What age to spay?

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spaniel

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Ruby is now 8 months old and Im thinking we need to make the decision to spay her soon. She hasnt had any sign of a season yet dispite our collie being 'in' at the moment so what is standard practice now....do you allow a bitch a first season or can we crack on and get her booked in at anytime?
 
If you do allow her a first season remember that most vets won't then spay for about another three months afterwards to allow all the womby bits to shrink back down or somesuch. :p

I had mine done at six months before her first season; the vet's only concern was that the earlier you do them, the higher the potential risk of urinary incontinence in later life. However, the risk of mammary cancers etc. also increases with each additional season so there's not much to choose between them.
 
Having had to go through mammary cancer with our old bitch I am keen to avoid this again with Ruby. I suspect the first season will be with us soon so it looks like it will be late summer/autumn time for her op.
 
Do it now!! Now now now now now!! Sorry, got over-excited then.... If you do it before her first season there is a much reduced risk of mammary tumours in later life, I would have had it done around 5-6 months old but if you do it now you might just get her before her season.
 
as cayla says your going to get different opinions on this
me personnally would wait until at least first season..im on my third bitch,neither of them have been speyed,im not a breeder either

let yout puppy mature a little before speying..my second whippy didnt have her first season until she was 14 mths old and shes still un speyed, but this is just my opinion and each bitch is different
 
One of my lurchers, whom I got at six months, didn't have her first season until she was 15 months old. She did come to us underweight, riddled with fleas, earmites and tapeworm though! Two of my lurchers were spayed after their first season with no ill effects.:)
 
Everyone has different opinion on it so its really down to your personal circumstances as to when you decide to do it. I tend to leave mine til after 2 years to neuter as it allows them plenty of time to mature (they are show dogs and the girls continue showing after they are spayed) as they need the hormones to grow correctly. But in all honesty, its not a huge problem to neuter a dog earlier. The only problem i found with my lab who needed neutering at about 10 months cos he had a problem with his man bits was that he just grew out of control and out of proportion lol! He ended up about 4 inches over the correct height (he was not a big puppy so we wouldnt have expected him to end up so huge!!) and also his back legs grew for longer than his front legs so he is a little downhill!
 
I am reading this thread with interest!! Rosie is our first bitch and Flyn is entire so I want to get her speyed before we end up with "Sprollies"!!
 
It is interesting to hear peoples views (thank you all) and I think Im going to hang on until the autumn based on two things....firstly Ruby is quite a small bitch and I think she still has some growing to do and secondly the weather is great and she has boundless energy so I would like to get her out and about as much as possible now without having to confine her after surgery!
 
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