Well see that I can understand. Medical Reasons, she was bleeding. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Having a female that had pyometra, I will probably end up spaying all of my females at around 2 years of age BEFORE there are any life threatening problems when they are older and the surgery is much more riskier.

I just found out that Auster bloated last night, so make that a spay AND TACK for all of my dogs.

Very sorry to hear that Lauren, I extend my best wishes for you and Auster <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

I understand everyones reason for wanting or not wanting to s/n their dogs. We have decided we are going to neuter our 5 month old Sheltie since we are not going to show him, use him in protection or anything like that, so is it too soon to have him neutered at 5 months or should we wait till he is closer to 7 months? I don't want to do this too soon and end up causeing him any kinds of problems in the long run so if anyone out there has done this to their dogs at a young age and has some advice i would love to hear it. Thanks
I forgot to add that he is starting to get really humpy on things around the house and this is one habit i really hate to have him start..we stop him when we see it but sometimes ... also will this stop once we get him fixed?

my best regards to you and your dog..
but one question, of course, does s/n have any cause with bloat? i think i just might be a little confused.....Bounette <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

MMberry, it will stop when he is neutered if it does not become a behavioral response. If he's interested in every chair and coffe table in your house than I'd guess that it will probably become a behavioral pattern pretty soon instead of hormones. How soon I can't say because every dog is different.

That said, I have seen a 3 month old FEMALE puppy mount a stuffed dog so there's more to it than hormones.

Yvette, spaying and bloat are not directly related, but in some breeds prone to bloat the vet will tack the stomach into place when the dog in open for a spay. This way the dog can not have torsion (when the stomach twists around in the body) so they won't have to have emergency surgery like Auster did, they will just have to have the vet pass a stomach tube. With torsion, if the dog survives the surgery and is brought in as soon as they start to bloat they have a 50/50 chance of living. Not all dogs survive the surgery so it is most likely that the dog will die from torsion. I was extremely lucky with Auster because she will make a full recovery and no other organs were caught when her stomach twisted. If her spleen was caught she would have bled to death.

Thanks for bringing up having the stomach stapled when spaying. I will talk to my vet about it. My Akita is having trouble at present, going into heat sometimes as close as every 30 to 45 days. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Having the stomach done at the same time may be a godsend. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I had my rot neutered at six months now six years old and he still wants to neuter the Vet he hates them all but I guess would to if they cut off my tail and neutered me