# Female - spay time? Tech help ...



## Megan B (Mar 25, 2006)

I am obviously an absolute idiot because I did a search on when to spay a female GR and figured my screen would light up and I couldn't get any hits. 
Can any of you tech savy post some thread links for me since I know we must have beat that subject down a million times?
The breeder said wait until just before the first cycle at 10-11 months but I was at the vet yesterday with my cat and they told me 6-7 months is best. 
Maple just turned 6 mo about 2 weeks ago. 
Thank you!


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## vrocco1 (Feb 25, 2006)

I'm going to give you this one, because nearly everyone agrees with me.  I believe in spaying before the first heat, which can happen as early as six months old.

http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/showthread.php?t=27613&highlight=spay


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## gold'nchocolate (May 31, 2005)

:wavey: Hi Megan, I'll be watching for answers, also. The only reason that I'm hesitating on getting Sasha fixed right now (my boys were already fixed by her age) is because I really think it affected how Biscuit continued growing. You met Sasha at Leah's transfer so you could see how little she was for a pup at 8 months. I am really thrown off by her size, I guess, since I have never really worried about the age of spaying before .


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## Emma&Tilly (May 15, 2005)

I personally would never spay a bitch until she is fully grown...at least one heat cycle. I don't see what the rush is and would always want a bitch to mature first before they have their womb disposed of! (obviously if you allow your bitch to roam then it would be a different story but most sensible owners can manage a bitch in season)


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

I agree with Vern!


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## Tahnee GR (Aug 26, 2006)

I agree with Emma&Tilly. I prefer to wait until after the first heat cycle. It allows the bitch to fully mature, and the potential increase for developing cancer is minimally more than spaying before the first heat. In fact, I have now added this to my warranty when I sell a puppy. Spaying/neutering too early will invalidate the warranty. Of course, I sell only to very responsible people, most of them repeat buyers.

Here are a couple of articles on the subject:

http://www.caninesports.com/EarlySpayConsiderations.pdf

http://www.littleriverlabs.com/neuter.htm


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## Shining Star (Jan 7, 2007)

*My Golden's Breeder told me NOT to get Star spayed until AFTER her*
*FIRST or even her SECOND heat cycle.*
*It had something to do with her hormones having time to develop.*


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## Emma&Tilly (May 15, 2005)

I actually wish I had left Tilly longer, she was spayed at 15months but I wish I had waited 2 or 3 heat cycles.


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## LDGrillo (Dec 20, 2010)

Emma&Tilly said:


> I actually wish I had left Tilly longer, she was spayed at 15months but I wish I had waited 2 or 3 heat cycles.


Hi there,
I am just wondering what difference you think it would have made in Tilly if you waited additional heat cycles? My Starla is 5 mos right now, and the vet where I take her is actually the Michigan Humane Society, and they recommend before the first heat at the age of about 6 months. 

Now, my feeling on their recommendation is that, being The Human Society, they think pet owners need to control the pet population as best they can, so nipping the heat right in the butt (_before_ it even comes), is best. And that's why the recommend that young age. 

I am now thinking of waiting until Starla is 11 months or so, before getting her spayed, or basically after her first heat cycle. 

I just emailed my breeder and asked her when Starla's mom's first cycle was. Will that be a good tool in determining when Starla's will be?


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## Swampcollie (Sep 6, 2007)

I usually recommend two months after the first heat cycle is completed for those owners who choose to spay.


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## Tahnee GR (Aug 26, 2006)

This is an excellent article by Rhonda Hovan, an AKC judge, Golden Retriever breeder and active in the GRCA Health Committee:

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/2/0/2...her_and_when_to_neuter_a_golden_retreiver.pdf

In a perfect world, I would like my pet pups to have one season before being spayed. However, that is not always in the best interests of the pet home. My girls usually cycle late, so they have typically not gone into season before 9 months and usually not until around a year.


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## Shalva (Jul 16, 2008)

Welcome from another NH person... I am in Hopkinton... right down the road... it is in my puppy contract that my families have to wait until after 1 heat cycle and if they spay earlier than that they void their health guarantee.... 

I would follow your breeders guidelines... remember vets are all about birth control... but if you are responsible with your dog and you can wait you are better off doing that. Imagine doing a full hysterectomy on a ten year old girl... would you then expect her to develop normally? 

s


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

Shalva said:


> remember vets are all about birth control


I don't agree with this statement. I have SEVERAL veterinary friends, and my own vet are not telling me to spay for birth control reasons, but for the health of my dog. There are serious issues in leaving a female intact, that can be life threatening. So I think a statement like this is not correct. 

I think if you have a clause in your puppy contract you need to honor that. However, there is a lot of information out there on the pros and cons of spaying at certain ages. You need to do your research and form your own opinion. 

I am a spay at 6 months person. In the research I did, the reasons for waiting for were inconclusive, where the risks of not spaying were documented. I really don't have an 'issue' with letting a pup have a heat cycle other than I can't stand the thought I (yuck) I have never had issues with any previous dog, and I have had them for 43 years, and all were spayed at 6 months.


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## Shalva (Jul 16, 2008)

actually most of my vet friends wait to spay there own dogs and if i were a vet i would recommend earlier spay as well as most cant be responsible with their dogs.... because i would have to deal with the fallout but that having been said there is plenty of documented evidence why not to spay at 6 mos. i have a collection of pages of citations that talk about early spay... 

now yes all should be spayed if they are not being bred but the reason most vets recommend early spaying ie. 6 mos. is because most cant, or are unable to be fully responsible during a girls heat cycle. 

I absolutely stand by that statement


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## Shalva (Jul 16, 2008)

Let me just add one more thing... I will never understand why people trust the internet and a message board with a bunch of nameless people (me included) .... more than they trust their breeder who they knows their lines better than anyone... I honestly don't get it. 

this drives me crazy with my own puppy people.... and don't get me started on the vets....who I find I battle all the time.... on everything from over vaccination to spaying and neutering to a host of other issues. 

ok moving on 
just had to say it 
s


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## GoldenOwner12 (Jun 18, 2008)

I got Shelley spayed at 5 months old and she has turned out to be a very good looking female. Actually going from the pictures of her sister and mother she is better looking then both of them. I reckon it has more to do with the dogs genes then it does if spayed early or later. Even within the litter each puppy can look different from the other.


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## Golden123 (Dec 6, 2009)

Sadie is 14 months now and had her 1st heat back in November. She has an appt. to get spayed in 2 weeks.


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## IowaGold (Nov 3, 2009)

Shalva said:


> Let me just add one more thing... I will never understand why people trust the internet and a message board with a bunch of nameless people (me included) .... more than they trust their breeder who they knows their lines better than anyone... I honestly don't get it.
> 
> this drives me crazy with my own puppy people.... and don't get me started on the vets....who I find I battle all the time.... on everything from over vaccination to spaying and neutering to a host of other issues.
> 
> ...


To be fair, vets think the same thing about breeders!

And also for the record, I can LITERALLY count on my two hands the number of dogs/puppies we have as patients that came from actual *good* breeders (and two of those dogs are mine). So for the most part our puppy people get crazy recommendations from "breeders" who really don't know what they are doing anyway.


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## Shalva (Jul 16, 2008)

IowaGold said:


> To be fair, vets think the same thing about breeders!
> 
> And also for the record, I can LITERALLY count on my two hands the number of dogs/puppies we have as patients that came from actual *good* breeders (and two of those dogs are mine). So for the most part our puppy people get crazy recommendations from "breeders" who really don't know what they are doing anyway.


oh I know that my vet thinks I am nuts sometimes.... but at the same time... over the years even though he might shake his head... he can't argue with success and has started feeding his dog differently and realizing that some of my craziness actually works... but when you know telling folks that there dog won't pull anymore when she is spayed is just crazy... and breeders knew about hte vaccination issues years before the vets changed their guidelines.... but my puppy folks would go to the vets and next thing I knew the pup had every vaccine under the sun and had a spay appointment.... 

under what circumstances is that a good idea... shoot I called my vet for clearance xrays... the next thing I know they have 200 bucks of extra stuff and they are asking if we need a giardia and lyme vaccine... ummmm NO 

I understand that most don't get their dogs from reputable breeders but when I see what many of the vets are doing to my puppy people I question whether they really have the dogs best interest in mind at all... or is it about the $$$ ... not all of course but many because at least my puppy people are armed with the research and data and have me to back them up... but hwat about hte person with the irresonsible breeder or who went to the pet store who thinks their vet is all knowing.... I feel badly for that dog and for the peoples pocket books 

just my two cents


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## WLR (May 11, 2008)

At the risk of some incoming flak (just kidding) the breeder I know said 2 yrs for full development.....then my next question would be how long to wait after a heat for a spaying.


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## typercy (Jan 17, 2011)

Our vet told us that if we let her have even one cycle, she would be 50% more likely to get breast cancer than if we spayed prior to her first cycle.


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