To spay or not to spay?

Definitely. We had ours spayed after her first season. It saves a lot of mess, and of course stops the attention of all the boys in the district.

It is the first thing I do when adopting a female dog. Once the female dog has had her first season then 3months later we have her spayed. It saves coping with a season every 6months, saves coping with changes in behaviour during season, prevents false pregnancies with behaviour issues, prevents pyometra.

Yes I would, years ago I had a lovely little Westie, we never had her spayed, no particular reason, we didn’t want to breed with her, we just never got round to it and she rarely came into season. She ended up with a doggy version of breast cancer and had to have surgery to have the affected line of teats removed. It was a hormonal linked cancer & the vet told us it is much more common in dogs that haven’t been spayed. She had two operations to remove the tumours but sadly it came back & she was very poorly & had to be put to sleep. Since then I have had three male dogs but if I had another bitch I would definitely have her spayed. That’s just my experience, I’m sure others will have different opinions.

Yes, I would have her spayed. We’ve had two female dogs. The first we didn’t spay. She used to go into a depression when she came into season, didn’t want to go out etc. Once it was over, she was back to normal. Looking back, we should have had her done.

When we had a second dog, we had her spayed as a puppy and it saved a lot of hassle.

Yes, without any hesitation. I have always had pets spayed/neutered as had no intention of breeding from them and it saved them from a lot of hassle overall.

I nearly lost my first whippet with pyometra when she was 8. She was never the same dog again. And my current dog was booked in for a spay after her first season and had what seemed to be a womb infection so they had to be very careful when they operated. I don’t agree with having them spayed before they’ve had a season though.

Thanks so much everyone. She had her first season back in Feb/March. Our previous dog wasn’t spayed and suffered like SachaMac’s dog.
I just feel it’s a bit unkind to put her through an operation. The vet was very reassuring this morning.

Spay.

She will recover in no time and you’ll have a job to keep her from racing round and jumping.
Protect her wound with a doggy babygro, so much kinder than a scary plastic cone round her head.

Most definitely have her spayed. Not only does it save mess and unwanted male attention, it prevents the birth of yet more unwanted puppies.

You need to get it done soon as you don’t want to have it done on the run up to her next season.

Yes definitely have her spayed Mollygo apart from the benefits mentioned above it also helps prevent mammary tumours.

Yes, I agree with everyone, get her spayed. There seems to be a growing band of anti neuter owners. I didn’t spay my first dog till she was 8. Seasons no issue until she was 7, when she became obsessed with finding her Prince. That combined with teenagers meant she was out overnight once. I was searching, calling etc. she arrived home at 6am with the Scottie dog who lived up the road. I phoned my vet who said bring her in, I’ll spay this morning, we don’t want a litter at age 8.
All my dogs have been neutured, never had any problems. Two of my females were wretched, miserable throughout their seasons. That combined with the desperate 8 year old convinced me.
My male lab was neutured recently. He’s already calming down

The only female dog I've known was when I was a child. We didn't have her spayed because it wasn't a thing then. I just remember there being an awful lot of mess when she was in season.

Until my dog nearly died I just thought that people had their dogs spayed for convenience and I thought vets recommended spaying just to make money. And then other dogs I had needed to be spayed in middle age because they developed mammary tumours.

My little girl is 5 months now and we're wondering the same thing. I didn't have my previous dog done, but I remember the mess and inconvenience of her seasons. Like you Mollygo I don't like the thought of putting her through an operation though.

Mollygo they seem to recover from ops much faster than humans do. These days vets are v good with making sure your pet stays pain free, too.

Having worked for a vet I can assure you if you have no intention of breeding then most definitely have her spayed and there is no need to wait until she has her first season. We saw so many unspayed bitches with pyometra.

MayBee makes good points
My females have all been bouncing 24!hours after spay. It’s usually problem free other than keeping them from leaping about too soon. Then no more distress lasting 3-4 Weeks for the female, the risk she may get out, and the inconvenience if her season falls when she’s booked in for boarding so can’t go

It applies to male dogs too. We had an entire male who developed a benign tumour on his anal glands at a young age. This was successfully removed but the vet advised having him neutered as a malignant growth was likely to occur otherwise.
It’s amazing how quickly animals recover from operations. I think back to the pain from my C section but there seems to be no comparison with spaying fortunately. They bounce back incredibly quickly.

It costs a bit more but micro surgery is a lot kinder for your dog, so please discuss this option with the vet. The dog recovers more quickly and less chance of post op infections.

Yes. Gracie’s op was so simple and uneventful that I can’t even remember anything at all about it.
And I’m an incredibly anxious, worry-prone person.
The cat’s op went similarly smoothly.
My previous dog wasn’t spayed, she hardly ever came into season and didn’t make a mess.
But she had terrible mood swings, and I think that she really wanted to mate.
I’d definitely do things differently for her now.
So - a definite yes from me Molly

I’m all for spaying and avoiding the problems the other posters have mentioned. I think you will find your Vet would advise spaying, ours does. Also it is quite an inconvenience when your bitch is attractive and attracted to all the uncut dogs around.

Well we’ve set the date and she’s had a pre-op check. Thanks for all posts.