The Best Age to Spay Your Dog in 2025 (veterinarian explains)

[@wolfsongrambler8903]

I’m not here to discourage spaying/neutering, but I want to share our experience. After spaying our small dog, she developed a rare but fatal autoimmune condition. While this is very rare, it’s something to be aware of, especially if you have a small or purely bred dog. If you notice any signs of stress or trauma after vaccinations or medical procedures, don’t ignore them-it could save your pet’s life. Every pet is unique, so please consider their individual health before making these big decisions.

[@MellowMutts270]

Agreed. I noticed a negative change in my dog after we vaccinated him. His behavior changed from happy and alert to lethargic and foggy he also slept way more luckily these effects wore off after a week or so but still after that I never ever vaccinated him again.

[@joannleichliter4308]

Some of the health issues that can occur in unspayed female dogs can occur in humans as well, but we don't usually recommend spaying as the preventive--for a lot of reasons, which often apply to dogs as well.

[@squoctopus]

Back in the 70s, ob/guns made a lot of money for years doing hysterectomies and convincing women they should get them after they were "done having children" for all the same reason as for dogs. Now doctors also recommend hysterectomies for trans-identified women. So it still goes on as long as there's money in it.

[@giorgiaw]

Thank-you so much for doing this video. My dog is mixed breed small dog. Chihuahua pug mix. She is eight years old and i am unsure about putting her through the surgery. Your video makes it a lot clearer with regards to spaying. Its just her age i am worried about anaesthetic etc. I am so glad I came across your videos Thankyou

[@OurPetsHealth]

Pleased I could help. I have an older video specifically about spaying an older dog here - kzbin.info/www/bejne/pqeymnqbmdaLf9E and then a couple of recent videos about anaesthetic/surgery risk and how to reduce it here - kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5iQin-dhJh5isU

[@giorgiaw]

@@OurPetsHealth thankyou

[@kellyconrad5449]

Thank you for your input, I am holding off on this based on breed standards, I have a 1 year old Newfoundland, a giant breed that now weighs 135 pounds, with the recommended advice from the preservation breeder and vet, due to their size and weight, increasing the chances of serious joint issues, including CCL tears, painful for the dog, and extremely expensive surgery, in my area, this surgery would cost about $6,500 dollars to repair.

[@blove2719]

Can you explain why dogs in Europe who are not spayed/neutered have a longer life span than dogs in the US?

[@twillymantheoneandonly5587]

It's because British men are much gayer. They keep their dogs confined in a safe space. Me and my dog go sky diving dude. Sometimes i only put a parachute on my dog so i have to get to him or we are both going to make a crater. We swim with sharks dude... We are straight af!

[@gregggiddens]

@@blove2719 I see there’s no answer here, you’re not meant to question vets that are one sided on this subject

[@blove2719]

@@gregggiddens It's a legitimate question any professional veterinarian should be willing to answer. I really wish he would respond. You may be right!

[@blove2719]

@@tigertalks1567 Thanks, I am aware of this, I wanted to get a response from the vet to hear what he had to say.

[@TheRealShanyeWest]

simple, the us has shitty dog food

[@LostBeagle]

I had a 15 inch female Beagle that was not spayed. At 10 years she developed a severe uterine infection and I had to put her down. Never again. Now I have a 7 month old female Aussie Sheperd mix. Had her spayed less than 48 hours ago. Everything is fine but she's not drinking yet. I've been feeding her wet food which she's eating, and I've given her a little water from a spoon, but she's not intetested in water. She didn't drink much prior to the surgery anyway

[@OurPetsHealth]

Download my free guide on when to spay your dog (if at all) based on breed - ourpetshealth.com/dogspaytiming

[@wendywilliams9893]

Really interesting info. Definitely food for thought. Thanks

[@OurPetsHealth]

Glad it was helpful!

[@cloudsplitter24]

I would have liked to see the UC Davis long duration study on golden retrievers and similar breeds addressed in this discussion. They seem to suggest holding off (for 2 to 3) years for golden retrievers. The risk of hip dysplasia was higher as well.

[@OurPetsHealth]

Golden retrievers are one of the 35 breeds in the table discussed and the recommendation is to actually leave them intact, primarily due to cancer risk in that breed. If the decision is instead to spay then I'd suggest leaving as late as possible to a point when pyo became a really significant risk (based on age or long/unusual season for example)

[@ta-da3054]

Where can I find this table and do you know anything for Japanese akitas? Almost all sources reference them as Akitas (combining both American and j)

[@TheRealShanyeWest]

i have the free coucher to spay my dog but im scared . i dont want to change his personality and i got him at 2yrs old un neutered but someone i spoke to told me he would be more of the dog i want him to be if i neuter him because he is in heat and it gets on my nerves sometimes ngl …. when we’re on walks he stops at EVERYTHING and he marks everywhere but inside the house thank god .. he humps my pillows when i leave the room and i come back to his wee wee on hard and its just painful to see . atp idk

[@davidmckinney6577]

Wow I had no idea of all of the different health risks in having dogs spayed. I had Rosie Mae spayed and she is doing great as soon as the anthesia wore off she was a little sore for the first day and after that she is back to normal she has tons of energy and she can run so fast. Very good informative video Dr Alex 👏 I really appreciate it because it helps me to understand all about this kind of stuff 👍. Rosie Mae is a lot of company to me but I'm still forever lost without my beloved little Arnold and my gentle giant Bigfoot..Bigfoot back feet were so long he could wear a size eleven in shoe size. His real name was jolog but he got the nickname from me so I called him both..I'm thinking about writing a book about them and if I do I would love to put in the book how you have helped me with advice down through the years and how my little Arnold would sit with me and watch your videos. You know Arnold he always gave you two paws 🐾 up..hope you have a wonderful amazing work week ahead Dr Alex take care buddy.

[@OurPetsHealth]

Rosie-May will never replace your 2 boys but in time she'll be just as important! Glad to hear she recovered so well

[@monkeybearmax]

I will never do a traditional spay - will only do an ovarian sparing spay

[@OurPetsHealth]

A topic for another video perhaps!

[@brendacuevas4676]

Do you mind elaborating white or the difference, please?

[@monkeybearmax]

@@brendacuevas4676 bc this way they keep their hormones with are very much needed.

[@monkeybearmax]

@@brendacuevas4676 bc they can keep their God given hormones which are there for a reason

[@AnneMB955]

Male Golden Retrievers? Where I live not to neuter is frowned upon. My boy is 14 months. Is this an okay age to decide?

[@inesucrvenom]

Nice video! Do cats have such restrictions?

[@OurPetsHealth]

No, there is no change in risks related to time of spay or castration in cats

[@SpaceMan-zq4xs]

Cats are best neutered at 2 years onwards as they develop much later than dogos.

[@Bexyboo88]

As you may remember, Molly, our Lab, had the Laparoscopic spay (around 15 months) and she developed I believe Mucometra, sent to Dick White specialists and her op to remove her uterus and to fix some narrowing (stenosis) ending up being £4000, which thankfully the insurance paid out for - though I assume this is likely a very rare thing the have happened(?). She's 8 now and still doing great ^_^ Our Goldador girl, Pontiac, the same as Molly we had spayed 3 months after her first season (which seems to be a common recommendation here), but as she had it earlier, that made it just after her 1st birthday. This time we just went with the conventional spay. She is now just over 2. I noticed in your chart it suggests to leave Golden retrievers entire, but Labs come up as over 12 months - I just wondered what the reasons are for that and also what would be the suggested route for a cross like our girl in that case? Thanks for continuing to inform with your fab videos :D

[@OurPetsHealth]

Hi Bex, I believe Molly has her own podcast episode! For mixed breeds I would suggest look at the related breeds and er on the side of waiting if there is a difference. Although similar breeds are related, they must show genetic differences to see the results that are shown. How mixed breeds fair would depend on which genes they inherit. At this stage we are a long way off being able to predict cancer risk for example based on genetic profiling, something that is becoming more common with certain human cancers.

[@RachelKay528]

Just curious on guidance for mixed breeds. I imagine you'd go by whatever the top one or two breeds are in the mix, right? Although that's only if you've done a DNA test (or are easily able to identify the mix without one).

[@OurPetsHealth]

There's no clear cut answer but my suggestion would be that for two breed mixes yes, looking at what they are (or the closest related breed on the list) and go for the longer option would seem sensible. For multi breed mixes the likelihood is that they are going to be much less prone to issues so I'd stick to the recommendation based on size

[@RachelKay528]

@@OurPetsHealth Makes sense. Thank you!!

[@michellebettany368]

Your a wee bit behind the newer research evidence.. Look at Dr Michelle Kutzlers research...

[@OurPetsHealth]

I'm not aware of any new data that seriously conflicts with the discussion about risks/benefits here, I'd be interested to know which in particular you're referring to. A lot of difference of opinion comes from viewpoint in interpretation (we all look at things through the focus of our own lens in one way or another) rather than the specific data itself

[@fabiennevandamme5864]

I always had pups in my life,some were spayed,some not,the ones I never spayed or later on,they youngest one I lost was 16 years old. Coming from Europe,we don't believe in spaying. I've got a female cavoodle of 10 months,and I really think I will leave her whole, we're together 24/7 so she will be fine. If I decide to do it,I will just have her tubes tied,when she's about 3 years old.

[@gregggiddens]

If you’re a responsible owner, there’s no reason to spay your dog. Whatever happens during their life was meant to be. They need all of their hormones and nobody can convince me otherwise. We’re all going to die of something so let’s just leave our animals alone

[@OurPetsHealth]

I don't think there is any link between fatalism and being responsible.

[@gregggiddens]

@@OurPetsHealth One big excuse for getting your dog spayed is they’ll have unwanted puppies. If you’re responsible you won’t have that problem. Vets love to scare people into what might happen if you don’t follow their narrative. Studies show more risk of different cancers if you spay your dog, and other health issues that never needed to happen

[@gregggiddens]

@@OurPetsHealth If you’re a responsible owner you won’t have unwanted puppies, this is no reason to spay your dog. Also cancer is always a go to with vets to get our dogs under the knife, yet by spaying your dog you are risking it getting more types of cancers and health issues.

[@peaceandlove5214]

I wouldn't spay my puppy.

[@vitaliys07]

1/4 gets pyometra? Where that info comes from? As per insurance stats its, 10% for gsd breed, out of the 10% it's something like 95% open pyometra which is easily treatable with medication. Lmfao literally the numbers these dude states are wrong lol everyone who I know with intact dogs are in perfect health, and thats like 20+dogs that we train with. On the other hand most fixed dogs are fat, that will lead multiple related health conditions, with all extra side effect including different groups of cancers. Looking at in insurance stats how much average dog owner spends on vet bills in NA which is $2-3k seems like real benefits for vets lol

[@OurPetsHealth]

Egenvall and others (2001) reported an overall annual pyometra incidence of 2 per cent from a study of approximately 200,000 predominantly un-neutered Swedish dogs, with around 24 per cent of dogs having experienced pyometra by 10 years of age. Sweden is a good model because they predominantly do not routinely neuter their dogs. A few more than your tiny sample of 20+ dogs - a number that I can see in a single day. Literally google dog life time pyometra risk and you'll find the figures, they vary from paper to paper but are generally in the 20-25% risk. If you "know" all the answers then why watch these type of videos if all you're wanting to do is confirm your already held opinion? You'll likely cherry pick from any google search too though so probably don't bother. I literally talk about the risk of obesity and cancer, and how the decision is personal and may not be right for certain individuals - you probably didn't get that far either though.

[@vitaliys07]

@OurPetsHealth yeah when you google you get mostly these vet promoted articles of 20-25% the dog will die rate. What cherry pick of google search if there are literally insurance stats? I cherry pick actual scientific studies vs propaganda by western vets who just love their business model. How is it my opinion if there are actual scientific research papers by university of California and Swedish insurance company stats? The amount of misinformation is huge, and people are better of looking at actual stats&studies vs believing everything what they see on KZbin or that beneficial party pushes for.

[@vitaliys07]

​@@OurPetsHealth so how did 2% became 20-30% in the video? Also would be worth to mention closed vs open ratio out of those 2%.

[@bobthegirl90]

2% is the annual incidence, 24% is the rate at 10 years of age