[aison]

Well, it's coming up to that age where we need to get Sally and Leia desexed. Our vet won't do it till they are 6 months old (another month away)... But our problem is, this interferes with many things. They will have started obedience training by then (start on the 24th April) and I don't really want to miss a night because the main reason we are doing this obedience (not only to make them obedient) but is to have them good enough to participate in our wedding. Our wedding is 12 weeks away, their training is 8 weeks long, that gives us 3 weeks after training finishes to get them desexed and ready to participate in our wedding. Only problem is, by the end of the training, they'll be over 7 months old.. Will they be coming into season then? We don't want this to happen and have accidental puppies..

At what age to beagles seem to come into season?

I think we might have to miss a week's training just to get around this issue and let them recover before pushing them.

What would you fellow beagle owners suggest?

(... Erin)

 

[fuchsh]

A possibility to delay the desexing without the risk of unwanted puppies is the contraceptive shot. You'll have to ask your vet about it, since I'm not sure what is available where you are, but in Germany there are contraceptive shots for both males and female dogs, which allow the owners to "skip" the ovulation of the female dog, without having to desex. That way your dogs can get the shot when you notice that your girl may be going into heat, and you will not have to worry about unwanted puppies. After the shot there is a wait period before the dogs can be desexed.

 

[debannib]

Whew....sounds like a squeeze to get it all worked in before the wedding. Will you still be sane? :biglaugh: )

 

[Mom of 2 Beagles]

Sadie had her first heat at 9 months old. I think she was a little later than some. Then she had a heat every 9 - 12 months after that until age 4 when we had her spayed. We were trying to mate her at first.

I think it is great that your pups are going to be in the wedding!! How fun!!

We took ours to Puppy Kindergarden. I think they were too young or immature. They were 6 months old or thereabouts. Sadie ran around like a little wild heathen at class. Pooh Bear got tired and slept. I would put him up on my chest/shoulder and hold him while he was sound asleep just like you hold a sleeping baby. Pooh Bear got an award for most improved puppy. I guess going from sleeping through class to participating was an improvement. Sadie was and still is our free spirit. She lives in Sadie land and does what she wants when she wants and no one can stop her except Daddy when he uses his deep gruff voice.

 

[Spencer's Mum]

I honestly think that you will be ok. If you have training on Sundays, plan for the operation on the day after (a Monday). They will be well enough by the next week to attend class, you will just have to make sure that they are not rough housing with the other dogs. Basically practising the sits and downs and stays will be fine after they are fixed. Spencer & Sydney never missed a class when they were fixed.

 

[Murphys Dad]

If you have them spayed prior to the weddingm remember that they will have shaved bellies.

 

[debannib]

Quote:Originally posted by Murphy's Dad:
If you have them spayed prior to the weddingm remember that they will have shaved bellies.

:freak:

That's why I love this board, what one doesn't think of, another does!! :thumbup:

 

[Murphys Dad]

If you're planning on having them dress for the wedding, the shaved bellies wouldn't matter too much. :eyes: Seriously, I don't have any advice since I've never had a female go into heat before she was spayed. In fact, I'm so ignorant about it that I didn't even realize Li'l Girl was just coming out of heat when we adopted her. :freak:

 

[Ashley Hellen]

Bitches wont always come into a first season bang on six months, it can differ, some may be six months but I have heard of first seasons as late as 18 months, it depends on the dog

I really dont know where this belief that having bitches spayed at six months before their first season comes from. We have vets over here that push and push for early spaying, it lines their pockets and they sway unsuspecting owners into it.


As I have mentioned before I am a dog walker by trade and I have dogs and bitches that I walk every day that were spayed or neutured very early on and they are very immature and puppyish.

The worst one I have is a lab that was spayed at around 5-6 months (before 1st season) and she is so puppylike and dont listen and has put weight on and the owner has tried everything to get the weight off. She is nightmare to walk and is like a tank.

IMHO I think it is best to let a bitch have her first season then spay in between the 1st and before the 2nd one. The though is that in allowing the first season it gives the hormones a chance to kick in and give the bitch some maturity.

I had Foxy spayed because she was very unhappy and sad through the first season and we never intended to breed from her, the down side is that she puts on weight just by looking at food and its difficult to balance and it can upset the coat. I have dogs that have got coats that have changed after spaying.

I do think it is a decision that is rammed down peoples throats by the vet, the vet is not all seeing and omnipresent. I get sick of some of the owners of the dogss that I walk; that the owners listen to what the vets says as gospel and they feed their dog crap food and take the advice literally.

Spaying is good to prevent unwanted puppies and matings but why so early, cant we give our dogs a chance to gain some maturity first

As I am in the UK I guess we have differing views on spaying, I guess people will do things differently at the end of the day!

 

[fuchsh]

Quote:Spaying is good to prevent unwanted puppies and matings but why so early, cant we give our dogs a chance to gain some maturity first

I agree with what you are saying in general. Our dogs are still intact and will stay that way, but I think when a person owns male and female dogs it's a little more tricky. Unless the male dog gets a contraceptive shot before the female goes into heat I wouldn't risk having an ovulating female and a sexually mature male in the same house.

 

[jdetmering]

both of my females I have had have gone into heat at about 9 months old.
Actually, speaking of that, my little Maggie is right now! She was born last July 26th actually. so just over 9 months old. And she is so immature now, so I am hoping it might calm her down some. Yes, we do have chopper in the house who is not fixed, he is around 1 yr old. If something is going to happen I would prefer it be with him than the Rott down the street or the lab across the way!! Dont know if they are fixed though, but trying to keep her calm!

this will be a trying week for me.

Andrew and Erin- I guess I would wait til after wedding. I doubt your girls will go before that (into heat that is)
Judi

 

[Sadiemakes6]

I'm sorry but I have to disagree with the statement that vets push to spay early to line pockets. The big reason at our clinic is the huge risk reduction in reproductive cancers. Spaying before the first heat removes estrogen from the body, and since mammary cancer is hormone driven, it reduces risk, depending on the study you look at from 70 to 95%. Spaying after a heat cycle will still reduce it but not by as great a margin. Spaying After 4 heat cycles will no longer reduce risk, but MAY slow growth of reproductive cancers. Our protocol calls for the pup being at least 4 months. If we really wanted to line our pockets, we wouldn't do it at all, as treating problems is way more profitable than preventing them!
The studies I refer to come from
Sorenmo KU, Shofer FS, Goldschmidt MH

Department of Clinical Studies and Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104-6010, USA

 

[fuchsh]

Quote:Spaying after a heat cycle will still reduce it but not by as great a margin.

Some studies have shown it to reduce the risk up to 60 %, that's quite a lot.

Unfortunately desexing also increases the risk of other types of cancer, such as bone cancer (see the Bielefelder castration study), so I don't think anyone can really say that the dog will be healthier fixed than intact.

 

[fuchsh]

Quote:Spaying after a heat cycle will still reduce it but not by as great a margin.

Some studies have shown it to reduce the risk up to 60 %, that's quite a lot.

Unfortunately desexing also increases the risk of other types of cancer, such as bone cancer (see the Bielefelder castration study), so I don't think anyone can really say that the dog will be healthier fixed than intact.

I think most vets push to fix early because of the cultural mentality in the US that dogs that are fixed before the first cycle don't have any chance to have babies. I personally think that the studies on the issue are done in order to support the idea that desexing early is a good thing - anybody who deals with research knows that study topics and methods reflect cultural beliefs. I also think that such a mentality is appropriate there, because there is such a large problem with unwanted dogs and cats. But responsible dog owners don't necessarily need to fix that early, since they won't let their dogs get pregnant or inpregnate other dogs in the first place.

 

[aison]

Thanks for all your advice, but I'm still not sure what we are going to do. I've been told by a few people that if you get a puppy desexed around 6 months of age, they remain immature for the rest of their lives as they don't have their first season and mature with that. Can anyone comment on this?

However, I'd rather have an immature dog, than one that runs the risk of getting cancers because we didn't desex her in her early age. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif

Who would have thought this decision would be soo hard! We are off to see the vet Wednesday night about Leia's anal glands so we'll ask his professional advice then.


(... Erin)

 

[LuckyBeagle]

Lucky was fixed at about 4 months. I got him from a rescue shelter and had he not had Parvo, he would have been fixed at 6 weeks. It's extremely common around here. Puppies are fixed very young. Almost every shelter requires a dog to be fixed before you adpot it, which means most dogs are fixed at a very young age. I do not feel Lucky was at a disadvantage from being fixed young. He is not immature. He is extremely smart but playful. He knows when to behave. I took him to beginner training when he was a year and 7 months old. He was the star of his class. He start intermediate training on Wednesday. He is very well behaved (training helped a lot). He still gets excited and likes to play as any dog would. I don't think having him fixed young was a bad or wrong decision. The reason we do it here is because there are far too many strays and unwanted dogs due to people not getting their dogs fixed. We are merely trying to prevent dogs being euthanized due to not being wanted or being sick since they were never vaccinated (like Lucky's mother, thank goodness Lucky is a fighter and pulled through the Parvo). That's just my two cents!

 

[aison]

Well, we booked the girls in for their desexing tonight as the vet advised us the best time is between 5 - 6 months and the time I had in mind is smack bang in the middle of this.

We've booked them in for the 4th May.. which really isn't that far away now! I can't believe the cost! I nearly fell over, lucky the hospital wasn't far away. $200 per pup + $39.20 for microchipping and $77 for pre op blood testing and $39 for fluid treatment during the operation.. That adds up to a grand total of $355.20 per pup, times 2 and you've got a total of $710.40. Plus the $320 on obedience.. wow, who said dogs didn't cost more than kids!! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/shocked.gif

Nothing but the best for our babies though, this isn't any specialist vet, just a chain that we chose to take our puppies to.

How much is it for desexing in the various states you're in?

I thought it would be about $150 for desexing, plus $50 for microchipping.. but damn. By gee these puppies are lucky we love them /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

(... Erin)

 

[jtward01]

I've always thought having an adult dog with the personality of a puppy was a good thing. It doesn't affect their intelligence, just their spirit. What's wrong with a smart, independent and playful beagle?

 

[fuchsh]

Quote:I've always thought having an adult dog with the personality of a puppy was a good thing.

I wouldn't like it. I think an adult dog personality is a lot more enjoyable. I'm honestly not much of a puppy person though, that's a reason why we have two rescues.

Quote: How much is it for desexing in the various states you're in?

My sister got her female dog fixed in Oregon and paid a similar price (somewhere around 350), I about fell over when I heard that too. We asked our vet about getting our male dog fixed here in Germany (before we decided against it), aber it would have cost around 150 Euro.

 

[LuckyBeagle]

Well, the adoption fee for Lucky was $120 US Dollars. That price included getting fixed, microchipped, and his round of shots. Not to mention the shelter paid for all of his Parvo medication. Maybe I just got a good deal. I'm not sure how your money translates to ours. I did not think it was that expensive.