spaying, should i or shouldn't i now?

josie · spaying, should i or shouldn't i now?

I am thinking of getting Slate spayed. She's 3.5 yrs old now and isn't going to be bred from. She is v obedient and an excellent retriever of almost labrador proportions, but I don't think she shows enough hunting drive, or a good enough nose, she is not keen on water and she has a lot of conformation shortcomings, (although, to be fair, her relatives are doing well in the ring). She can also be a bit narky with other dogs on shoots, coming up to sniff her etc - although her and Grey (1 yr) get on well.

However, how do you think spaying her could affect things with Grey and should I wait till Grey has her 1st season before spaying Slate? Slate is boss in all ways and Grey respects that at the moment. Should I leave Slate with all her bits until Grey has her 1st season (in case Grey getting her season is somehow a challenge to Slate)?

This would be at least another year because Slate only has seasons every 6 mnths and the next time to spay her would be right at Xmas, and I wouldn't want to deal with her recovering from a spay at Xmas when we go to visit my family in Jersey. So, the question is - do I wait another full year just so that Grey can have had her first season or am I worrying about nothing and should just spay her now? Would appreciate thoughts, especially from others with multi-bitch households.

Thx

Linda W

I've had bitches for over 20 years and never had a problem due to one being spayed. The only real problem I've had was with 2 half sisters, but they never got on, so spaying didn't change things Confused

If they get on fine now then I would go for it. I don't see a problem happening just because you spay Slate. Just my experience though. Wink

weima

I would spay her now. I see no reason to wait. I have had bitches in 1 house and had one spayed and the pecking order still remained the same.

Claire

Nell is spayed, she is also only 23 inches but by gawd she is boss over Harris and Whistle Laughing

If the only thing you are worried about is pecking order then I too would get her spayed now but remember to change nothing else in your household. Don't make a big deal out of it and don't try to enforce Slate continuing to be boss, just let the dogs get on with things just as you would do now whilst Slate is entire. Also, they do tend to recover very quickly from spaying and the most common problem is stopping your wei running and jumping around and bursting open her stitches Rolling Eyes

josie

Oh gawd, I really wanted you all to tell me not to, so I had an excuse to delay it Shocked

I am so worried about her having an op and I keep imagining her shut up in a cage at the vets and feeling abandoned Sad

guy

Why can't she just stay entire?

BritAnnie

I usually put up with the inconvenience of seasons until my bitches are about 6 or 7. Then they are usually young and fit enough to withstand the op, it doesn't matter too much if their coats 'blow', and it puts paid to bad stuff like pyometra and mammary tumours, as well as unwanted and/or unregisterable litters.

Unless she has bad seasons/false pregnancies, or they cause you a lot of hassle (like if you have a stud dog that howls Rolling Eyes

) or the timings are wrong for tests/trials etc I shouldn't bother till then.
JMHO
and remember spaying a bitch is nothing like the op for hysterectomy in humans. They moan a lot more. Wink

(apologies to anyone who's had it done)
BA

josie

I don't know, it's a dilemma - a guy who works his GSP on a shoot Slate was picking up on this year had a 7/8 yo bitch and she had just had to have an emergency spay due to pyo and it was all a big rush and more dangerous because it was an emergency spay than if it had been planned and between seasons etc. So, I just would feel so awful if she got pyo because I hadn't spayed her.

lagopuslagopus

If you are not going to breed from her I can't see any point in putting it off. With my first bitch I stayed with her until the knife was going in on the table and then was right there as she was coming round again. Grouse was speyed at 2 as she wasn't going to be bred from. The dogs will sort themselves out whether they are speyed or not.

josie

Wow, I think you must have a really understanding vet - I wish mine would let me stay there that late and be there when she came round!

Claire

Jo she will be given a pre med and probably won't give a damn about being in a kennel in the vets for a few hours. But I do understand your worry as I was the same when Nell had to stay in the vet hospital over Christmas.

Spaying obviously eliminates pyo, however unless you have your bitch spayed before her first season it does not completely eliminate the risk of mammary tumours, it just stops the risk increasing further. After every season the risk of mammary tumours later on in life is increased slightly because the hormones have been allowed to "work" for want of a better word.

If you are definitely not breeding from her then get her spayed, thats what I would do. Whistle is 2½ and has had 4 seasons, I've not yet decided if I am breeding from her or not because I'd be sh*t scared of something going wrong and I've got the damn docking ban to take into consideration also. However, she will be spayed eventually, once we have come to a decision.

tashap

I've got two intact bitches in the house and have no problems with them we also have two regularly visiting and staying over bitches of other breeds that again no problems with, the behaviour problems maybe something that she carries on after being spayed and might just be the need for a little more socialising. I know Bonnie's attitude changed when I brought Ayla into the house because she was being protective of her but I've resolved that by getting her out there and not putting up with any nonsense, now that Ayla is an adult she's less bother and Bonnie is not so protective towards her.

If you want to wait then wait but it will probably be easier on the pair of them coming into season together and less cleaning up if you did want to spay her now.

josie

I have one more question on the spaying subject:

I know it's best to spay midway between seasons. Slate's seasons are every 6 mnths, so midway between them is around 15th May. However, Adam is away then and I'd like him to be around when we do this. Would it still be ok to spay her, say early June (say 9th June)?? How precise do you have to be about getting it midway between?? Question

BritAnnie

I think that would be fine but your vet will guide you. Mine have never been exactly mid way - just approximately. And all have been fine - jumping over walls 2 days later in some instances with us going bananas in the background and arguing the toss over who let her out. Rolling Eyes

weima

Yes June would be fine. Midway is a rough guide so as to get the hormone levels back to normal obviously some bitches are irregular so it is more difficult to tell.

Good luck with it & I'm sure everything will be fine.

josie

Ok, thanks!

Mike

Jo, I don't know if this is reassuring or not but when Grace was done you literally wouldn't know that anything had happened IIRC she was jumping flower beds in less than 24 hrs (not that she was supposed to be)

sako75

Josie ,

After alot of consideration we had Millie done last Tuesday. Like you , we were fairly worried about the GA and OP etc but to be honest it was all fine. Millie was at the vets for the pre-med at 9am and back home by 3.30pm the same day. Millie was very groggy and took about a day to recover fully , after 24hrs she was bouncing about like a bloomin idiot - back to her usual self Rolling Eyes

.

Barry.

windem bang

That's great Barry - she's a twelve month a year bitch now ! Very Happy

Bill T.

sako75

Seriously though Bill,

Spaying her is the best thing that has happened to her , no more seasons to endure with an entire male in the house (my dog - not me Laughing

) , no more phantoms of which there were many , no more worries with shoot days coinciding with seasons and hopefully her training will be easier now without the lethargy and lack of interest that phantom pregnancies can and have caused - YIPPPEEEEE !!!!!

Barry. Very Happy

josie

Thanks Barry and Mike, that is reassuring! Yes, it will be enough to have just Grey's seasons, methinks, not 2 of them to deal with! Grey is still season-less though. At what age should I start to worry? I mean, if she hasn't had a season by 18mnths, something's wrong, yes??

Claire

Errrr you is forgetting the most important part, Logan gets to keep his dangly bits Very Happy

I have a thing about dogs keeping their bits Embarassed

sako75

Helen

My setter was around 24 months when she first came into season! She was very slow to mature though.

Helen

weima

josie

No, Grey won't be spayed until she's at least as old as Slate. And, who knows, if she proves herself to be a good working dog, we might breed her. She'd have to be an exceptional dog for us to think about breeding her, but we won't know what she is until she matures so will leave her entire till then. (If she ever matures, looking at her now, it is hard to imagine Shocked

)