to spay or not to spay

To spay or not to spay, that is the question~

Would you or have you spayed your pet in the past?
I could never do it, personally.

www.petsmo.com

I would there are so many benefits, read my thread

http://www.chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10161

why could you never do it?

All of my dogs that are not show dogs are spayed or neutered, or, when a dog retires from showing and breeding they are also spayed or neutered. It is such a simple and inexpensive procedure I am surprised that you wouldn't consider doing it. May I ask why not? Are you aware of the risks involved with leaving your dog intact (i.e. testicular cancer, uterine cancer, mammary cancer and the very deadly if not caught in time pyometra?) I worked in a vet clinic for a very long time and saw first hand the complications people faced when they refused to spay or neuter. The above problems do happen, quite frequently actually! Not to mention all the unexpected and unplanned for pregnancies. Oh, and can't forget all those intact male dogs brought in after being hit by a car because they were seeking out a female in heat

If not perfect breeding quality yes every one of my other dogs are spayed or neutered. I breed my dogs until a certain age and then those dogs are also spayed and or neutered.

one look at that video onemorelitter ought to answer that question for anyone..accidents happen even to the most diligent of people..most often it happens when you are short on money and hoping that there will be enuff NEXT month and then you wait one month too long (who would ever guess that Mary would get pg before she was 6 months old) please spay and save lives from plights like onemorelitter..i gotta look up that link.oh it made me cry

oh absolutely..spay or neuter. I am beyond thrilled that my gal isn't bothered by going into heat or having unwanted males. I'm even more thrilled not to have my guy lost due to 'looking for love'. I'm someone that was so paranoid about having unwanted puppies that I took both to the vet the moment it was allowed. I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't. It is inexpensive (especially weighing the possiblity of puppies to care for/find homes for) and neither of my dogs exhibited any signs of pain from the procedures. unless you are a quality breeder, it is really the thing to do.

If you are not a breeder ....yes !!!!! If you are a good breeder , you do it after their " duties" are done. None of my females had more than 2 litters ... my males normally weren't neutered unless for their health. That was 15 years ago. Today I'd freeze sperm and neuter.

I always spay/neuter. Saves alot of humping incidents (sp?)

All of my pets are spayed or neutered. My breeding or potential breeding dogs are kept 100% seperate to make sure there are no ooppss. I do not believe in oopppsss. If anything turns up in a test or in training that is not exactly what we want then the dog is immediately spayed or neutered. Two now that we have bought with the intent to breed with and one had iffy hips so neutered, the others temperment was iffy, neutered.

That's the way to do it ! But any new owner who is not serious in wanting a litter in 3 years should spay. As far as males, unless you ARE a breeder , neuter. Unless you are into serious showing. When you have even the most fabulous male in your eyes, if you are not into breeding , you'll never find a good breeding mate. Many wanted to use my males as studs and out of 20 at least I chose only 3.

all of mine have been and are currently s/n -- show dogs would be kept intact as needed, however i would speuter them as soon as i was able to.

in terms of a male, i would be very interested if i were placed int he situation, to neuter the male after he was collected, so that i could deal with less distraction while training

hell, for training purposes, an intact bitch is a problem as well... darn heat cycles!

I'm not sure what you meant...... do you mean save sperm , neuter ,then show ??? A male has to be intact to show. I had a friend who showed a champion Mastiff . It wasn't until he completed his showing that she saved his sperm and had him neutered. She did this for future litters as she was a good breeder and hoped some day to pass on his line.

I'm all for spaying and neutering, all of our pets have been and are currently. Aside from the health and behavior benefits, I don't think I have the patience right now to deal with heat cycles and intact males who go bonkers when an in season female is around... I share the curiosity of others as to why you don't think you could "ever do that"....

To spay!

I'm with the spay/neuter crowd on this one...although I am leaning on waiting a bit more towards maturity...I've met Aussies that were neutered quite early and they just don't seem as...Aussie-ish. Aubrey was probably spayed a hair too early and it's such a difference in temperment vs. my other dog who had had a litter before she was spayed. Not saying that I'd be as irresponsible as to breed a litter just for maturity's sake, never that. But, I think for any future dogs that I get that aren't fixed before I get them, I'm going to think about waiting until they're around a year old before spay/neuter.

Zoom,
I rushed and had Chi spayed at 5 months. There is so much conflicting research on when it's the BEST time to do it. In hind site I kind of wish I had waited until after her first heat cycle.

My boss breeds Beucerons and she says there is such a difference in bone structure in her males between those who were neutered young and her show dogs that had a few years to develop.

having lost my dear, sweet dachshund to breast cancer recently, i'm even more for spaying in a timely manner than i was ever before.

i do understand the concerns about spaying too early, but after the first heat is the very latest point i'd consider in the future.

i believe there are certain things to look at when spaying or nuetering.. as tasneem is spayed and misty is now... i have no worries however i wont being spaying prince unless i find worries in his testing at 24 months. then it will only be if we arent showing still in the NKC... if we are then obviously i wont nueter but i am kinda mixed up because i know good and bad things about it... i think it depends... i lived on a farm and none of our dobes ever had any cancer or any problems being intact... nor did our bassetts or english bullies... im not a huge fan of i figure if god wanted them nuetered and spayed he would have... but that is JMO... i guess we should nueter our sons so they will not have to worry about accidental pregnancies... and oh lets not forgeto ur husbands lol if god wanted us taht way he would have mad us that way JMO

Actually you neuter a male dog. I'm glad to hear that you are now waiting until he 24 months to test instead of 18 though.