When to Spay or Neuter: Individualized Approach for Dogs and Cats

  I think it's pretty straightforward. If you're not planning on breeding them, then I would recommend any time between four to six months old before they've reached the age where they can conceive and start to bear litters because they can do it at a relatively frightening rate.

when to spay a female dog nz

With dogs, the decision is a little bit more complicated. Factors that come into consideration for me when having that discussion with the family have to do with the size of the dog. How big are they going to get? How much do they need the benefit of those hormones? What's the job for the dog going to be? Some of those jobs can be very much benefited by the influence of testosterone for the dog, like Kip. Kip was bred for herding trials and was kept intact until he was seven for the benefit of his job.

I think when you're deciding when to neuter your dog, it's a very frank conversation you need to have with your vet. You need to discuss concerns, risks, benefits, and what your goals are for the dog.

For giant breed dogs, I don't recommend spaying or neutering them before they're 18 months old. There are exceptions. I don't think there's really any cookie-cutter answer for any one breed, size, or genetic species. I think it's got to be an individual discussion. For some dogs, there is a reason to spay and neuter them very young, and for other dogs, there's a reason to wait. So for giant breed dogs, 18 months because you get the benefit of that hormone longer, which is essential for certain stages and aspects of development, especially when their skeletons have to grow that much. There's also the added benefit for giant breeds or even large breeds of being able to do a gastropexy at the same time, and that's a safety consideration in only doing anesthesia as much as necessary.

Another thing to consider, especially with females, is vaginal conformation. A lot of females will have a slightly more tucked, recessed vulva that's actually facing downward and tucked up between their thighs, which can predispose them to urinary tract infections or recurrent urinary tract infections just based on disadvantages of anatomy. In some cases, allowing them to go through a single heat cycle will greatly benefit the dog because their vulva will enlarge and exteriorize to be more receptive to breeding and for reproduction, but they also get the benefit of improved airflow, which may diminish their risks of urinary tract infections.

There's also the cost-benefit analysis with mammary cancer. There are a lot of reliable studies that show that spaying your dog before her first heat cycle dramatically reduces her chances of mammary cancer, and with each progressive heat cycle, that benefit reduces a little bit. So you need to have a very frank discussion with your vet. If it's a giant breed female, we want to wait until she's a little bit older, but she's going to hit two heat cycles in that time. Where does that land you cost-benefit?

There's a bunch of other resources to consider in the blog, and these are discussions that you should have openly with your veterinarian before you make the decision. There isn't any one answer that works for every animal, and there isn't every one answer that works for every dog, so chat with your vet about it.