Spaying Your Dog: pros, cons, and timing recommendations for 2024

Deciding the best age to spay your dog can be a pivotal choice in ensuring a long, healthy life for your pet.

With various factors to consider, such as breed size, potential health risks, and behavioral benefits, understanding when to spay your dog can significantly influence their overall well-being.

This guide aims to provide you with insightful information and expert recommendations to help you determine the optimal timing for spaying, supported by veterinary expertise and current research. By choosing the right time to spay, you can help prevent serious health issues and enhance your dog's quality of life.

For full details head over to the show notes at - https://ourpetshealth.com/info/when-to-spay-a-female-dog

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Transcript

Dr. Alex [00:00:00]:
Spaying a dog has the potential to bring some really important health benefits as well as avoid some really nasty and deadly diseases. But it's not for every female dog. And carried out at the wrong time, it can increase the risk of injury and deadly diseases as well. The traditional recommendation that every dog should be spayed at 6 months of age is well and truly dead. So should you spay your dog? And if so when? So you don't have to go too far back in time for the recommendation to have been that by 6 months of age or at 6 months of age every dog should be spayed before that first season was the general recommendation. That is no longer the case. It's also a situation where there is no black and white one size fits all approach. So while you may read and you may hear from other people that this is the right answer, there isn't a right answer unless they're talking to you specifically and they know your individual situation, they know your history, they know your attitude to risk.

Dr. Alex [00:01:04]:
We're talking about shades of grey which can make things a little bit more challenging. But don't worry, by the end of this video, you should be clear about the best option for you, whether you should spay your dog at all and also the age of your dog when that should happen if it is the right choice. And of course to make the decision about whether to spay at all, we need to think about what the pros of being spayed are and also what the potential cons, what the side effects, what the risks are of having that procedure carried out. So the benefits of being spayed. Now the first one, that I always talk about first is pyometra. So this is an infection of the uterus. So the uterus of a dog, which is like Hawaii, it basically becomes a big pus filled balloon. This happens from middle to older age, but actually 1 in 4 entire female dogs will develop a pyometra by the age of 10.

Dr. Alex [00:01:58]:
There are some breed variations here, but it's very common. And actually it's so common that we say that an older entire female dog who is unwell is a pyometra until proven otherwise and we prove that with ultrasound, with x rays, with various tests. But pyometra is a potentially fatal condition. Thankfully, with surgery, it is generally survivable, but the surgery tends to need to happen, after hours, in the middle of the night, or over the weekend, and it comes at a significant cost as well as an unnecessary risk to your dog. Now the other common condition that we prevent through spaying is mammary cancer. So while the statistics are maybe not as clear cut as we would like them to be, In general, it's felt that if we spay before that first season, we virtually eliminate the risk of mammary cancer. If we spay before the second season, we reduce it by maybe 95% before the 3rd by about 90%. Spaying later will also reduce the risk of mammary cancer especially our nastier versions.

Dr. Alex [00:03:04]:
But spaying earlier improves the chance of your dog never having to experience this disease. And this is also a very common condition with a lifetime risk of about 23% in entire dogs. So 1 in 4 are likely to develop mammary cancer. And when we combine pyometra and mammary tumors, about 1 in 3 entire female dogs will develop at least one of those conditions in their life and both of them are potentially deadly. And then there are some other benefits for being spayed as well. It prevents unwanted pregnancies. There's a couple of issues here. So pregnancy is not a risk free procedure.

Dr. Alex [00:03:43]:
We can have problems with actually giving birth, dystocia, needing caesarean sections, for example. We can also have, milk fever where the blood calcium gets low, and that can be deadly. But also by preventing unwanted pregnancies, we reduce the the shelter population. We reduce having to find homes for puppies. That can be really challenging and there is, you know, shelters are fit to burst a lot of the time. We really don't need more dogs. Being spayed also reduces the risk of your dog roaming. So, a female dog who's on heat will really want to find a male dog to mate with and that can mean that they will break out of your property.

Dr. Alex [00:04:25]:
It's amazing sometimes how high fences are that can still be climbed, and that increases your dog's risk of, being hit on the road, of having a traumatic event that could be incredibly serious. If they're roaming and if something called transmissible venereal tumor is present in your area, then that is going to be a risk. That is a a type of cancer that is transmitted, through mating. So we want to be avoiding that as well. And then I guess the the maybe the biggest benefit of all, or the the overall effect of being spayed is that it has been shown that being spayed actually leads to a longer life than entire dogs and that's taken on average. There are going to be, entire dogs, female dogs who who live a very, very long life. But on average, our spayed dogs do live longer. So those are the benefits, but there are drawbacks, there are cons, there are risks with having your dog spayed.

Dr. Alex [00:05:22]:
The the obvious risk is the risk of surgery. So anesthesia, and surgery always comes with a risk. Thankfully, that risk is very low. I talk about that in another video, and I will try and remember to leave a link up here so you can tap on that if you're interested. But the risks of surgery are very low. That said, we think of, being spayed as a a a routine in inverted commas procedure is actually a pretty significant event for your dog. It's a pretty significant surgery. In some dogs, it can be very challenging, especially if they're overweight.

Dr. Alex [00:05:55]:
It can be quite a challenging surgery or if they're a bigger dog, a deep chested dog where actually accessing everything can be be quite challenging. The risks ultimately though are still very low but they're not nothing so that is something that you need to consider Especially if we are waiting until they're a little bit older to be spayed, we need to consider what these risks are and take steps to reduce them. So such as making sure that your dog is a good healthy body condition and is not too heavy. Another big headline risk that can carry a significant cost to you if it happens is the increased risk in cruciate ligament rupture. So the cruciate ligament or the ACL is a ligament found within the knee joint of your dog and if that ruptures it causes some really nasty lameness that's very painful, it will cause arthritis down the track and generally it needs surgery to provide the best level of care and to reduce the impact on an ongoing basis. That surgery coming at a fairly significant cost. Now that risk of cruciate ligament rupture is breed related. There are some breeds where that is a real issue and it increases the risk, but a lot of breeds where it doesn't, there's no increase in this risk.

Dr. Alex [00:07:08]:
And as a general rule, we can think of the size of a dog impacts the risk of them developing a cruciate ligament rupture. So our smaller breed dogs, there is no increase in risk. They're not particularly prone to cruciate ligament ruptures anyway, but being spayed doesn't increase that risk. For our larger breed dogs that are spayed before 12 months of age, there is a significant risk. And so this is one of the reasons why we're actually recommending that that doesn't happen, that they are not spayed before 12 months of age or they reach skeletal maturity. And I'll discuss this more when it comes to, you know, the best age to spay your dog in a little bit. Now I've already spoken about mammary cancers and reducing the risk of those with dogs that are spayed. But in some breeds, there is an increased risk in other cancers if they're spayed and if they're spayed before a certain length of time.

Dr. Alex [00:08:01]:
These ones are lymphosarcoma, mast cell tumor, and hemangiosarcoma. These increased risk are very breed related so some breeds do seem to be much more prone to developing these tumors anyway, and some breeds, the incidence of those tumors does seem to be increased by being spayed. Now this is also age dependent. So if we think of the fact that our spayed dogs are living longer, are they also maybe getting more cancers because because of that extended lifespan? Something to think about and I don't think that we have particular answers to say for sure one way or the other yet. Hopefully, they'll come down the track. Urinary incontinence is another risk. So, this will typically manifest as a dog who when they're sitting or when they're lying down especially and it may be that they're just when they're sleeping, they leak a little bit of pee. That tends to be more prevalent in dogs who are spayed before 6 months of age, and not so much in dogs that are spayed later.

Dr. Alex [00:09:04]:
Immune system dysfunction is, one group of diseases are autoimmune diseases that are felt could be increased by being spayed. There's a big but here though. 1, I think they're multifactorial diseases. So there's lots of different things, genetics, environment, lifestyle, diet that play a role here as well. So, nutriostasis may play a role, but probably a small role. And also these diseases are very rare anyway. So in slight increase in a very rare disease leads to a disease that is still very rare. It's still a risk and it's worth talking about.

Dr. Alex [00:09:42]:
And then I guess the final risk and and one that is is definitely a problem and can have a big impact on a dog's health is the risk of becoming overweight and obese after being spayed. And there's a couple of reasons for this. The first is that, a spayed dog has a natural propensity to put down more fat compared to muscle, but also their energy requirements drop quite considerably 15, 20% compared to an entire dog. So if we keep feeding the same thing the same amount, I should say. If we keep feeding the same amount of food as we did before the procedure, then they are going to gain weight. And being overweight has a huge impact on body health, on arthritis, on skin disease, on every part of the body, and it should be avoided at all costs. So this is a really big consideration, but it is within our control because we are in charge of what we feed our dog and the amount that we feed. So it can be corrected, but it's really important that we're aware of this so we can prevent it from becoming a problem.

Dr. Alex [00:10:46]:
Because it's much easier to prevent than to end up with a dog who's overweight and then trying to get them to lose weight which can be very challenging. So should you spay your dog at all? Well, in the majority of cases I think the answer is going to be yes. There are definite health benefits. Where it is more of a, I guess, an option is clearly if you want to breed from your dog, then we can't put everything back. So we need to keep them entire. But, you know, their their breeding life is only going to be relatively short and then we can spay them once that's finished. If we're comfortable with the risks of pyometra and if we're comfortable with the risk of mammary tumors and acting on any particular lump as soon as it appears through surgical removal. If there's any sign of pyometra, then we're able to pay for that surgery without concern.

Dr. Alex [00:11:37]:
Then potentially that is something that we can can and can think about watching our dog like a hawk for and not spaying them. But clearly, that does come with risks and it comes with potentially some significant financial outlay as well. Clearly, we want to be making sure that we're avoiding unwanted pregnancies and that your dog is fully fenced and they can't get out to be hit on the road and all of those kinds of situations as well. But it's not clear cut. And I just want to read you a comment that I had in one of my other videos. And and this person says, I didn't spay my dog at the recommendation of my vet and she developed mammary tumors when she was 8 years old. They were adenocarcinomas, so they were nastier versions. 3 years, 4 surgeries, 2 rounds of chemo, well over $10,000 and many tears, neither surgery or a top diet or supplements come cheap, we're still fighting this.

Dr. Alex [00:12:28]:
She was always fed a top notch raw diet and supplements, no exposure to cleaning chemicals or lawn chemicals and spring fed water that is routinely tested. So I guess you need to pick your poison, don't spay and deal with cancer or spay and deal with a different type of cancer. Now that's clearly just one person's experience, but I think it highlights very well how there is no one size fits all approach. And it's a case of being comfortable with certain risks, knowing what those risks are, and having a risk benefit analysis based on what you feel is right for your family. But like I said, for the majority of people, I feel that spaying your dog is going to be beneficial at some point of time. But there are big variations in the right time to spay your dog based on their breed. Now if we want that general recommendation, it would be for dogs that are less than about 15, 20 kilos can be done anytime from 6 months of age before they have their 1st season would be ideal, but anytime from 6 months of age. I don't believe it's beneficial for any dog to be spayed below 6 months of age, although I know that does sometimes still happen in a shelter environment where they really want to be absolutely sure there are going to be no puppies from that dog.

Dr. Alex [00:13:46]:
For our bigger breed dogs, our dogs over about 20 kilos or so, they should be spayed 12 months of age or later. For our really big breed dogs, it may be that actually 18 or 24 months is more appropriate. We want to be thinking about when they are reaching skeletal maturity. And while that's a good general rule, it doesn't take specific breed into account. And there are some breeds where it's actually beneficial to to spay them because of their breed and because of the risks of certain cancers, for example. And there is a table that I've produced. It's based on a table in a research paper that runs through 35 of the most common breeds with a specific recommendation of whether they should be spayed and the best age for them to be spayed. So I'll leave a link to that in the description to this video.

Dr. Alex [00:14:36]:
Of course, if your dog is a mixed breed and then or or they're just not on the list, then you can think about what that general recommendation is I discussed, or also look at a similar, a related breed. Although you'll note that certainly when it comes to, like, Labradors and retrievers, 2 very closely related breeds, the recommendations are actually very different. And, of course, any decision that you make should be made in conjunction with your vets because they can discuss all of these risks and benefits with you in person. They can have a discussion about your lifestyle, and really together, you can come up with the best plan of whether your dog should be spayed and the best time for that. But one of the main risks that a lot of people are concerned about is actually the risk of anesthetic and surgery in the first case. And to find out what those risks are, you can check out this video linked on screen. So tap on that video where you can also learn how to reduce the risk of anesthetic and surgery. I'll see you there.

Dr. Alex [00:15:37]:
But until then, I'm veterinarian doctor Alex. This is our pets health because they're family.