Spay after first or second season?

[Morwenna]

Apologies if this has been discussed before. My 11 month old lab is coming into her first season and is pretty miserable. I’m going to have her spayed as I have no intention of breeding from her but am now dithering about when. She’s still quite small so I don’t know if she has some more growing to do so part of me thinks wait until after her second season but she is so miserable at the moment part of me thinks have her spayed after this so she doesn’t have to go through it again. I’ve never had to make this decision before so any words of wisdom gratefully received!

 

[splashgirl45]

I left both of mine till they were over 2 , collie cross and lurcher. I just didn’t want to do it too early so they had 2 seasons. Some Vets seem to want to neuter and spay quite young, I don’t know which is right but I’m going to wait till my current boy lurcher is at least 18 months ..

 

[MurphysMinder]

I would leave a lab till at least 18 months if not older . First seasons are often the worst , my Gsd was miserable and didn’t eat well during her first season but I won’t be doing her until she’s at least 2

 

[Moobli]

I would leave it as long as possible to give her chance to mature mentally as well as physically, so would leave until after her second season (or longer).
My GSD bitch was 3 before she was spayed and my border collie bitch is coming up 2 years in June so I’ll plan for her to be spayed next year.

 

[Morwenna]

Thanks everyone. My instinct is to leave it until at least after her second season. She is still very puppyish in many ways and she is not, I don’t think, mature enough to have her done sooner. Hopefully her next season won’t be as miserable for her but I can manage that with lots of cuddles and low fat treats (I almost wish she was off her food. She’s permanently hangry).

 

[Clodagh]

Ffee was very sad when in season, it was awful. At least it’s not forever! I would leave until after the next one.

 

[SAujla]

Wait until after second or even third season. Ideally after 2 years of age then you can be sure she's finished growing. Hopefully she'll also deal with the second season better as she will be more mature as well

 

[SOS]

My honest advice… spay after two IF you are responsible enough to keep her out of having an unwanted litter. More mature and less chance of urinary incontinence when older if spayed at a later age. But you do run the risk of a pyo in any entire bitch at any age.

 

[ecb89]

My nearly 11 month old lab has also come into season today. Previously my vet advised to wait until at least two season.
She wasn’t a happy girl earlier

 

[Morwenna]

My honest advice… spay after two IF you are responsible enough to keep her out of having an unwanted litter. More mature and less chance of urinary incontinence when older if spayed at a later age. But you do run the risk of a pyo in any entire bitch at any age.

There will definitely be NO puppies. I’m taking her out once a day at 5:30am, always on lead and sticking to the quieter areas if she wants to go (yesterday she backed away when I got her harness). I won’t even do that while she’s in the fertile phase as there are too many idiots around. Other than that it’s lots of playing and training in the house or secure garden and lots of cuddles.

 

[Morwenna]

My nearly 11 month old lab has also come into season today. Previously my vet advised to wait until at least two season.
She wasn’t a happy girl earlier

It’s horrible to see them so sad isn’t it. My old vets assumed I’d be getting her spayed after he first season. I wasn’t happy with them for a few reasons and moved a few months ago. Haven’t spoken to the new vets yet about this but I get the feeling they’re much more sensible about these things.

 

[malwhit]

I have had bitches spayed at 6 months, after their first season, after their 2nd and at four years old. The latter I rescued from a local puppy farmer. None had any problems in later life.

With my last two bitches, I decided to wait until after their first season as I had done more research. In the end, I did not get them done until around 2 years old. This was due to bad timing on my part.

I don't know if it is just the dogs themselves, but they are more mature and less "silly" than dogs I had spayed at an early age.

 

[SOS]

There will definitely be NO puppies. I’m taking her out once a day at 5:30am, always on lead and sticking to the quieter areas if she wants to go (yesterday she backed away when I got her harness). I won’t even do that while she’s in the fertile phase as there are too many idiots around. Other than that it’s lots of playing and training in the house or secure garden and lots of cuddles.

Sorry should have said didn’t meant you in particular. Just aware people may read this and realise it’s an option to keep a bitch entire until matured but want them to realise it’s also a big responsibility to stop unwanted litters.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

Does it make a difference of when to spay if its a large or small dog? Due to covid our lab wasn't spayed til around 2. Vet mentioned spaying my little parsons at around 9 months if she had had 2 seasons. She's 7 months now and has6had a season yet. We can easily keep her away from other dogs but would like to get her done as soon as possible.

 

[Aru]

Does it make a difference of when to spay if its a large or small dog? Due to covid our lab wasn't spayed til around 2. Vet mentioned spaying my little parsons at around 9 months if she had had 2 seasons. She's 7 months now and has6had a season yet. We can easily keep her away from other dogs but would like to get her done as soon as possible.

Short answer is yes size matters.
Breed also matters in the larger size ranges. But il try and find some links to expand on this further because it's a massive pros and cons list for different sizes and desexing is an area where there is a lot of newer research being done over the last few years.

Essentially some Larger breed dogs have more health issues that can be affected positively by keeping them intact longer. In some breeds it does seem to make a big difference to females(goldens being the big one, partly due to the level of their genetic health issues and some of the research has being done on that breed)
Many of the conditions are not seen in smaller dogs to the same extent,if at all, but mammary cancer appears to be more common in some small breeds and reduction in heat cycles can reduce that disease risk considerably.

Benefits and Risks of Neutering–An Evidence-Based Approach |

 

[Flowerofthefen]

Short answer is yes size matters.
Breed also matters in the larger size ranges. But il try and find some links to expand on this further because it's a massive pros and cons list for different sizes and desexing is an area where there is a lot of newer research being done over the last few years.

Essentially some Larger breed dogs have more health issues that can be affected positively by keeping them intact longer. In some breeds it does seem to make a big difference to females(goldens being the big one, partly due to the level of their genetic health issues and some of the research has being done on that breed)
Many of the conditions are not seen in smaller dogs to the same extent,if at all, but mammary cancer appears to be more common in some small breeds and reduction in heat cycles can reduce that disease risk considerably.

Benefits and Risks of Neutering–An Evidence-Based Approach |

Thank you so much for your reply. Very interesting!

 

[Morwenna]

This article is interesting too - it’s a balance of the risks of pyo, joint issues and cancer

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2020.00388/full

 

[Flowerofthefen]

This article is interesting too - it’s a balance of the risks of pyo, joint issues and cancer

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2020.00388/full

Thank you, will have a good read later. Such a job to know what to do for the best, hopefully this will make it clearer.

 

[Chiffy]

I am definitely in the at least 2 seasons camp. I have all my bitches spayed age 3 . I seem to be lucky though as none of mine have minded being in season.

 

[ecb89]

My nearly 11 month old lab has also come into season today. Previously my vet advised to wait until at least two season.
She wasn’t a happy girl earlier

Quoting myself. My Bonnie has started her second season today. Need to start thinking about when is best to spay her.

 

[Zoeypxo]

I have a large malamute female we spayed after her first season, cant remember how old she was , this was 10 yrs ago, shes always been a very healthy girl touch wood

 

[gallopingby]

I’d wait as long as possible. There can be side effects of spaying to early resulting in incontinence due to hormonal issues.

 

[KEK]

Actually, I don’t think urinary incontinance has much to do with when they are spayed. My bitch with the worst ever incontinance had puppies and wasn’t spayed until she was 8. She now requires top end doses of 2 different meds to control it. All my others have had none/little.
I normally spay after the 1st season to balance development with risks (I have BCs that do agility).

 

[Ratface]

My GSD was spayed after her second season. She was very clean and tidy with both of them, but as I had no intention of breeding from her, she was spayed. The Grippet was already spayed when I got her, which was fortunate. Had she not been, I would have arranged for that to be done when she had settled in.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

My first bitch didn't have her first season till she was 20 months. I had her spayed after her 2nd season. She developed urinary incontinence. The next three were spayed after their first seasons all just under one year and no urinary problems so far.

 

[splashgirl45]

Both of my bitches were spayed when they were two and a half , either 2 or 3 seasons im not sure , neither had urinary problems