[beccypaul]

right the vet has a place available to spay Dixie friday for £96 for everything.

my vet has said its best to spay before first season but my aunties vet has said the benefits of leaving the spay until the bitch is fully developed after the first season outweigh the health benefitsof having it done before.

help! what do i do?

please can you give me some advice about when it's best to have the spay done?

i am so confused!


Love Bec & Dixie

 

[k/c mom]

Originally posted by beccypaul@Mar 8 2005, 12:24 PM
right the vet has a place available to spay Dixie friday for £96 for everything.

my vet has said its best to spay before first season but my aunties vet has said the benefits of leaving the spay until the bitch is fully developed after the first season outweigh the health benefitsof having it done before.

help! what do i do?

please can you give me some advice about when it's best to have the spay done?

i am so confused!


Love Bec & Dixie
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What are the benefts of spaying after the first season?

 

[beccypaul]

to do with temperament and full development? thats all the vet told her

 

[ButterCloudandNoriko]

I say spay before because it reduces cancer for them by ALOT! I think if you wait til spaying after their first season, their risk of getting cancer goes up to 20%. Or was it 50%?

 

[k/c mom]

Originally posted by beccypaul@Mar 8 2005, 01:01 PM
to do with temperament and full development? thats all the vet told her
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About 40 years ago I remember that we used to hear to wait until the first heat to spay. I do believe that over the years research has proven that the benefits of reducing the possibly of mammary cancer and ovarian cancer makes spaying before the first heat the preferred choice. I've yet to hear a truly valid reason for waiting....

 

[Ladysmom]

Spaying can also prevent mammary gland tumors, the most common tumor in unspayed female dogs and the third most common tumor in cats. They are more common in dogs than in humans. A high percentage of mammary tumors are cancerous: in dogs, nearly 50%; in cats, nearly 90%. Once a cancerous mammary tumor spreads to the bones or lungs, the cancer will be fatal. An unspayed dog is 200 times more likely to develop mammary tumors than a dog spayed before her first heat.

That's reason enough to spay before the first heat in my book.

 

[k/c mom]

Originally posted by LadysMom@Mar 8 2005, 01:39 PM
Spaying can also prevent mammary gland tumors, the most common tumor in unspayed female dogs and the third most common tumor in cats. They are more common in dogs than in humans. A high percentage of mammary tumors are cancerous: in dogs, nearly 50%; in cats, nearly 90%. Once a cancerous mammary tumor spreads to the bones or lungs, the cancer will be fatal. An unspayed dog is 200 times more likely to develop mammary tumors than a dog spayed before her first heat.

That's reason enough to spay before the first heat in my book.
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My first Maltese's mother died of breast cancer. I felt bad in that if she had been spayed before her first heat she probably would not have gotten it. She was just a house pet and shouldn't have been bred anyway. So it seems to me that she died an early death (at age 5) for no good reason.... except of course giving birth to my beloved Rosebud.

 

[jmm]

Waiting reduces the chances of spay-related incontinence (there are other types of incontinence female dogs can also get). In certain breeds (Rottweilers), waiting my reduce the chance of bone cancer. This is not something to consider with Maltese. Some people prefer to wait for the dog to mature naturally with hormones. To me, the cancer prevention is a huge reason to spay before the first heat unless you have a breed where other types of cancer may be influenced by spaying before the first heat.

 

[Vikki and Audrey]

Before. Definitely.
Good luck!