whens the best age 2 get skyla spayed? (she will b 4 months old on the 1st april)

Typically around six months is the best time

thnx ive heard so many different conflicting stories like its best 2 let her have a season 1st or that i shud wait till shes 18 months old ect - but we dont want pups so wanna get her fixed asap

Typically it's best to wait two weeks after her first heat. I've heard a lot of things, and spaying at any time is dangerous, but from what I understand, you do want to be waiting until after her first heat.

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According to my Fiancee and her coworkers at the vet no need to wait for her first heat

I stand corrected. I won't argue with vets and vet techs, but there are still several theories out there suggesting it's better to wait. Talk to your vet and see what they recommend. His or her opinion is honestly the one that really matters.

thnx for the advice guys will ring my vets as soon as i can and ask them

If you get a dog spayed before her first heat cycle you reduce her chances of malignant mamary cancer significantly.... Also if you let her go through her first heat you increase her chances by over half. There really is no question spaying by 6 months of age is the best option for non-breeding/show dogs. Also with each heat cycle you run the risk of uteran infections which are only treated by spaying the dog but are much more expensive because the dogs risk goes through the roof and the surgery is more involved.

Mine will be 4 months this week and she is getting spayed on Friday. My vet also recommended not going thru the first heat cycle. They also told me it depends on the weight my pup weiths 26lbs.

Honestly it can be done safely anytime after 4 months but usually with dogs 6 months is ideal, with cats they go as early as 12 weeks at my clinic if the owner is having behavioral issues (scratching) but I can't think of any reason doing them earlier than 6 months would benefit or hurt them, just give yourself a pat on the back for getting it done:)

ok so we never got her spayed n shes in her 1st heat BUT we will be getting her done after this whens best to get her done after her 1st heat ALSO is it normal for a male to just 'loose intrest' in her - Blaze was humping her for about 4 days (well trying to hump her anyway) and now hes just stopped, bings my staffy x wont leave her alone now tho (hes been fixed)

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While I can't answer to the male just "losing interest" (I just have no experience with it ), I do know that it's safe to get her spayed at anytime. She technically can get fixed even while she is bleeding although it is more dangerous so many vets will refuse and it's usually more expensive.

When we first got Hailey, she was finishing her bleeding. We had no idea if she was finishing her heat or if she were pregnant. Not wanting to bring random, un-health-tested puppies into the world, we opted to get her spayed after discussing with our vet. Thankfully, she wasn't pregnant and everything went fine. She came out of the surgery in good spirits and didn't have more than a day of recovery before she was back to normal.

So... moral of the story: spay her whenever you want. Wait until after her heat is done if you want, but she can be spayed at any time.

thnx for the help, as for the chastity belt , lmao if she ends up gettin tied i will get her the mismate jab or get her spayed n abort the pups, not nice but shes only a baby herself , so there will be no pups from her

tho i am curious to know what u mean by - some other dog will bang her , when i least expect it?

It's common with bitches in heat for male dogs to do anything to get to her. I've heard stories about dogs who've jumped the fence and gotten them pregnant. I think he means just keep an eye on her when she is outside at all times, which I'm sure you're doing anyway

ah ok, i dont think any other dogs can get into our garden tho its REALLY high and really secure, and well not that i think this is a good thing , but a strange dog coming into our garden well lets just say Blaze will make sure it gets nowhere NEAR skyla, tho we have walked past dogs on leads n they havent even blinked and we dont see that many dogs round near ours anyway, tho i do keep an eye out, bings barks when people walk past our house anyway too

The other post on the board made me want to update this with the articles:

Early spay advocates:
College of Veterinary Medicine
Danes Online, Veterinary article
American Humane Society

These are all advocating safe neuter/spays at 8 weeks of age and they show no increased health risks to spay/neuter than the more traditional ages 6-7 months. The only thing they cite is to make sure the puppies are HEALTHY, which is really a consideration for ALL dogs, not just puppies.

Late spay/neuter advocates:
http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf

I noticed that both the article I posted as well as the first one you posted cite one of the same sources claiming the exact opposite as the results of the study.... A quick glance around google and I've found two more articles on either side of the debate also citing that source.... I'm going to try and find information on the original study itself when I have a bit more time, as this is rather concerning.

Personally my biggest issue with spay/neuter at 8 weeks, aside from performing surgery at that age, is the complete lack of proper information (as far as I've seen) in regards to it's impact on the endocrine system and related processes. Even just a basic knowledge of the endocrine system screams that this is just a bad idea... If anyone has info on this I'd really like to read about it.

I am all for more research. I mention it only because like you said, for every article I see on one side, there's another on the other stating the exact opposite.

My personal thoughts are that this is a highly sensitive and debated topic. The truth is that NOTHING is definitive and there is no right or wrong here. The best we can do is educate ourselves and make the best decisions for us and our dogs and to do so as responsible owners.

But I welcome the continued discussion

I don't think I would ever promote such early spay/neuter. I know that the puppies/kittens can recover much faster from surgery... But I would be weary doing it to my own dog. I was nervous when I dropped Cheyenne off at 4 months.

Shelters here do it simply because people are not responsible to get it done later when the puppy/kitten is at a "more desirable age." I don't think they're doing it for any healthy benefit... that i'm aware of anyway.

Just because there are no risks doesn't necessarily imply that there are any benefits. According to the articles, the risks associated with spay/neuter in an 8 week old puppy are no greater than those that are posted for an 8 month old puppy. However that doesn't mean that there are any benefits to doing it that young.

Not saying I would get it done either unless for some reason (god forbid) that I needed to put my young pup under anesthesia at that age. Otherwise, personally, I would wait until both testicles dropped or until about 5-6 months old in a female.

Ok, located the abstract text of the source in question. First the Quotes that caught my eye;

Early Spay/Neuter: An Overview

"Many aspects of skeletal dimensions, body weight and composition, physical maturation, secondary sex characteristics or behavioral development of cats (6) and dogs (11,13) neutered/spayed in the two groups were compared at one year of age. The only notable difference found was that the animals neutered at 6 to 7 weeks of age were more likely to have immature external genitalia at maturity; this has no known clinical significance (6,8,11). The benefits of neutering are the same at either age: reduced risk of reproductive disorders and of mammary neoplasia."

http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf

"Spay/neuter of immature dogs delays the closure of the growth plates in bones that are still growing, causing those bones to end up significantly longer than in intact dogs or those spay/neutered after maturity (50)."

Both cited this as a source:

Gonadectomy in immature dogs: effects on skeletal, physical, and behavioral development.

From this text: "Male and female pups from 5 litters were randomly allotted to 3 groups: group I, neuter at 7 weeks (n = 14); group II, neuter at 7 months (n = 8 ); and group III, sexually intact dogs (n = 10). "
"The rate of growth was unaffected by gonadectomy, but the extended growth period resulted in greater final radial/ulnar length in all male dogs and bitches neutered at 7 weeks. "
"It was concluded that with respect to skeletal, physical, and behavioral development, the effect of neutering pups at 7 weeks old was similar to that of neutering pups at 7 months old."

Sky's gone into her first heat! I have her scheduled to be spayed first thing Monday morning and I missed the vet's operating hours by 20 minutes, so I can't call to find out if I should still bring her in.

It sounds like, from what I read in this thread, that it's more dangerous to do during heat? I'm also worried about my neighbor's dog, if a dog will really jump the fence to get at her. He's unaltered, as well. Sky's an outdoor dog due to us living in a rental house. I was planning on keeping her inside in her crate (while not under supervision) for the first few days after spay, but I don't think she'll put up with it if she isn't groggy from medication and healing. I've been feeding her in it for a few weeks, but I've never shut her inside for more than an hour.

Are any of your girls unaltered? What do you do with them during heat to keep them from getting pregnant?

Eeek! Sorry about that!

We were going to adopt a husky at a shelter (long story, someone else got her) that was in heat, and they went ahead and did the spay. I think it depends on the vet.

If you have to wait, I would try the crate. How is she in it normally? With a kong?