Good or Bad Idea?

[Mommy2Puppies]

We have 2 puppies -- 4 and 11 months. Our 11-month-old female has not been spayed yet because her heat cycle began the week she was scheduled to be spayed and I read that it is not a good idea to spay during a dog's heat. Our 4-month-old male is almost ready to be neutered. We are wondering if it is a stupid idea to have them both fixed at the same time. On the one hand, it will be stressful to monitor both of them during recovery, but on the other hand, it will be stressful to keep each one off the other when they are recovering separately. I think that we could handle either one, but I hope to get some feedback/opinions so we can make the best decision for us and our pups.

Should we spay/neuter our pups at the same time or separately?

Comments, questions, and concerns are all appreciated!!!!

[monib1969]

Hi,

I personally do not agree with spaying and neutering at such a young age, simply because alot of cancers later on in life have been proven to have been caused/linked by the dogs not receiving the needed hormones they receive during puberty. For a female since she has reached her first heat she will be fine to spay. BTW spaying a female too early can lead to aggressive behavior later on as well, they need the hormones to help mellow them out.

For the male, if you can keep an eye on him and not let him go out and impregnate an unsuspecting female you can wait until he is a little older. I'd wait until he is at least 6 months, but not neuter any younger. He will still miss out on the testosterone that helps males that do protection work become more aggressive, but he will not miss out on all the hormones. If you can wait, I'd neuter around 7-8 months. We do not neuter our males that will do protection or K-9 work until 18-24 months, but those that will become just house dogs or pets, we neuter at 7-8 months.

[Nettle]

I agree with waiting for the male to mature or you are likely to sign yourselves up for problems both physical and behavioural. Personally I'd say wait until the male is at least a year old, and ideally older. Most breeds are mature at two but giant breeds need another year. If you neuter an adolescent, you fix it in the adolescent mentality, which can mean a raft of training and behavioural difficulties.

Entire dogs do not have to be a problem. Mine's a peach, and he has even been used at stud. It's all about training.

[Fundog]

Age of spay/neuter surgery aside, I cannot foresee any real hassles with having both of them recovering at the same time. When I had my Annie spayed, it was really no big deal. We got pain pills for her, but she only needed a couple of them, and we threw the rest away. She did have a lot of difficulty getting outside to relieve herself during the first 24 hours, but then after that she was back into mischief and playing as hard as ever. Of course, she didn't have sutures to worry about either-- they just closed her up with that new glue (Dermabond). But she played with other dogs, ran, went swimming, etc. No fuss, no problems.

[MaiasMom]

I agree with what is said about when and how old. 4 months is to early, their testicles may not be fully decended. BUT after they are, they can make puppies. With the female, ask your vet. Maia had what they call silent heats, you never knew she was in, no sign and since I had a 15 yr old male that was no longer interested in the girls, I did not know. I got a male puppy when the old dog was near the end of his life so Maia would not be an only dog. At 9 months old, Kai, the new puppy did the deed. Maia was in and I did not know it because of her silent heat issues so now I have their son Tre'.

The best thing is to talk to your vet. See what he/she has to say. Boys do really well in recovery, girls you have to be a little careful with at play. Most do well and recover quickly, just need to watch. Maia just hung around her bed for a few days after, if Kai came to play she warned him off with a growl and he left her alone. Since she raised him from 7 weeks old, he got the message real quick, Don't mess with Mama!

[Mattie]

I prefer a ***** to have her first season before being spayed, they mature a lot during this season, I would have her spayed about 12 weeks after her season.

Personally unless there was a reason, ie health, I wouldn't have a dog neutered, if your dog is well trained and exercised, it won't be a problem.

There is quite a lot of research now that suggests early neutering isn't a good idea, dogs don't mature properly, with some dogs the growth plates are slow to close so the dog grows a little taller than he should. If you have a nervous dog taking away his testerone can make this a lot worse and more difficult to get him through it and has been known for a nervous dog to turn aggressive. I would let my dog grow up first, there is so much for them to learn in their first year, train your dog and this won't be a problem, it is untrained dogs that cause problems and having them neutered young makes no difference.

There are breeds that should wait until they are 2 years old before neutering.

[Pitbulover]

I myself have spayed/neutered at many diffrent ages. This is a very contraverseal topic and vets all have diffrent opinions to. Do some more of your own reserch also. One thing i can say, having them both done at the same time is easy. I did three at once. That way the recover and can play together. The other thing i have delt with is making. You wait to long and a male will mark and once they start getting them fixed dose not help! I have tried. I Did my last male at 9wks and i havent had any problems with him. He is wonderful. Every dog is diffrent. Most my females i did about 6 months before they went into heat. There is a lot of medical things being said, well you may find that no mater what you could find negative/positive medical reasons for waiting or doing it soon. Do what you think is best for you and your dog