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Originally Posted by Altenweg

Wow, that's a bad idea. If you wait that long you will have a very destructive dog on your hands, not to mention the risk of pregnancy or of getting another dog pregnant. There are enough unwanted dogs in the world, let's not add any more.

What do growth plates and spaying or neutering have to do with eachother? A dog doesn't stop growing when they're fixed.

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I never said the dog stops growing when they get fixed. When you neuter or spay a dog it stops producing sex hormones. "The sex hormones close the growth plates, so the bones of dogs or es neutered or spayed before puberty continue to grow. This growth frequently results in a dog that does not have the same body proportions as he/she was genetically meant to. For example, if the femur is normal length at 8 months when a dog gets spayed or neutered, but the tibia, which normally stops growing at 12 to 14 months of age continues to grow, then an abnormal angle may develop at the stifle. In addition, with the extra growth, the lower leg below the stifle becomes heavier (because it is longer), causing increased stresses on the cranial cruciate ligament. This is confirmed by a recent study showing that spayed and neutered dogs have a higher incidence of CCL rupture(Slauterbeck JR, Pankratz K, Xu KT, Bozeman SC, Hardy DM. Canine ovariohysterectomy and orchiectomy increases the prevalence of ACL injury. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2004 Dec;(429):301-5)."

I suggest you do your research before slam new ideas.

Eparker, I'm posting a link, I suggest you read it to see what health experts are saying about the benefits of neutering and spaying. Some vets are doing this procedure as early as 6 weeks, and no ill effects have been found.

Spay & Neuter - ESP - Early Sterilization Program

There are many health benefits to early neutering and spaying, including less cases of cancer.

I suggest you do your research too, before you come to a board such as AMHD and slam other members. We don't just post our opinions, we do our research. Yes, the subject of neutering or spaying is a topic with many different opinions, but if you do your research, you'll find that the majority of vets are in favor of early altering.

Good luck.

And another link.

Cesar Millan - Ask the Vet

Altenweg,
I have done my research for a couple years now. Here is a link for you:
Early Neutering

I am not slaming anybody or their ideas anymore more than mine were slammed.

To the OP of this thread good luck to whichever route you go.

Well thanks for all your help everyone. I think we're just going to wait to get her spayed when she's 6 months and at the same time get her stomach tacked. The vet said we should wait for that so we will just do it all at the same time.

The research that has been done isn't conclusive. If you read the link I posted, those vets saying to wait until the dog is 2 years of age are suggesting this because of the risk of cancer in larger breeds. They have done research, but it's inconclusive. In other words, it has not been proven that neutering your dog early will cause cancer. It has however been proven that early spaying can and does lower the risk of cancer in female dogs.

It's a matter of who you believe, and the research you choose to follow. Ask 10 vets and they'll all have their opinions and their reason for the age of spaying or neutering your pet.

If you felt slammed then I apologize. I have done my research as well, and talked with many vets about this very topic. Their consensus, it's better to spay or neuter before or on the 6 month date then it is to wait. The benefits far outweigh the risks.

Everyone has a right to their opinion. That's mine.

Good luck.

Good luck ZoeMarie! I commend you for being a responsible dog owner, and keeping her happy and healthy!

thank you! I really appreciate that =)

Spay/neuter is generally not breed specific. Most are done at 3-4mos. If you are not intending to breed it is probably a good idea to have it done "before" she comes in to her first heat or if male same, before testosterine comes in to play. Some vets are now doing it as early as 12-14weeks before anything develops. But yes generally at 3-4 months. I have been working with animals for over 23 yrs in rescue and rehabilitation.
rjmarie

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Originally Posted by rjmarie

Spay/neuter is generally not breed specific. Most are done at 3-4mos. If you are not intending to breed it is probably a good idea to have it done "before" she comes in to her first heat or if male same, before testosterine comes in to play. Some vets are now doing it as early as 12-14weeks before anything develops. But yes generally at 3-4 months. I have been working with animals for over 23 yrs in rescue and rehabilitation.
rjmarie

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Actually I was told by our vet that with larger breeds that they might do it at 4 months as opposed to 6 months which from all the responses I've gotten so far is pretty much standard. Thanks for your help though!

Got little Zoe spayed and got her stomach tacked today. I shouldn't say she's little anymore. She's up to 82 lbs now. I'm excited to bring her home later tonight!

Wow, 82lbs already! I'm sure she will recover very quickly and be back to her normal playful self very soon! Puppy hugs from Niki!

http://www.postsmile.com/img/dogs/22.gif

Thanks! Yeah, she's 6 months and 82 lbs. such a big baby. Lol

I know I'm a bit late for this thread but I'll add my 2c worth anyway. I'm probably going to get shot down for this but we have show dogs so ours don't get spayed until their show career is over.
As for pets the bigger the dog the younger they should be spayed. It's a lot easier to keep a 10kg puppy contained and stop her from jumping thank it is a 70kg adult. Plus there are many complications when they are older like developing cancer as well as pyrometra (sp?)

Well, Zoe isn't a show dog. She's merle so she can't be a show dog. And Zoe is only 6 months old so she's still young

Zoe, are you sure she's not a horse instead of a dog? ;)

Wow, big girl. Good to know she got through the surgery well. I'll be going through the same thing with our Chewy boy next month. A bit easier on males, but still. :)

She might be part horse. Lol. I can't believe how fast she's growing. And she likes to give hugs. When she stands on her hind legs she puts wraps her paws around your neck. I don't know where she picked that up from but she does that to me when I get home from work. I can't imagine she does that because she's seen me and my husband do that when one of us gets home, but maybe. I used to think it was a dominance thing, but she just does it for a second or two and jumps down.

Comments on this post
shazamataz agrees: I didn't mean you had left it too late, I was just throwing my opinion out there :-)

I appreciate that. I re-read my post. I didn't mean to sound like a jerk. I'm sorry.

OK so I've been checking Zoe's stitches from day to day. Sunday night you could tell she had been licking at them so Monday I took her for her e-colllar. Tonight I checked again to see how things look. Everything is red and swollen. There's no way that's normal is it?

Spaying a great dane before they are twelve months old increases the risk of bone cancer (which is more of a problem in large breeds anyway), and also gives them time to develop properly. My vet definitely recommends waiting at least 12 months before speying a Great Dane.