HELLO FELLOW WIENERS!!
I have such a silly question to ask everyone...I have my babies, Boogey (male) who is turning 5 in August and Fa Fa (female) who just turned 3 last month. Neither one of them have been neutered/spayed nor had babies of their own. I plan on actuallying spaying/neutering them at the same time this summer roughly around August and that's just a decision I made with my boyfriend earlier this year. Boogey has had 2 back surgeries and he's doing well now and Fa Fa is super super healthy. We planned on breeding them when they were pups, but now that Boogey has shown signs of weakness in his back and also other problems with his skin and such, we have finally decided to do this long awaited proccess. So anyways, the whole point of this post is to see if anyone has any idea if there is reason to NOT spay/neuter them because they are now at this age. I know the earlier you spay/neuter them, the better. We obviously didn't follow this advice because we had other plans, but we changed our minds...SOOOO...is there anything I should know about risks and such with spaying/neutering dogs who are older than 3? It's just someone told me recently that doing this now is actually a risk for dogs...and it sorta freaked me out. Please help me and my boyfriend understand this a little bit more.
Thanks!!!
Tona :dontknow:
Quote from: Tona5959 on June 03, 2006, 01:56:03 AM
We obviously didn't follow this advice because we had other plans, but we changed our minds...SOOOO...is there anything I should know about risks and such with spaying/neutering dogs who are older than 3? It's just someone told me recently that doing this now is actually a risk for dogs...and it sorta freaked me out. Please help me and my boyfriend understand this a little bit more.
No more risks for dogs at 3 or 5 years of age than for younger ones... in fact, if you plan to spay/neuter, letting them mature completely is probably healthier than spay/neutering really young, to be perfectly honest.
If it makes you feel any better at all... I've spayed 4 girls in the last 2 years (due to health issues, I will no longer breed them). First, at 6, following back surgery the year before. No complications, though the tech did hold her for nearly an hour while she woke up completely, as a precaution to keep her from injuring her back if she moved around while coming out of the anesthesia. Second was a 9 m.o. (daughter of the first--needless to say, after the mother had a problem, I definitely did not want to continue breeding in that direction!). No complications. In fact, she carried on so much at the clinic that they asked me to come get her early! LOL Third one was 7 y.o. and it was an emergency spay--we thought she might have had a uterine infection. She was spayed in full milk (a false pregnancy), and turned out to have diabetes, but there were no real complications from the spay itself. (That said, the longer a female is intact, the more chance you have that she *could* get pyometra, or develop mammary tumors, so leaving them intact if you are not intending to show them or breed them is not generally the best choice.) Fourth, was just spayed on Thursday. She's 4. Completely normal. No consequences... doesn't even seem to have any discomfort. Number 5 will happen, I think, in July, following any falsie (it's best to spay after that time, if your girl has them), and she's just 2-1/2, so I don't expect any problems there either.
Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is, since they are mature, the sooner the better, but you definitely have *not* waited "too long."
I commend you for making the right decision... you should definitely *not* breed your boy, since it is definitely hereditary. Back problems are heartbreaking, as many here can tell you, and you don't want to be responsible for passing that along to some unsuspecting pet owner.
MaryAnne
No silly questions here !!! We all have them - and no better place to ask.......
I think they will go through the surgeries fine - they may keep them overnight in lieu of sending home shortly after just to watch them. I don't have hands on experience with neutering an older dog - just let you vet know your concerns.
Let us know when it is scheduled and we will send out those healing doxie rays - they work wonders !
Quote from: hildiesmom on June 03, 2006, 07:07:08 PM
No more risks for dogs at 3 or 5 years of age than for younger ones... in fact, if you plan to spay/neuter, letting them mature completely is probably healthier than spay/neutering really young, to be perfectly honest.
Every vet I have ever spoken with about spaying and neutering say that early spaying (before the first heat) and neutering can decrease the chance of certain types of cancers, ie. mammary and testicular.
Quote from: Nikki on June 04, 2006, 02:07:33 PM
Every vet I have ever spoken with about spaying and neutering say that early spaying (before the first heat) and neutering can decrease the chance of certain types of cancers, ie. mammary and testicular.
Yes, Nikki, I realize that. And it's the mammary cancer that's the issue. Neutering will prevent testicular cancer at *any* time--there are no testicles. :wink:
The issue, however, is that dogs who are spayed and neutered early don't fully develop their skeletal structure. And that, I believe, could be an issue for our dogs--who, heaven knows, have plenty problems with their skeleton! Read this:
http://www.caninesports.com/SpayNeuter.html
That said, if I had a dog that was in the least bit of risk of being bred "by accident", by all means, spay and neuter as soon as possible... and most reputable breeder--myself included--will require spay/neuter of any pet-quality dog as soon as medically possible. We don't want to add to the overpopulation issue, not to mention that many folks are simply not equipt to handle intact animals in a responsible fashion.
Your vets are completely right about the reduction of mammary cancer by spaying before the first heat--but there is still a reduction following the second and third... it just diminishes from there.
Hope that explains my statement a little more fully. It doesn't change my advice to the original poster, which was spay/neuter them NOW... there is no more risk spaying/neutering a dog at 3-5 years of age than for a younger dog. (If they were very elderly, that would be different.)
MaryAnne
Thanks for the responses.
I feel at least 100 times more confident about my boyfriend's and my decision now. And actually, I talked to my boyfriend about the whole thing again after I posted the first time and he did mention something about the vet saying that we should do something about our little babies, and they actually recommended no more than 5 yrs of age...and to correct myself...Boogey already turned 5...(I'm bad with dates :verdict: :verdict:) He actually turned 5 yrs back in Feb. *SHAME ON ME*
Anywho..
MaryAnne --
Thanks for sharing your stories about your little ones..It makes a lot of sense what you said about waiting for them to mature and such. So with this knowledge and confidence, I think we are going full force with our decision and I will post further in the future when I have the appointments figured out.
Now that I have said that we are going full force...I wonder how the recovery is going to be. And if I should feel guilty for taking away their natural ability to reproduce. Seems silly to try to compare them to humans. But I can't help but feel that what I am doing is going against the works of nature. Am I overreacting? I almost want to make it a point that I, myself would not want to be spayed. Now I am starting to feel a lilttle bit... :idiot:
Anyways, thanks for the support..and I'll keep everyone posted on my state of sanity over this matter
Quote from: Tona5959 on June 06, 2006, 01:31:16 AM
Now that I have said that we are going full force...I wonder how the recovery is going to be. And if I should feel guilty for taking away their natural ability to reproduce. Seems silly to try to compare them to humans. But I can't help but feel that what I am doing is going against the works of nature. Am I overreacting? I almost want to make it a point that I, myself would not want to be spayed. Now I am starting to feel a lilttle bit... :idiot:
Dixie was spayed on June 1st. She was almost totally back to normal by the weekend. I took her off pain meds by Sunday. Recovery is generally quite easy.
No, you should not feel guilty. They are *not* wild animals. They are just as content to *not* have babies. It is far more responsible to spay them and avoid any future problems. Oh, and I probably should tell you that my Ellie--who was spayed at 7 (kept intact because I still showed her from time to time)--DID develop some mammary tumors in the time since her spay 2 years ago. It is now a recurrent issue.
Neuter/Spay them. Don't look back. It's worth it.
MaryAnne
Oh, knowing the recovery is fast makes it another 100 times better. The whole reason why I am waiting until August is because my boyfriend has a week off....so if the recovery is quick, then I don't have to worry about me taking time off after his week of vacation is over. Later tonight I will share this new info with him and I think he is going to be just as confident as I am now.
And my :heart: goes to Ellie for being such a strong pup...many rays to her
the only thing i will say is it can be a wee bit harder on the dog the older they are. we actually got my other standard dashie netured on friday and he hasn't been happy but we had to because he wanted to wander and he was a little bit aggressive but we just got extra pain relief and he is getting stronger every day. he keeps jumping up on the furniture which i think is pulling at the stiches so we have had to put plastic bags any were he wants to climb up to stop him because he is afraid of plastic bags. my house looks like a grocery store :2funny:
Spaying and neutering them should be just fine. I have noticed that with my dogs, the spayed females took a little longer to heal than the neutered males. We had our dog neutered early. Porky was 8 months when he got it done. They had him stay overnight and we picked him up at noon the next day. He was ready to play two days later. He had also gotten two of his baby teeth that never fell out removed at the same time. he did not seem to mind at all and needed no pain medication. We also took our male cat in at the same time to be neutered. The vet got a good laugh because they ended up having to kennel Porky and Pete together because they kept trying to comfort each other and Pete had gotten his paws and head stuck between the bars when he was reaching for Porky. :2funny: They said as soon as they were in the kennel together, they went to sleep and cuddled together. They have always been really close to one another.