Early Spay?

[Criosphynx]

I'm reading now that this can be a problem?

Kiwi was spayed at 3 months old (ish) at the shelter because she had a vaginal prolapse and they fixed it all at once...

whats your guys opinions on early spays?

[Dekka]

I am not a fan.. lol I say this often. BUT if I totally understand why a shelter or a vet would do it all at once. There are risks everytime you put a dog under.

[Zoom]

^^Pretty much that. I can understand the early neutering for shelters and such but it makes me very uncomfortable. Hormones aren't just for breeding purposes, they do play a large part in both physical and mental development. I will, given the chance, always let my dogs mature to at least 2 years old before they're fixed and will never neuter a rescue before 6 months of age, again, given the chance. I had an Aussie pup I was getting ready to adopt and the rescue was going to let me keep him intact for a bit longer, until he hit the 6 month mark. Then Virgo came back and that adoption fell through.

[Pam111]

I don't have a problem with it. Anna was spayed when she was 8 months old, but I would have had it done earlier but I kept putting it off due to finances/time/etc.

She never went into heat

[jess2416]

Originally Posted by Zoom

^^Pretty much that. I can understand the early neutering for shelters and such but it makes me very uncomfortable. Hormones aren't just for breeding purposes, they do play a large part in both physical and mental development. I will, given the chance, always let my dogs mature to at least 2 years old before they're fixed and will never neuter a rescue before 6 months of age, again, given the chance. I had an Aussie pup I was getting ready to adopt and the rescue was going to let me keep him intact for a bit longer, until he hit the 6 month mark. Then Virgo came back and that adoption fell through.

ditto what zoomie said, except that with females, I will get them done by the 6 month mark, and its just because I would rather not go through that first heat

[Buddy'sParents]

I don't like it and will hold off as long as possible. Buddy we had no choice he came from the spca, Banzai came from a rescue and again, we had no choice. With Bella we waited until she was about 18 months, I think. We will always wait if we have the choice.

[elegy]

I would wait, personally, but I have no problem at all with shelters/rescues doing pediatric spay/neuters at adoption. I'd rather see these dogs prevented from reproducing, period, at this point, and I don't think shelters have enough ability to enforce spay/neuter contracts unless they just go ahead and do them when they can.

[Criosphynx]

what are the possible side effects of an early spay? The article I found keeps talking about them being "leggy" which im assuming is refering to an abnormal growth pattern.

Critter was spayed at 9yrs and Tippy at 3.....I don't know when Emma was done...she came pre-disasembled already.

[Zoom]

In my experience, those dogs don't fill out as much and retain the narrow body and long leggedness of a much younger dog...some dogs also seem to keep a much younger mindset than those who were neutered later, though that one is kind of hard to concretely prove due to inherent differences in base personalities. I've also found that some early neuters have horrible absorption and digestive issues, though again, it could be the induvidual dog. But a friend of mine adopted a dog that was neutered at 6-8 weeks of age and went from a fat happy pup to a disturbingly emaciated adolescent who ended up having to be euth'd before he was a year old because it was impossible to put any weight on him and thus he had a very poor quality of life. We have the same vet and he is a very competent guy...none of us could figure out what was going on.

[elegy]

this is a really dense article, but it's worth reading http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/abs...ma.231.11.1665