Best age to spay

[Nani's Mom]

Hello to all,

I will be owning my first Rottie in about a week. A friend of mine cannot handle both of his dogs, therefore I am taking his Rottie. She's 9 months old and is not spayed. I was wondering what would be the best age to spay her. According to her owner she has not come into season yet. Is this odd? I've heard most females come into season by the age of 6 months. She's such an adorable and loving dog. I just want her for a companion and pet, therefore I think spaying her would be a very good idea. I'm just not sure what age is the best for this. Thanks in advance for all your help.

[HerdmyRott]

Spay her as soon as you get her!!! You can reduce the chances of mammary cancer and completely eliminate the worry of Pyometria if you spay her before her first heat cycle. There's no reason to put yourself through the hassle and aggravation of a heat cycle too.

[Diane Heller-Vaccaro]

Spay her as soon as you get her infact make the appointment now. She'll live a healthier life. My first female was stray I had her a week and made the appointment to have her spayed, well before her appt. she came into heat (she was already 2-3 years so she wouldn't benefit from the early spay) vets want to wait til the dog is over the heat cycle because its messy and generally costs more. So we waited, and waited and then came the discharge first brown took her in they gave her antibiotics - didn't work she got worse and worse til the discharge turned green sure enough it was pyometria. They had to do emergency surgery and it cost almost $700 I didn't care I just wanted her to live. It took her a long time to get better.

I've just had my second female done at 9 months and the vet said she was just getting ready to come into heat. So I caught her in time. Larger breeds usually come in heat anywhere between 6-9 months so hurry.

[AngelBunny]

Nani's Mom:

Make the appointment as soon as you can--it would be best, in fact, if you go get her, then can leave her at the vet's for the spaying on your way home. While she's there, you can have your vet look her over.

That way she comes home to recover--& you won't worry about her the way you will if she's been living with you & then has to go in for the operation!

We had our rescue girl living with us for about a month before she got spayed (Tula was 5 mo when we adopted her). Her mom here was a nervous nelly, worried about how her little girl was doing. Of course, everything went fine, but I was worried about her because by the time of her operation, I'd fallen in love with the little rascal.