Spaying at 12 years old??
- Thread starter salask
- Start date
If it helps, my grandmother neutered her dog at 13 years of age, because he had developed cancer. Only you know what will be the right decision for your dog. I'm sorry I'm not much of a help. Good Luck 
Have you seen a vet? That would be the first step to take.
I've heard of people spaying bitchs at 12YO and older.
I've heard of people spaying bitchs at 12YO and older.
If it is Cancer - chemo is not guaranteed that the cancer will go away.
Before she got sick this time around, Lady was a very happy and active dog. My vet agreed with my decision and told me it was probably best not to put her through that type of torture due to her age.
When we talked about removing the lumps on her belly back in November, she told me she would have to be spayed and while under, she would remove the lumps but the healing process on that too would kill her quality of life.
Now that i know she might have Pyometra, spaying is the only salvation (i think) but even then - i don't know if i should make her go through such a painful surgery. So i guess what I'm asking is at 12 years old, would you risk the life of your baby knowing that would be her only chance of salvation?
Before she got sick this time around, Lady was a very happy and active dog. My vet agreed with my decision and told me it was probably best not to put her through that type of torture due to her age.
When we talked about removing the lumps on her belly back in November, she told me she would have to be spayed and while under, she would remove the lumps but the healing process on that too would kill her quality of life.
Now that i know she might have Pyometra, spaying is the only salvation (i think) but even then - i don't know if i should make her go through such a painful surgery. So i guess what I'm asking is at 12 years old, would you risk the life of your baby knowing that would be her only chance of salvation?
If it is Pyo, I would spay. There are risks, the vet should run a blood panel which should tell them if it is safe to put her under. The after effects of a spay are not that huge, although perhaps it's a little more taxing on an older dog, but you said she was active and lively before so I'd say she'd do pretty well.
If it is cancer I don't think I would do chemo myself, but that's just me, I'd wait until quality of life declined and would put her down.
If it is cancer I don't think I would do chemo myself, but that's just me, I'd wait until quality of life declined and would put her down.
if it's a pyo, then yes, i would spay her without hesitation. yeah, she's going to have some pain, but with appropriate pain medication and appropriate supportive care (ie, iv fluids) during surgery, i wouldn't worry a huge amount about surgery on a 12 year old dog provided she's reasonably healthy otherwise.
if it's cancer it becomes more tricky. what kind of cancer? what's the prognosis? what kind of chemo? what's the prognosis with or without chemo? what is her health like otherwise?
if it's cancer it becomes more tricky. what kind of cancer? what's the prognosis? what kind of chemo? what's the prognosis with or without chemo? what is her health like otherwise?
Lady took the surgery well!! The only concern now is she's still not eating and hasn't urinated. The Doc's a little concern so they're going to keep her for a few more hours and have her on IV's for fluid and antibiotics to try and kill any bacteria left behind.
Thanks to all of you for the good thoughts!
Thanks to all of you for the good thoughts!
