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Puppy on heat.
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I have noticed tonight that my 9 month old puppy is what I assume, on heat. I understand that we have to let her be on heat to allow her hormones to develop properly but my question is do we have to allow her to be on heat for 1 cycle or can we have her spayed anytime now now she's started.
Thanks.
Thanks.
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Bit late now, but you needn't have let her have a season before having her spayed.
Some vets say it reduces the risk of incontinence at a later stage if you have them done after a season, some say it's best to have it done before as it may slightly lower the risk of female cancers. I think the risks are relatively small either way, so wouldn't worry about it too much!
Massively lowers the risks! I haven't the figures to hand, but the risk of mammary tumors if spayed before first season are near zero, steadily increasing after each season.
I also had to wait two seasons to get my girl done because she had a bad skin condition which had to be under control first. Sometimes it can't be helped. I was comforted by the statistic that spaying before 2.5 years (on average) still carries a relatively low risk.
I can almost guarantee she'll need to wait 3 months from the start or 8 weeks from the end of the season (only saves you a week)
Vaccines - if she has had both puppy jabs, she will need a booster after 12 months (about 14-16 months of age). After that.....there is some debate. The evidence from USA studies and some European is that for Parvo and Distemper, vaccination every three years is the best protocol. But just try convincing your vet of that! But for Lepto, every year especially if your dog goes in water. But just try getting a Lepto only jab! Unless contra-indicated, annual jab is (probably) the best bet.
As seasons occur every six months, three months after the start is the further point from that season, before any build up to the next season.
As stress monkey says you don't have to wait for the first season (except in docked dogs, of which there should be increasingly few, possibly because docking can also affect the nerves controlling urinary incontenence) but once they start the first season, for the reasons given above, you have to wait til after.
The fewer seasons they have the lower the cancer risk and uterine infection.
You cannot do the vaccines at the same time as the spay because the antibiotic cover for the spay op could knock out the vaccine but they only have to be a week or so apart so you have plenty of time to sort vaccines prior to her spay op.