When to spay? - Page 1

I have a 10 month old WL German Shepherd. She is a service dog candidate for my disabled husband. She is also a loved member of the family. We want to spay her at some point, but I am trying to figure out the best age to do this. The breeder said wait until she has gone through her first heat. Of course the veterinarian wants to do it now. I'm hoping to get some input from experienced breeders or owners.

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/09/30/neutering-health-risks.aspx

And here another link to a few articles from different sources regarding effects of early spay/neuter:

http://www.dogsports.com/rethinkingspayneuter.html

For the health sake of the dog population, it is nice to see that people in the U.S. are beginning to wake up to these facts.

I was just wondering this myself. I have a 7-month old female and she haven't gone through the first heat. I'm thinking of getting her spayed. My question is, when is the first heat period? I read in articles that it may come as soon as 6 months or so, but i want to be certain.

I had my German Shepherd puppy spayed at age 6 months on the recommendation of my veterinarian. She developed urinary incontinence before age 3 years and is now on Proin for the rest of her life. I am not a breeder or expert in the area and this is just anecdotal information, but if I had it to do over she wouldn't be spayed until age 2. I understand the huge overpopulation problem and why shelters require spay or neuter (even for puppies) before adopting an animal out, but I don't think it is the animal's best interest health wise and in a responsible and controlled environment I would wait until age 2.

I would never recommend spaying before the first heat. but i also had an 2 year old bitch spayed that later had to take Proin 50 for incontinence. So that's not 100% likely either as i have had dogs in the past never have any problem after being spayed.
But i personally feel that some where around 2nd year is better for the long term health of the dog. If spaying is the option you wish to go with. And having a girl in heat is a month long royal pain in the ass. Buy doggie underwear, ladies maxi pads and guard her virginity like her life depends on it. And don't let her out of your sight for even 1 second or you will find some ugly ass mutt stuck to her.
Best of luck!
Fry

don't spay....just do what dragonfly says... i go tnrough 3weeks of pads and 5days no sleep when my dog is in heat, and i have 2young males....
i changed vet because she insisted on spay and neuter...
i am not going to bereed my dogs no matter how great tjeir bloodlines are, but for the sake of their health i am leaving all 'attachments' nature gifted them with. Hormons r very important in their bodies, i would never do damage to them by spaying or neutering.

I will just say a few things about spaying...First off Vets want the money and recommend early spaying because of that fact...I is NEVER good to fix them too early...Too early means before they've matured...
If you're going to spay your female I would wait til she is around 2 years of age...Give her a chance to FULLY mature...

~Bob~

If you already know you're not going to breed your female, kaitlinmarkitori, why would you risk a pyometra rather than having her spayed after she's physically matured? I don't spay my females before they are two years of age, whenever possible, but I also won't leave them intact when I know they aren't going to be bred, because an emergency spay of a dog who has gone septic from a closed pyo is definitely something one should avoid whenever possible. There are vets that will do a hysterectomy WITHOUT removing the ovaries, leaving the dog the benefits of the body's natural hormone production while removing the pyometra concern.

To answer the OP's question, spaying at 24 months of age permits the female to reach their full maturity potential, both mentally and physically, but if you absolutely can't stand dealing with more than one heat cycle, AND you don't have an intact male dog over 4 months old in the household, then letting her go through her first heat--while keeping her on a leash and/or under your direct, eyeballs-on-her-every second supervision for the entire length of the cycle [figure 30 days to be safe--not just when you see a discharge, or you'll risk ending up with an unintended litter]--will ensure that she doesn't enter adulthood with a juvenile or inverted vulva that would make her prone to urinary tract infections and urine scalding of the tissue. Expect her first heat to occur sometime after 6 months of age but before she's 18 months old; if it doesn't happen by then, there's probably something not quite right with her repro tract, and you'll want to have her checked out in that case because there can be some issues that can accompany such an occurrence.

Great information in this post. Wish I had put more thought/effort in deciding to spay my female. My vet, whom I've used for about twelve years, made an impassioned "case" to spay her BEFORE her first heat to ensure she would never face several possible medical issues. I didn't think much about it because I didn't want to ever breed her and I was thinking about not wanting to deal with a heat cycle.

What I failed to take into account were any health issues occurring from an early spay. My vet never brought any up and I never asked. It's worth mentioning that he's (previously) always been informative and balanced about any recommended care. I've never felt like he was pushing something just to make a buck. I noticed that the below AVMA article does mention that it might be best to not wait until after the first heat to spay, but it defers any specific reasons to a discussion with your vet. 

Can't "unfix" her, but I may have a chat with the vet about needing better communication.

 

https://www.avma.org/public/PetCare/Pages/spay-neuter.aspx