Seasons & spaying

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KHippo

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Consulting the HHO oracle of knowledge... What is the current general consensus on when is best to spay bitches? Spaniel had her first season back in June, and had no troubles at all, carrying on as normal in true spaniel style. We plan to wait until she is a little older before booking her in, as she is a working dog with quite a lot of maturing to do. Our mini lurcher X, however, is 1 week into her first and a very different story! Off food, clingy, whining, bad tummy, curled up on a hot water bottle shivering :rolleyes: She is not coping very well so we will look to book her in sooner rather than later.

Now, I had always been under the impression that it is best to wait until 2-3 years old to allow normal hormone levels for growth, joint development etc... is this outdated now? And then what method? Keyhole or open? What are the recovery times for each?

Obviously lots to discuss with our vet, but I always like to do a little research myself so I know what questions to ask when the time comes...
 
I was always advised three months after 1st season (so halfway to next one if you see what I mean)

Some vets now do it before the first season but I'm not so sure about that approach. you should be ok to count to the half way point of mini lurcher's seasons and book her in.
 
Ideally wait until the dog is mature is still best, maybe look for any sort of herbal support for her til then. There is all sorts of options now, regardless of the method it is still major surgery, the main difference is how large a hole they make in your dog to perform it! I think there is some option to leave ovaries so they still get some benefit of the hormones if you are doing an early spay.
Both mine had traditional spays, one after her first season - far too much of a bog off dog for me to risk her getting caught before she had a proper cycle - her first had very minimal signs at all before during or after. She recovered in about an hour and just was restricted walks for a week or two.
My spanner was 6, as she was easy to manage. Took overnight to be back to normal spannering and again limited walks for a week or two. She did manage to get a stitch out but healed fine nonetheless.
My elderly lab rescue years ago bounced from phantom to season for about a year til I told them they were just going to have to spay her with milk as we couldn't find a happy medium. She was older - over 10, took longer to recover but again no real bother.
Years and years before that we had a collie emergency spayed due to pyo at about 9, that was a much harder recovery and one I would want to avoid - the main reason I finally got round to spaying my spanner
 
We've just had Lola done at roughly a year. I'd normally advocate waiting until 18 months or so when they are mature, but after a discussion with my vet and taking into account we have two entire male dogs who can open doors and a small house generally, we decided to book her in.

She was wobbly and sad the first night, and a bit subdued for a couple of days. By day 3 she was back wanting to play fight and run about like a lunatic
 
My rescue lurcher had what we (the rescue charity, vets and I) all assumed was her first season in rescue kennels - at a guess she would have been about a year old? I then waited 3 months and had her spayed. She is 18kg and about 18” to the shoulder, so whippet-sized.

She was definitely mature at that age, she bounced back within less than 24 hours to being a total maniac ?
 
Peril (Labrador) was 15 months old when spayed, she'd had one season. She bounced out of the vets and bounced through her recovery and hasn't stopped bouncing since. She seemed to be completely unaware that she'd had major surgery and the vet nurse who brought her out to us when we picked her up went to great lengths to explain how important it was that she was kept quiet, all the while, Peril was bouncing behind her! We used a pet medical t shirt for a few days but then just kept her tummy clean and dry as best we could. She never bothered with her stitches. Her wound was about 4 inches long, so definitely not keyhole surgery.
 
Mrs Spaniel had her first season a week after I picked her up at 11 months old and I spayed her four months after that.

Miss Collie is coming up to 13 months old and still hadnt had her first (wise people, whats the rough age for a collie for a first season?)
I plan on doing her after her first as she's destined for a career in flyball and agility and i've read that its best to wait until after the first at minimum to help the growth plates in the leg reach maturity.
 
Both of the bitches I have now cycled approx every 4.5 months. I did my younger bitch at 15 months because between my intact male and my bitch I was going to lose my mind. Several friends recommended waiting until she was 2 but I'm glad I did it when I did. I had prelims done on her hips and elbows at the same time. The growth plates hadn't totally closed. She bounced right back. I had her done laprascopically.
 
@Karran my collie had her first season around 9/10 months old, but they're all different. We let her have 2 seasons and my preference would have been to wait another year or two but her seasons seemed to go on for ages and we had some very interested intact dogs sniffing around her, it wasn't worth the risk of something happening so we had her done 3 months after her second season. We had the laparoscopic surgery, I don't think the recovery time is much different from the regular surgery, a couple of weeks of lead walking.
 
Thanks for all of the replies!
Interesting to hear the laparoscopic spay still involves a few weeks on lead, I had assumed they could be back to normal in a few days - hence considering it for the spaniel since she doesn't "do" rest :rolleyes:
 
KHippo, you might want to do traditional spay then. My older bitch was slowed down for several days after hers. Though that may have been from the anesthetic.
 
GSD Woman said:
KHippo, you might want to do traditional spay then. My older bitch was slowed down for several days after hers. Though that may have been from the anesthetic.
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Hmm, I’d be worried about her damaging herself with having a larger incision & longer healing times. Hopefully she might chill out a bit by the time we look at having her done. At the moment even crate rest wouldn’t work as she goes round her crate like a washing machine on spin cycle when she wants out!

Little lurcher should have no trouble resting up during recovery, she sleeps 90% of the day anyway & all walks are on lead as she’s a rescue & easily spooked.
 
Willow was spayed the week before Christmas and also had a small umbilical hernia repaired at the same time. She will be three in April.

Standard procedure, none of this fancy laparoscopic doo daa, half a dozen stitches, ten days on a lead, attempted to keep quiet, failed dismally, no harm done.

Stitches out (that was hysterical), back to normal activities immediately. Job's a goodun'.
 
windand rain said:
If you must then about 2 years old would be my advice I had my lab spayed as she had to have a different surgery so it seemed like a good idea at the time. Personally I have regretted it ever since but each to their own
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I don't understand why any-one would spay an older bitch, unless she was having problems that a spay would solve. We prefer not to put animals through an unnecessary GA, which can cause its own problems. I do like to use a tee-shirt to keep wounds clean and dry.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
I don't understand why any-one would spay an older bitch, unless she was having problems that a spay would solve. We prefer not to put animals through an unnecessary GA, which can cause its own problems. I do like to use a tee-shirt to keep wounds clean and dry.
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For me, my lab was a rescue and had not been done before and with my novice ex-husband in charge of much of her walking I wouldn't have trusted him to manage to keep her away from boys or to notice the (very discrete) signs she was coming in to season. She was far too old to risk puppies for one thing, secondly having had an emergency late spay as a result of pyo which only increases in risk the older they get I'd rather have a planned spay which is much less risk to the dog.

For my spaniel, I waited and waited for her to mature - she got to 6 and I gave up waiting and had her spayed anyway. Having the choice I certainly wouldn't have waited any longer but again there comes a point where it is better for the health of the bitch to be done than to leave them entire
 
My lab aged 8 years in a night or two. she went from a bouncy pup to an old dog. Her skin lost its gloss and she is more clingy and fearful. She used to be happy anywhere now she is only happy at home. The main reason she wasnt done as a young dog was because my research indicated there were more disadvantages than advantages so no I would not spay another unless she needed as a medical necessity
 
That is why I believe it is up to each person to do their research rather than blindly believe what ever they read from rescues and vets who of course have a vested interest and see the worst of everything Have had bitches for 50 years often up to 7 at a time and have only ever had one with pyo. She was spayed of course as a medical emergency she too changed considerably. Willow was spayed due to having surgery for something else so as a precaution against pyo (she is getting old now) the vet advised spay while already under GA to save her having another I reluctantly agreed and to a point lost the dog I started with. Every bitch we have spayed has been a disaster so it is not something I would do routinely
 
Incidentally, my now 8.5 year old spanner is a poster dog for spaying, no weight gain, no change of coat, no change of temperament (you can't have it all I guess). She went in fit with a lively smooth close coat and is still the same now. She recovered quickly and well despite having a stitch out somehow, I got her a comfy collar after that and she spent a few days walking round like an angry bumper car but that's as bad as it got
 
Roxylola said:
Incidentally, my now 8.5 year old spanner is a poster dog for spaying, no weight gain, no change of coat, no change of temperament (you can't have it all I guess). She went in fit with a lively smooth close coat and is still the same now. She recovered quickly and well despite having a stitch out somehow, I got her a comfy collar after that and she spent a few days walking round like an angry bumper car but that's as bad as it got
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Ditto.
 
Thank you all for sharing your experiences, very helpful :)

I am leaning towards leaving our spaniel a couple more years since she (so far) hasn’t had a bad time with her seasons & we are quite capable of keeping her “safe” when needed.

Lurcher on the other hand will probably be booked in for a spay in 2-3 months, she’s having an awful time & feeling very sorry for herself. Not an experience she needs to repeat, I don’t think!
 
KHippo said:
Thank you all for sharing your experiences, very helpful :)

I am leaning towards leaving our spaniel a couple more years since she (so far) hasn’t had a bad time with her seasons & we are quite capable of keeping her “safe” when needed.

Lurcher on the other hand will probably be booked in for a spay in 2-3 months, she’s having an awful time & feeling very sorry for herself. Not an experience she needs to repeat, I don’t think!
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I think I would probably make the same decision about the lurcher - poor girl!
 
Yes if you are going to spay then three months from her season is the best time. I am sure you are making the correct decision and have researched the pros and cons for that breed
 
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