How old should a dog be to get fixed?

Question

Is there a minimum age or a prefered age for dogs to be spayed or neutered?

Answer 1

Females should be spayed before their first heat; other than preventing reproduction, a major aim of spaying a ***** is to prevent mammary tumours later in life. Every time she comes on heat, her chances of developing mammary cancer later in life in increased regardless of whether you later spay her or not (can't remember figures off the top of my head, but they should be easy enough to find on the net.) Males can be neutered provided that both testes are fully descended.

Six months is probably around the ideal age. Many vets (especially those working at shelters) advocate early desexing- less than 12 weeks old. In a shelter environment, this is a relatively good thing as it means pups and kittens can be adopted out and already be desexed, and as long as the animal is old enough to have an anaesthetic with relatively high degree of safety it's not really an issue.

The main reason for saying 6 months is that if you're going through a regular vet, it's far better for your pup that it is fully vaccinated first (and many clinics will not admit dogs for spay/neuter unless they ARE fully vaccinated). Most reasonable sized clinics should have an isolation ward for animals with infectious diseases, but many will just have one room with a bank of cages meaning that your pup will potentially be exposed to other dogs while at the clinic.

Answer 2

around 6 months is good as this is when they start being able to reproduce. Many pounds are spaying/neutering animals very young these days, which many vets don't agree with (as yound as 8-10 weeks like some people on here are saying). The reason for the young neuters is because people were adopting animals and than NOT getting them fixed so the pounds started fixing ALL the animals BEFORE they got adopted no matter what age they were. SO, you can neuter a very young animal, but it is not necessarily the healthiest thing to do for you pet. Talk to your vet, they may want you to wait until at least 6 months when the dog is at least sexually mature.

Answer 3

Testicles are normally 'dropped' by birth, people....so that has absolutely nothing to do with the age of neutering. If that's the criterion you want to use, I can neuter most puppies at ONE DAY OF AGE (but I'm not going to, lol.) Besides, dogs with retained (undescended) testicles are in even MORE need of being neutered due to the increased risk of testicular cancer or torsion of the retained testicle. It's also a hereditary problem that does not need to be perpetuated. Sometimes, they're just a little slow to descend....which is still a hereditary problem. If they're not down by about 3 months, however.....they are considered retained.

When I was in veterinary college (too many moons ago to count, lol), the recommended ages were 6 months for females, 8 months for males. We know a LOT more now than we knew then, however. One huge concern 'way back then' was the ability of a young pup's liver to handle the anesthesia drugs, since it is not fully developed for the first few months of life. Now that we have incredible anesthetic gases like isofluorane and sevofluorane, however, that is no longer an issue....so the surgeries can be performed much younger, without worry of insult to the liver. (These are the same exact anesthetic drugs that are used on premature human infants.)

For females, it is a well-known fact (has been for 30 years) that spaying BEFORE the first heat cycle drops her risk of breast cancer later in life to almost zero. So, if you have a DVM still telling you to let her come into heat at least once before the surgery, he/she is either VERY old (as that's what used to be taught about 40-50 years ago), or just slept through about half of his/her classes and probably barely passed them or the boards. It's also very 'stupid' for anyone to tell you to let a female come into at least one heat before her surgery, in that prepubescent females are MUCH EASIER to spay, they recover from the surgery much quicker, and have a much lower complication rate from hemorrhage, etc.

Males are a little more controversial (aren't they always?....just as with the human ones, hehehe.) Hormones can play an important part in their physical development, true.....but it's still important to catch them 'just before they hit puberty' if at all possible. Sometimes, that will sneak up on you. (It happens at different ages for different breeds, and there are also differences amongst individuals within the same breed....just like human boys hit puberty at different ages.) So, many people have them done earlier so they don't take that chance.

Different DVMs have different personal preferences for the 'ideal' age to spay/neuter, based upon different personal experiences and training. To be honest, there is no one 'right' age, imo....I take the breed (and other factors) into consideration when I make my recommendations. And I discuss this with my clients during that puppy's several routine puppy visits...just as I encourage all of you to do. :-)

Answer 4

Generally it is done at 6 months. This allows for the males testicals to drop. Spaying the female at approximately 6 months, does two things - minimizes and/or prevents cancer of female organs and mamary cancer and gives an opportunity to spay before the female goes into full heat.
By 6 months, pups will have had all their shots this minimizing their risk of being exposed to contagious sicknesses while housed during the spay or neuter process.

Answer 5

I think the ideal age to spay or neuter a dog is six months.

Answer 6

Our vet told us we could have our Border Collie spayed at the age of 4 months, once she was completed with all of her vaccinations. About 10 years ago, it was 6 months, but they do it a little earlier now.

I think doing it too young, and not doing it at such a young age, may have to do with a very young puppy handling the anesthesia and such.

Each vet is different as to when, but by 6 months old, all vets should be willing to do it.

Answer 7

3 to 4 months is the best age to get a dog fixed. They are too young to know what is going on and it won't be as hard on the dog. The more you wait, the more pain the dog will have when it gets fixed.

Answer 8

Some vets will do it at 2 months. I do not agree with that, but I am not a vet. I did have a Chihuahua male fixed recently at 4 1/2 months and he did fine. He was large for a Chihuahua tho, about 8 lb, and his hormones were kicking in.

Answer 9

It depends on the vet and the breed. Some vets do not like to do it until 6 months. Some vets do it at 10 weeks. Giant bred dogs may pose more of a challenge and vets may want to do them sooner than 6 months.
Depends on a lot of things. Call your vet and ask what they do.

Answer 10

my veterinarian told me that 6 months was the ideal age to have a dog neutered as they are not old enough to have learned many of the behaviors that neutering is supposed to prevent, and they are young enough that they heal very quickly.