To spay or not

My German shepherd is now 5 months old and we are now thinking of having her spayed or not. The vet advises us to have her done before her first season,but after reading advantages and disadvantages we are now none the wiser whether to have her spayed or not.We know the advantages out way the disad. but we cannot decide.A previous shepherd was never spayed and lived for 13 years with no problems at all. Please help ?

If I was going to have a bitch spayed then personally it would be after her first season. I think this allows the pup to develop more naturally. I spay all my bitches if they either aren't to be bred from or after I've bred fromthem. I don't want to take the risk of an old bitch having a pyo.
Becky

I agree with Mahooli I would have her spayed I think the best time is about three month's after her first season (half-way between first and second seasons approximately}. I have a borzoi bitch who took pyo and had to have a hysterectomy. I have no intention of ever havinganother bitch but if I did I would def have her spayed,

Oh and a Big..........................

Thankyou both for that

My girls are both spayed as was my previous Labx who lived for 12 years.

Hi Scol and welcome to Dogsey you may find this article of interest ..

http://www.dogsey.com/dog-articles.php?t=12202

I would always spay my bitches, my current bitch is 16, I have lost previous unspayed bitches with pyometra and one with mammary tumours.

Personally I prefer to spay three months after the start of the first season so this is equidistant between two seasons when the hormones are in there most dormant phase, this is thought to prevent problems an excess bleeding.

Whether to spay or not is a personal choice, all anaesthetics do of course carry an element of risk but I prefer to take a risk with a fit young puppy who will heal quickly than to wait until an older dog develops complications then try to operate .

Vets have their own preferences on the best time to spay so it is a good idea to have a chat with your vet .

I had one vet in the practice advise me to wait until after the first season and the other said it didn't make any difference.

I contacted Dogs Trust and asked their vet advice - the person who replied told me there was no reason to wait. So we went ahead and had Suki spayed and there were no issues. I was more worried about her going into season and having the hassle of dogs taking an interest. She's not great with strange dogs and a big dog to handle. I felt the risk of her getting caught wasn't worth the agro - but it's a personal choice I guess - one you have to make. But agree there is so much conflicting advice out there about when is the right time.

However I would say that if you have no intentions of breeding from her then getting her spayed is the right choice.

There is no medical evidence to support having a bitch spayed after her first season as the hormones that are present during a season dissipate within 2months so it makes no difference to their maturity, my vet advised us to have Monster done before her first season as it lessons the chances of pyometra.

We decided to have Monster spayed as we are never going to breed from her and some bitches have a really miserable time of it with all those hormones wazzing around and I really didn't want her to have to do that.

p.s. she is going in the morning so fingers crossed, she really is my baby and I thought long and hard before making the decision

hi i took my sisters bitch in for spaying before her first season my vet was really good as long as she was mature enough he would do the op. well she was 6 1/2 mths old done before xmas and she is doing great no problems and the male dogs have changed to the way they treat her as well. so was really happy

I have had bitches spayed at all ages and left unspayed. I have lost bitches to pyo and mammory tumours. So spaying I strongly reccomend unless a top bitch that is going to be bred from by a responsible breeder.
From my experience I have found spaying at 6 months causes no harm, has never stunted or accelarated growth or changed thier coats or temprement, whichever breed it has been.
The earlier they are spayed the less risk of mammory tumours in the future.