question about spaying puppies?

Question

I was looking at some puppies on petfinder and one said "she has already been spayed because she weighed in at a whopping 4 pounds"......does that make sense? I thought you were supposed to do that based on how old they were not how much (or how little) they weighed. She is definitely a young puppy and I thought puppies should have that done around 6 months? That just sounds sketchy

also, it doesnt say the same thing for her siblings and they are about 6 weeks old...what in the world

Answer 1

Since most animal shelters require that their animals be spayed or neutered before adopting them out, vets will be willing to do the surgery on them as long as they are at least 2 pounds (which explains the whopping 4 pounds comment) and their testes have descended if they are male.

If you're still concerned, ask for the number of the veterinarian that spayed the puppy and speak to him or her about the procedure and requirements.

Answer 2

First, most dogs or cats can be fixed as young as 8 weeks old. According to my vet, there has been no clinical proof that fixing a dog that young has any adverse effects on its life. However, many privately owned vet offices will not do this because of the risk to the animal of the anesthesia.

Second, depending on the breed, 4 lbs at the pups age may mean that she will grow to be larger than breed standard. Because of this, any reputable breeder would not want her bred. Regardless of how good her sales contract may be, fixing the animal before it went to its new home would guarantee that it were never bred. (Some people just breed their animals for the sake of trying to make money, not for the quality of the pups produced.)

Answer 3

Some vets will alter dogs when they are 10 weeks old; some will do it at 4 months old, but 6 months is preferred.

Generally speaking, no decent vet will alter a dog that is less than 4 pounds because the smaller the dog is, the more problems it may have with anesthesia.

Answer 4

This is quoted from Peteducation.com:

In the United States, most dogs and cats are spayed/neutered between 5 and 8 months of age. To try to control pet overpopulation, many humane shelters have started to spay/neuter all animals before they are adopted. This means they are spaying/neutering animals at a younger age, even 6-14 weeks of age. Many veterinarians in private practice have started early spaying/neutering as well.
Questions have arisen regarding the safety of this procedure and possible effects on the animals when they become older. However, as more studies have been done, and veterinarians have followed early spayed/neutered animals into older age, these concerns have been shown to be unfounded. Studies in which three groups of dogs were spayed or neutered at different ages showed no significant differences in growth rate, food intake, or weight gain in the three groups of dogs.

Early spaying/neutering has been shown to be safe in multiple studies. It must be remembered that younger animals may need different anesthetics and are more prone to hypothermia (lower than normal body temperature) during surgery. But as long as procedures are modified to account for these differences, early spaying/neutering is very safe. In fact, animals spayed/neutered at a younger age, often have faster recoveries than those spayed/neutered when they are older.

Answer 5

Actually, weight does matter, to a point.

Dogs are typically spayed at 5 to 6 months of age, but if a dog is large enough/developed enough and is younger than 5 months, the veterinarian will sometimes spay them early at their discretion... usually no earlier than 4 months.

Shelters sometimes spay animals at only 8 weeks old, just to make sure they are spayed before they are adopted, but I personally think it's wrong and not best for the animal.

Answer 6

No reputable vet would spay a 6 week old puppy or any puppy younger than 6 months. Any younger than that and there is a high risk of complications.

Answer 7

I just found out that it doesn't go by the age of your dog. I just got a yorkshire terrier and I didn't realize she has hernia. Her vet fixed her hernia and also spayed her at the same time before she's 3 months old and 4lbs at the time. It didn't make sense to cut her open twice so they just did it at the same time. Now, she's as healthy as she can be.

Answer 8

As the shelter manager said, pups and kittens can be fixed provided they are at least two pounds and healthy. Our shelter has been doing this for years - we have never found there to be any problems with early age altering, and studies have been done to back this up.

Answer 9

Hi!

We normally never spade our females until they were around 6 months old...or just after their first heat.

As far as I know, weight doesn't have anything to do with it, unless the vets won't spay one until they reach at least so many pounds for safety reasons regarding anesthesia. I doubt that, though. I''d always been told they should be allowed to reach or be very close to sexual maturity before spaying.

Answer 10

some shelters will have animals spayed at a certian weight because they want to adopt them out as young as they possibly can.