Spay/Neuter ALL the time?

[LizzieCollie]

Im just curious if you guys say spay and neuters have to be done 100% of the time?

I agree that they have to be done if your dog can come in contact with dogs of the opposite sex, if they can get lose, for health reasons etc.

But do you ALWAYS have to alter a pet? My first pup was a cockapoo, he was the devil on earth and was not neutered. I truly wonder if neutering would have helped but I think not, he was born with that nasty temperment.

Second dog was a Shih Tzu, she was never spayed because we started showing her, and later in her life she lived in our apartment with NO acess to dogs whatsoever.

My father had a female pit, she was bred twice and then was spayed. The first was a planned litter the second an oops, but thats beside the point.

We rescued two male pups, and one pregnant female, the female was spayed and the males were not.

My mom has a Golden, she is not spayed but she does not come in contact with ANY dog as we live on a highly populated road. Her last heat there were no dogs around until her 18th day of heat and she was very secure.

With my Collie I am still thinking of spaying her. She will not be bred ever but it gives me the chills to think she could die while having a spay procedure. She does not come into contact with ANY dogs except my moms dog and shes female so I dont think I should have to spay her.

Any one else have similar thoughts?

[Saje]

Every time I take an animal in to get spayed/neutered I have a moment where I think 'ick' because it is an invasive procedure and the human equivalent would be rather traumatic. However, I've never, ever not gone through with it. And I've never regretted it. Especially when they are totally find the next day and don't have any qualms about what happened.

Spaying and neutering will save your pets a lot of stress. They won't have to worry about reproducing. They will behave better and therefore annoy you less which means you have a better relationship with your dog.

It significantly reduces the chances of them escaping or climbing fences and getting hurt or killed during breeding season. It helps with their behaviour in regards to marking. The females won't be bleeding all over your house.

And yes, it increases their chances of living longer healthier lives. Any surgery is dangerous but spays are pretty 'routine' and either way you take a risk. I think the benefits of spaying and neutering far out weigh the cons.

[GSDlover_4ever]

It depends on how you control your dogs. I have three intact males (Caza, Neeko, Hondo) and I dont plan on nuetering any of them (unless a problem arrises). I have learned to deal with and enjoy their testosterone. It really is quite simple to avoid an "oops litter". Its really your call and how much control you would have over her.

[Tobysmom]

Mine never comes into contact with females but he's getting neutered anyway as soon as I have the money saved up.

I don't think you always have to do it. If I had a female I would do it for sure because of that bleeding.

[LizzieCollie]

Tobysmom youre dog is absolutely gorgeous! I believe youre on one of my other dog forums and I am always dying for you to post so I can see that pup!

[joce]

My dobes not neutered,probally won't be. He's six now I think. He had a rough time recovering after getting a lump removed when he was younger and I jsut don't want to risk putting him down again. I cna control my dogs,so this isn't bad,but obviously a lot of people cna't stop all the accidental litters so fixing is usually jsut easier for them.

[elegy]

Originally Posted by LizzieCollie

With my Collie I am still thinking of spaying her. She will not be bred ever but it gives me the chills to think she could die while having a spay procedure. She does not come into contact with ANY dogs except my moms dog and shes female so I dont think I should have to spay her.

i don't think anything's 100%, but if your reason for not spaying is concern over anesthesia and surgery, i really urge you to talk to your vet about your concerns and re-evaluate. a routine spay is a pretty low-risk surgery. it's certainly lower risk than a pyometra spay if her uterus were to become infected. it's also lower risk than a c-section if she were to get bred. and then there's the mammary tumor issue- an unspayed bitch is much more likely to develop a mammary tumor than one who is spayed before her first heat, and i want to say close to half of mammary tumors are cancerous (but i could be misremembering that).

i personally would absolutely spay any pet dog i had unless she had some severe complicating health issue. with males it's less black and white for me because the health benefits are not so clear-cut, but i still can't imagine not neutering, though i might consider doing it later than the traditional six months.

[Dani]

If you are commited to supervising your dog, then it may not be necessary to spay or neuter.

I personally think it's in the best interest of the dog to wait until maturity has been reached (2-3 years approx, or later) if you do wish to spay or neuter.

Alternatives, which I hope become more well-known, would be vasectomies and tubal ligations.

[Toller_08]

I don't like to spay young, I prefer to wait until the dog is atleast 18 months old, preferably 2 years or so though. Its a huge responsibility to have to keep an eye on your bitch when she's in season. Plus, having a large dog (with a lot of hair) such as a Collie, it'll be somewhat messy. Just because you don't have friends with intact males, that doesn't mean she's totally safe. Intact dogs will run for miles to find a bitch in season and have been known to jump fences to get at them. Some people can deal with this, some can't. I honestly don't feel that there's a huge risk of something happening while in surgery. I know plenty of dogs (including my own) who've gone through spay/neuter surgeries and all have come out perfectly fine. Neutering most definitely helps behaviour issues in males more often than not, my girls haven't behaved any differently after being spayed though. Some people say it lowers the risk of cancer aswell, and I'm sure its true, but I've known a lot of dogs who were never spayed and lived without ever getting cancer. I don't think thats a huge risk either, my vet told me that spaying/neutering only lowers the risk by about 2 percent. Whether that's true or not, I have no idea. Its really up to you, but I do usually advise people to spay/neuter their dogs if they didn't get their dog from a responsible breeder on a breeding contract.

[Saje]

I've seen male dogs bend rebar style fences to get at a female in heat!