anyway, I have had hundreds of dogs in my care neutered (rescue) and yes I do see them back through their life as they come back to board with me;) plus my own and I have never yet seen this puppy limbo, but have seen entire bitches act like puppies all their life, IMO it is a breed thing, some breeds act like pups/clowns forever regardless of age of neuter. Young dogs do tend to heal alot quicker, I never have issues/nightmares after a spay in regard to anything, never had a bad recover and never had one drive me up the wall. You can still exercise her on lead after about 2 days, short walks, you will find she tries to be more active as soon as she can, generally after the nights groggyness they are back to normality. Stitches out after 10 days and all done.
It is your choice and of course you can wait till after a season, I find the younger in relation to size you can get them done from 6 months on the better health benefits, esp for bitches, in regard to cancers later in life.
 
I would NEVER spay or neuter a sprocker at 6 months. Reasons?

1. The growth plates on ALL their long bones will not have closed.
2. They will not have had their final burst of growth hormone. (There are three bursts if you include those in-utero). Therefore bit like giving a hysterctomy to a six year old child.
3. They may be approaching physical maturity but are unlikely to be approaching social maturity for another six months.
4. The resulting change in the coat post spay which makes it so much harder to manage.
5. As they have never had a season, you do not know if they have a season impending, which could mean a very high level of blood in the uterus and make the operation potentially more dangerous. (I would never spay until a bitch has had at least two seasons so that I have SOME idea of what her true cycle may be and can therefore TIME the spay to the least risky time which is half way between two seasons. Vets tend to say 3 months after last season, but if dog has only ever had one season you can not know if it is safe or not. Many dogs - in fact probably the majority - do not neatly cycle every six months.)
 
I discussed the when to spay issue extensively with two vets at my practice, and also with a couple of other vet friends. They all agreed that there was no evidence to suggest that spaying before the first season brings any health problems, but that there is substantial evidence that it dramatically reduces cancer rates. Plus, there is zero chance of having an unwanted litter.

OP - Despite the (apparent) lack of evidence in support, there are clearly alot of people who believe that it is important for a bitch to have at least one season before spaying. If you are worried then you you should definitely discuss it with your vet. I have to say that if it were me I would take their advice over that of some people on an internet forum.
 
My (medium sized, 24kg) bitch was spayed at six months, before a first season, with no adverse effects and I'd certainly do the same again.

She was very woozy for about 24 hours after the anaesthetic, just lay and slept, then was totally back to normal the following day. Short on-lead walks only for five days, longer on-lead walks for another few days and then back to normal after that. She had dissolvable stitches, they had her back in for a check three days after to make sure all was okay with the wound but that was it. She only needed the cone of shame for the first day as she was trying to lick but left it alone after that.
 
An almost identical experiience to blackcob's although the bitch was probably a bit over 7 months as was in bad shape when she was rescued so we had to wait until she was completely healthy. When she went back at three days even the vet was amazed how quickly she was healing. There was a bit of trouble keeping her quiet as we have another young-ish dog but pretty much a trouble free experience.

As to age. . . .well, to each their own but I'd be interested to see the research that suggests it's best to wait until the bitch has has a season as all I found supporting that were people's individual opinions. My main concern were health and socialisation but more on the side that my dogs go a lot of places where there are a lot of dogs and while I always supervise them, there are an amazing number of unneutered, uncontrolled dogs around. I just did not want to risk it, especially as she is a rescue from the sort of people who should NEVER have a dog and yet had a whole litter of them.

As far as her own dog skills, she is exemplary (less so with people but she has some valid reasons) and certainly not immature, nor have I noticed that in any of the other spayed dogs I've had over the years. My male dog was neutered ASAP and he very well might be "immature" but he's not puppy-ish at all and is the most easy going, non-confrontational, confident dog ever so frankly, if his neutering did make him that way, he's benefitted from it.
 
My Inuit ( husky cross basically) was 6 months old when spayed, vets were quite keen for her to be done before her first season. She was fine after the op. Had it done first thing in the morning and was sleepy all evening then back to normal the next day and jumped a 5 ft fence to see the neighbours dog on day 2 or 3 - oops!. She is a bit of a nutter but I think I can blame her breeding for that rather than the early spaying, at four years old she is calming down, if I had another girl dog I would be happy spaying early again.
 
Thankyou all so much for your help & experience! Given me a lot to think about that's for sure.

She's still booked in but I can cancel if I want. From what you've said I'd like to hang on until after her first season, but she has a loose run everyday she enjoys & loves her walks etc so don't know how she'd cope being in for a month. Otherwise mess wise its not too much of an issue.

I've read up on keyhole spaying, I much prefer the sound of it as they only remove the ovaries not the whole lot - still can't get pyro as it needs the ovaries to develop. But! Nobody local to me does it :-( So was wondering if my vet would just remove those bits through standard procedure if I asked him to, or he has to remove it all. Keyhole would be a lot better though as she's such a bouncy girl she's 100mph lol, will keep looking although at the same time I'd prefer to use my vet who I've used for years.

Also been told they heal quicker when younger, don't know if that's a rumour?

Found these too instead of a buster collar which I'm sure she'd freak out at lol.

http://www.amazinghealth.co.uk/comfy-collar.htm
 
My lab cross bitch had the ovaryectomy (sp?) op last year when she was 13 months, 3 months after first season. It wasn't done keyhole but more conventionally and she only had a very small wound. After anaesthetic effect wore off she was fine and I just lead walked for about 10 days though I did let her loose on the stable yard to have a mooch about on her own. I liked the fact that the op was less invasive and it didn't cost any more than normal spay at my vets. I am pleased that my vet offered this as an option and sorry OP that you can't get it done in your area.
 
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