Hi all, I just have a quick question. Reading through Chip's post's about rose I noticed a comment about not spaying being useful in hemangiosarcoma. Because I lost my last dog to that awful disease (he was intact) and amber is not currently spayed (I have no intention of breeding her, she doesn't run loose, and my decision to delay is based more on concerns about anesthesia) anyway, can someone tell me how not spaying would protect against it. My vet has said that he feels my last dogs vigor at 12 1/2 yrs (everyone thought he was much younger) was due to being intact, and he felt that leaving an ovary in during spaying may have health benefits that a complete spaying would not. Thanks in advance.

Did you read the link we were talking about?

I ask because the only reason I said that was to show how complex the spay/not spay question is, not to say that hemangiosarcoma was more likely to happen than the other health challenges that may be linked to spay/not spay.

By far and away the strongest risk factors for cancer are genetic. If the sire/dam/close relatives
have cancers early, then dogs are at greater risk. There are certain lines that develop early tumor.
It is my personal opinion that there is also a correlation between early cancer and being a "great dog". While unstudied, there are few veterinarians with any years under their belt who will disagree with the statement that "the good die young. "
It is hard to sort out the risk of spay/neuter and tumor. Being intact seems to reduce some cancer risk. Some mammary tumors (breast cancers) are fed by estrogen, so having no ovaries, no added estrogen, is protective against this disease. OTOH, having no ovaries early can lead to urinary incontinence and vulvar abnormalities, and this problem can lead to early PTS. Some folks believe there is less hemangiosarcoma in unspayed dogs, but then again there are more spayed than un-spayed dogs and unspayed dogs may die earlier of other problems and perhaps not live long enough to develop the tumors related to old age.

My female was left intact until 6.5 years old and she died from hemangiosarcoma at 11. She was also minimally vaccinated and raw/grain free fed for the second half of her life She was quite active (and could have passed for a much younger dog) until about 4 weeks before I lost her.

The issue you do have with intact females is the increase risk of mammary cancer (my dog had benign tumors removed when she was spayed) and pyrometra. In the future I will most likely leave females intact until they are around 2 y/o or fully mature. Theoretically this will cut down some of the risk of some cancers and will also increase the risk of mammary cancer. But it's a choice I'm comfortable with.

Bottom line - there is no magic bullet. Read all the information available and do what you feel is best for your dog and situation

I didn't see the link, I picked up on the hemangioma word.

Thank you, that helps clear it up. None of her family that I know of (parents, grandparents, siblings were on premises) have had cancer.
Do you consider there to be an ideal age or age to spay by? I was thinking of having her spayed over the winter so at 2 1/2 years. I realize there is no crystal ball just want to try and give her the best chance for a long and healthy life.

Thanks for the reply, makes sense. I wish there were a magic bullet though for this awful disease.

In school and in practice (35 years ago) we liked to spay them young because the operation is easier on the dog, pups heal so fast. But later information seems to suggest that it might be better to wait until the dog is close to maturity, that this is better for their joints. Kiersten Lippman showed me some research that convinced me that it's better othopedically to wait until a dog is mature.
For a pure pet in a dog not too big I still like early neutering. My Pinker was neutered at around 4 months. He never lifts his leg and his urine isn't at all smelly. He does not mark nor fight(much).
He is becoming pickle shaped but that adds to his charm.

My feelings are that leaving a dog whole/intact(female or male) for the 1st 2 years, allows the dog to use their hormones to grow properly skeletally as well as muscularly. Growth plates don't usually close until around 2 years of age for most larger breeds. At least GSDs. In some cases later than that. So I would want to allow at least that time if not until 3 for better physical & mental maturity to take place. After that I guess it is even more of a personal choice & the type of work the dog is doing. Some of the folks doing protection work want the hormones there throughout the working life of the dog.

Dogs that are 'fixed' early often grow leggy (long legged) & don't develop fully muscularly. They can also look a little 'off' from what the breed normally looks like.

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Thank you- that makes me feel better about holding off on spaying and also on spaying her this year.