Los Angeles has passed a law that will require all dogs to be spayed or neutered by time the dogs are four months old. I do not want to debate the law, but isn’t four months old too young for some breeds? I have looked into a lot of smaller breeds of dogs and for many of them the general recommendation to wait until they are six months old due to risk of putting the dog under while its weight is still so low. Is it really safe to spay or neuter all breeds of dog when they are only four months old?
Bump
I don’t have a cite, but the animal shelters here spay/neuter prior to adoption, even at 6 weeks.
On the animal rescue shows on Animal Planet, they often mention spay/neutering of very young animals.
The worry over anesthesia in puppies and kittens has been unnecessary for years. It is true that years ago (15? 20?) the effects of anesthesia on very young animals was not fully known and thus spay/neuter were not done at that young age. But pediatric spay/neuter has been practiced for years and years and greatly decreases the number of unwanted animals born. Lots of people seem to think a 4- or 5-month-old kitten can’t get pregnant or get someone pregnant. Well yes they can!
I’ve been through thousands of pediatric spay/neuters at 8 weeks old. I had one die on me, cause unknown, but it did happen shortly after his neuter.
I can’t recommend it highly enough. The recovery time is astoundingly short. The incision is barely visible. If your vet says “It’s dangerous at that young age,” get yourself another vet because that one is still living in 1985.
All the shelters here spay/neuter at 2 months & approximately 2 pounds. I think it’s the greatest advance in veterinary medicine in the past hundred years.
Hm. Our vet has always had us wait until our dogs were ~30 pounds (springer spaniels or bigger) to spay them; ISTR his reasoning is that it’s just easier to do it when the dog is a manageable size; he’s never mentioned a concern about anesthesia. The last dog we spayed hit that weight around six months. We do not expose them to strange male dogs before they’re spayed.
What about breeds that never get that big?
The Tucson Humane Society recommends pediatric neutering (2 months/2 lbs). I chatted with the receptionist about it while I was checking in several feral rescue kittens to the spay/neuter clinic and she says that they’ve seen a definite reduction in unwanted pets since they started the program. They’re thrilled with it and are pushing hard (or as hard as you can with no budget) to get people to get it done early and tell their friends to do the same.
My impression from vet school is that early spay/neuter is still hotly debated among vets. One camp cites the quick recovery times and reduction in unwanted pets, the other cites the smallness of the incision and the complications that can come from that.
It seems to boil down to the personal preferences of the vet, with justifications found afterwards. If you have a vet who gets a lot of practice at spays and neuters, odds are they will be able to do it on a young animal just fine. If your vet spends more time doing other things, then they are going to be more competent at older, bigger animals.
Find a vet in your area who likes to volunteer at feral cat clinics.