First Heat? When to spay?

[PicOlio]

Trinity is far too young yet for me to worry about it really but I've never had to decide when to spay a dog before. Neutering is just easier and when my boys got "big enough" snip snip lol

Now that we have a lil'lady to think about and the surgery is a lot more than the snip snip routine I find myself worrying about it.

I want to wait as long as possible so that she's as big and strong as she can be before we do it.... at the same time, I've (this shocks me lol) never had a dog in heat before! I never realized how few females I've had in my lifetime. If it's as I'm assuming it is...I'd rather not have to go through that especially with all of the other dogs around....

So what's the opinion on when to spay a female rottweiler?

[RSbunny]

We say at work spey them at 6 months. If you get her done at 6 months she'll be old enough to handle it and you will avoid her coming into heat! I've never had a dog in season before either...Cindy was speyed when we got her and apparently Biscuit had just finished a season and I had her speyed before the next one! And it's all very routine....especailly at a young age so don't worry too much. Within three days she'll be back to normal, they recover really quickly!!!! We have lots of clients that book their dogs in the day they turn 6 months old!! Usually dogs come into season after 7 months of age. I haven't seen a dog at work be in heat at 6 months...not saying it can't happen! I've never dealt much with it either

[Padfoot]

Quote: Originally Posted by RSbunny And it's all very routine....especailly at a young age so don't worry too much. Within three days she'll be back to normal, they recover really quickly!!!!

I took both Odie and Charlotte to their surgeries the same day. Odie was 6 months and Charlotte 5. They told me that they should be as calmed as possible for 10 days after the surgery for it to heal properly. Believe me, you'll have trouble trying to keep them calmed! I had to keep them both crated for ten days, cause the day after the surgery they were as hyper as puppies always are!

[RSbunny]

Yep that's true!! We always recommend any dog (well animal, but we're talking dogs here) to be kept quiet for the 10-14 days the stitches are in. Most people have trouble and have to lock their dog up cause they feel completely normal! I always tell people to enjoy the first day or so, when they are still groggy, it's the easiest!!

[Chinchilla_Girl]

Yup, we recommend spaying at 6 months as well as rabies vaccine. Yes it is more involved, but really, it's very routine these days...the whole thing including surgery prep usually takes about a half hour at most. Definetly try to get it done before her first heat if you can, if not, wait until her heat cycle is finished. We WILL spay during a heat cycle, but there is more blood and a higher risk. Personally, I would ask your vet what their recommended PUP schedule is and discuss it during her routine PUP vaccinations

[Chrisanne]

Our vet says 5-6 months. We've always done 6

[DirtySouthChins]

Here they will do it at 8 weeks of age....grrrr....but I always try to extend to at least 5 months or right at the 6 month mark, this is when I feel they are ready and yet it is in time before they can go into their first heat

[Sasami]

We got Sophie (our only female doggy) spayed at 6 months. We kept her away from our other dog while the stitches were in.

[SugarLovesRats]

I am an advocate of early/pediatric spay nueter the ASPCA I work at does it I have seen spays done at 8 wks. with no comlications. There are also definate benefits, the younger the animal the less belly fat which makes for easier acsess and less healing time. The school of thought on waiting 6 mnths has been severely challenged lately, it is just not neccasary to wait that long. Here are some good links with pediatric spay/nueter info:

http://www.rallyobedience.com/early.htm

http://www.danesonline.com/earlyspayneuter.htm

Also you should definately not wait until her first heat , spaying prior too helps greatly to prevent reproductive organ tumors. Good Luck with your new girl!

[Candycane]

Excellent information, SugarLoveRats! I am also an advocate of early spay/neuter procedures. Many shelters across North America are now practicing it. In addition, many breeders are now having their pups altered before going to new home (the only way to guarantee that the owner will not breed the dog). Surprisingly, many vets will tell you that the animal actually recovers BETTER when they are young. I'm not sure if/where there is any research on this, but it is documented anecdotally.

Here are a few more links.
http://www.hsus2.org/sheltering/library/early-age.html
http://www.hsus2.org/sheltering/library/early_age2.html

[AprilsMom]

When April was only 6 months, we got her spayed. I dropped her off in the morning and picked her up in the evening. The next day, we took her down to my parents house for the weekend, we planned for her to be in her cage the whole day. While, my husband and I alternated going to the beach for the day.

Well, we woke up, and found out that she had taken off her cone (the plastic cone around her neck) and taken out two of her 10 stiches. Talk about PANIC! We quickly called all the nearest vets since we were about an hour from ours. And we went to the first vet that said, "COME IN." When we got there, they told us they could not take us in, because they had another emergency coming. I was so mad because we drove 30 minutes to get to them only to go to another place.

So, we jumped in the car, while I was holding April, she started to move. She did not understand what was going on. So, we got to the second vet hosptial and they took us in right away and restitched her. By the time we got there, she was bleeding badly from her cut.

By the time we got there and home, it was about 4 hours. The vet instead of replacing 2 stitches ended up having to replace 8 of the 10, because by the time we got there, most had worked its way out of her stitch.

My advice, is when your dog is spayed make sure they keep the cone on the whole time. Make sure it is nice and tight, but comfortable, where they can still move and breath. And don't make any plans to go anywhere, make sure they can stay home.

We made that mistake, we thought if we were going to keep her in her crate, she would be okay. But, she was not and we were not able to go to our own vet. Definetly, keep them in the crate for the full 10-14 days, but keep a very close eye on them.

[TareG]

The benefits surely outweight any of the potential consequences/worries you may feel or have, and I would say that spaying/neutering an animal is probably the best thing you can do for them!
I know it feels kind of like a cruel decision - taking away their "parts" and putting them through surgery - but they do recover quickly (as everyone has said) and they will be a happier, healthier dog afterward!

Good luck!

[SugarLovesRats]

Just wanted to mention, they also have icky tasting cream you can put on the stitches, so they won't chew at them. Luckily my dogs didn't have to wear the E collar and didn't really bother the stitches but I had the cream just in case.

[Padfoot]

My dogs didn't needed the E-collar either.. my vet told me to keep them distracted from the stitches. Well, I thought it was kinda funny every time I catched Odie licking at his stitches. I told him off and he looked at me, if I stopped looking at him, he would lick again, if I continued to stare a long time his leg would slowly start to shake a bit, till it was completely up (and down), ready to lick his stitches again, but his face didn't moved. LOL...

[TareG]

Lol!!