When to spay?

We're going to have Katie spayed. She is 3 months old now. We have been told by many people that the best time is 6 months old. Our vet said to wait until she has her first season because of hormones. Katie is a Cavalier, so is it best in this breed to let her hormones through?
Also, if we do go for 6 months, that will be 23 December. Being around Christmas, if there is complications, it is going to be harder to get hold of a vet. So would it be okay to have the op begining of December (so she'll be around 5 1/2 months) of in early January (she'll be 6 1/2 months)? Also, if she had the op around the 23rd December, there's going to be family visiting, being loud and merry and kids bouncing off the walls with excitment, she wouldn't have a quiet recovery period. On average, how long does recovery take?
Thanks!

If it is best to wait till her first season and you can be RESPONSIBLE enough to keep her from breeding then I would say wait. 3 months is WAAAAy to soon and I would never spay that young. However, 6 months is the best time if you don't want to go through her being in heat The younger they are when they have the surgery done the quicker recovery time. I would say at least a week, though my dogs and cats have always bounced back to themselves the next day

mine had to get spayed at 5 1/2 years and her recovery was the standard couple of weeks for stitches to heal and no discomfort. the only thing that slowed her down was the drugs they gave her before releasing her from the clinic. once those wore off, you wouldn't have known she had just had major surgery.

as for when to spay, i am in the process of changing my thoughts on that. while i would prefer to not spay at all, i would wait at least until the dog reaches maturity if she is going to be spayed.

I think in your situation you should wait until Janurary.

Its really not best to spay young - you need to allow her hormones to get leveled first.

IF she does happen to go into heat before then - you will have to wait approx 2 months until you can spay her anyways.

With cats its different - you can spay a cat while in heat.

With dogs - if you spay a bitch that is in heat you have a large chance of her bleeding out.