# Anybody chosen NOT to neuter/spay?



## Zatara (Feb 16, 2014)

Halle is 10 months old and but while reading about when would be the best time to have her spayed I also started reading more about the idea of not neutering/spaying _at all_ and what the pros and cons are of this option. 

I came across articles like this; Society Against Neutering :: 

and this; 
Your Dog Needs To Be Spayed Or Neutered – Right? | Dogs Naturally Magazine


And even this video by a vet who has taken a complete U-Turn on the subject;

Health Issues Linked to Spaying and Neutering Dogs


I have decided that, if Halle is to be spayed, it won't be for at least until she had turned one and then 3 months after her next season, but I am also trying to decide if not having her spayed at all would be a serious option.

Has anyone chosen not to neuter/spay their dog or is considering not going so - I'd love some thoughts.


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## Wicked Pixie (Oct 14, 2011)

None of mine have been neutered. I will happily leave the boys intact, but Harley has a retained testicle so he will need that removing. I am struggling to find a vet i trust who will just remove the retained testicle, most want to neuter at the same time (due to it being an inherited condition, so monorchid dogs should never be bred from)
It is a more difficult decision with the girls. Intact bitches are at risk of pyometra, and mammary tumours are common in unspayed older bitches. Mouse has had puppies, which lowers her risk, but Delilah and Bibi haven't. 
I am constantly vigilant about signs of pyometra, to the point of paranoia lol, and i won't pretend that it is easy having both sexes entire when one is in season. I would prefer not to spay Delilah because she has/had fear aggression issues, but I may spay Bibi when she is fully grown. She is a year old now, and has had one season.
If you have just one bitch, and she copes well with her seasons, I don't think keeping her intact is a big deal. I had a spayed bitch that suffered horribly from spay incontinenece, and I would much rather deal with seasons than that tbh.


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## MMS (Aug 2, 2012)

My Stella is not spayed. I first wanted to wait until she was done growing, but then she started skipping on her one rear leg on longer walks - being half jack russell it is not uncommon, as apparently jack russell breeders don't care about lp and consider it normal... but I digress...
So she is now 2+ and I am torn on whether to spay her or not. I want to hold off the progression of the lp for as long as possible, but her last heat was silent, and the one before very short, so I'm starting to get a bit worried. We're waiting to see how this coming heat develops, and we'll go from there. I would personally love to keep her intact, as she has always been easy and never shown interest in breeding (not that I've tried) or running off during her cycle, so it's not really a problem just to cover the furniture when she's spotting. But either way I'm going to do what's best for her health. 

If you are confident in your abilities to keep her from breeding and don't mind putting diapers and/or covering the furniture once every 6 months or so, then do what feels right to you.


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## Kalisee (Jun 1, 2012)

My girl is 2.5 years old and has not been spayed, our choice. Unfortunately she does have false pregnancies now, which make her swell a bit and lactate sometimes, and I eventually might have to have her spayed for that, I think. 

My vet has chihuahuas and he has asked me if I would like to mate Kalisee with one of his...but I am not for that. She does not have any problems when she is in her season.


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## Zatara (Feb 16, 2014)

Wicked Pixie - the pyometra and mammary tumours risks are my main concern too. 

MMS - you raise an interesting point regarding LP, as Halle has just started to show symptoms and I did wonder if having her spayed would effect that too. 

Kalisee - Halle has only had one season and it went okay, but I'm not sure if that might change the more she has. 

Our Cocker was spayed at three years old, I wish I had read some of the information then as she has always been a bit of a grumpy girl and I think since her operation has become worse. So many people drum it into you that it is irresponsible not to have pets neutered that we felt pressured into finally doing it but with Halle I want to make more of an informed decision. I think she will need to go under anaesthetic anyway as she needs to have a hernia repaired and I'm sure that stubborn baby tooth is coming to the point of needing intervention, but I don't want to have her spayed at the same time just because my vet will no doubt suggest it (she wanted to do it when Halle was 6 months old).


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## Melesine (Jul 7, 2014)

I've had multiple intact females and never had a case of pyometra or mammary tumors. Anecdotal I know. But my first hand experience has also shown me that in many cases the drawbacks of intact animals are highly over exaggerated by the rabid spay and neuter crowd. I've also never had stray males dogs hanging around my house, or jumping my fence or had crazy females fighting and trying to get outside. 

In general I'm against surgical removal of healthy organs for the sole purpose of preventing possible disease, in both humans and animals. Although that doesn't mean I'm against spay and neuter either. I think that for most people it's better to spay and neuter, the population as a whole just hasn't proven to be responsible pet owners as far as preventing accidental matings. Case in point the rescue litter of kittens we took in after the owner left their outdoor cat intact. 

But for people that are willing to educate themselves on signs of heat and to be observant and are dedicated to not allowing any accidental matings I think it's fine. My male is neutered due to emergency surgery for a congenital issue and the vet neutered him at the same time while he was still a puppy. Ironically I've still dealt with an unbreakable marking problem with him for years. He lives in belly bands now, but he isn't a chi. So neutering doesn't even guarantee that. 

Wicked Pixie is right though it gets more complicated when you have intact animals of both sexes. I had that at one point and it's work to keep your house divided and then switch them out when they need to go outside. Luckily my male was elderly and there was a large size difference because they were different breeds so eventually it wasn't a problem because his age and small size and health status made it impossible for him to DTD. But for a couple years it was work.


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## Zatara (Feb 16, 2014)

Thanks for your response Melesine. We only have girls in our house, which will be a plus if she is kept entire. I'm also lucky that our garden fencing is very high and solid - which we took the time to do because we have cats that aren't allowed to leave the garden, so it's somewhat fortified! As for learning the signs of when she'd be coming into heat then that's something I'd need to educate myself on.


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## elaina (Jul 1, 2008)

I have 2 Chihuahuas and a yorkie . they are all female. my yorkie is spayed and my biggest Chihuahua Tootsie is spayed. 
Tootsie was having false pregnancies , so, I really felt I needed to spay so she wouldn't have to go thru that. 
I chose not to spay Minnie. she is 6 1/2 years old. there's no chance she would come into contact with any male dogs. I watch her very carefully , so I would recognize if she was showing any signs of pyometra. her heats are no problem at all. you hardly even know she is in heat. she cleans herself, so , I rarely even see a spec of blood.


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## susan davis (Mar 25, 2011)

False pregnancies are the only reason I spayed my female dogs. Going through that heart breaking period was enough for me.


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## Kalisee (Jun 1, 2012)

susan davis said:


> False pregnancies are the only reason I spayed my female dogs. Going through that heart breaking period was enough for me.


It has happened to Kalisee twice and the last time was this summer, 2 months after her heat and she swells and she looks like a mini cow with her filled milk breasts. She also cries when she sees stuff animals on a shelf, she will stand under the shelf and cry till you give it to her.

The doctor perscribed something called Galstop, some drops, and after 3 days she was in perfect condition again. 

It is not good to rely on the drops my vet said, so we will see what we will do if it happens again. That will probably be the only reason I would decide to spay her.


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## Zatara (Feb 16, 2014)

Are false pregnancies common? We waited until our Cocker was three years old before having her spayed, and she had one false pregnancy directly after the operation.


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## susan davis (Mar 25, 2011)

After having my dog go thru a false pregnancy, I have had my females all spayed. My dog once adopted a hair brush as her baby! After I removed it, I gave her something soft instead. Those drops were not available at the time I had this dog many years ago.


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## Melesine (Jul 7, 2014)

I've never had a dog with a false pregnancy but Mimi is the only female chi I've ever had. My other females were different breeds. Is it more common in chi's?


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## susan davis (Mar 25, 2011)

I don't know about the question you ask. I think any unspayed female would be likely to have this condition.


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## Kalisee (Jun 1, 2012)

susan davis said:


> I don't know about the question you ask. I think any unspayed female would be likely to have this condition.


I would think so as well. A woman is a woman no matter what shape or form


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## coco_little_bear (May 30, 2012)

According to everything I've read, there are definitely pros and cons regarding spaying/neutering... the choice is not as obvious as some vets would like us to believe. My Lilo isn't spayed yet and I'm still undecided. I had my male chi Rocky neutered to stop them from breeding and I know I'm responsible and would never put her in a situation where she can end up pregnant during her heats. She's also handled her first 2 heats well so far so I think we'll carry on like that for now, but might get her spayed eventually.


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## woodard2009 (Aug 4, 2010)

I don't envy your position as I was once in the same position. I had first chose not to ever have my Midgie spayed because I had no intention of ever breeding her. With lots of research and hearing how common pyometria and tumors are as Wicked Pixie tells us, I didn't want to chance it. She was 7 years old. It's a tough decision and no matter what your decision, I don't believe it's wrong either way.


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## Yoshismom (Jul 6, 2005)

I will always be pro spay/neuter. I actually teetered on the idea of not spaying Gidget due to her size and I KNEW for a fact that I could keep her from any males which would have killed her if she would have become pregnant. She did not come into her first heat until 11 months old and was just barely 2 lbs by then. She also had a false pregnancy right after her heat and was miserable, seeing such a tiny thing have to go through that changed my mind about her spay pretty quickly. I also worried about mastitis. She came through her spay without any issue and I am so glad I made the decision to have her spayed. All of my boys are neutered and I have a Yorkie now that will be spayed once she is a bit over a year. I have read all of the old and new research and the only thing that has changed in my opinion is I will now wait until they are over 1 yr before spaying/neutering so their bodies develop properly. I used to believe they needed to be altered before they reached puberty so I would have it done by 6 months.


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## Yoshismom (Jul 6, 2005)

I wanted to add that Pyometra is known as a silent killer. I have 3 friends that have had females of different breeds with Pyometra and they never showed any signs until it was almost too late, well for one sadly it was too late but the other two did make it but was costly and really hard on them.


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## lancestar2 (Jan 19, 2013)

oh my god! thank you for this discussion!!! I recently discussed here about a year or so ago about my Vida not being fixed and I was overwhelmed with negative comments questioning my ability to take care of my dog as they told me the increased risk was so great that I was endangering my dog's life! 

WOW! Luckly I procrastinate I was planning on doing it this fall but I saw this post and thought I give it a read. Also is two un-fixed females bad together? I was thinking of adopting another girl thought she may or may not be fixed depending on the situation and where I find her.

Beyond that yea, I think there is alot of shaming going around in this community regarding this topic and the poster who said they weren't willing remove healthy organs in an attempt to prevent disease seems like a great reason not to have your pet fixed if you can ensure they will be in an environment where they won't risk getting pregnant. 

I don't mind when Vida is in heat that much I just have some old blankets use I use as sheets for a few weeks and besides that nothing much she can ruin. My home is designed around both me and Vida being comfortable and having a space to enjoy so nothing super fancy here :daisy:


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## woodard2009 (Aug 4, 2010)

When Midgie was spayed, her ovaries were never removed. I was happy about that due to the regulation of hormones.


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## Wicked Pixie (Oct 14, 2011)

How much of a difference does leaving the ovaries make in terms of cancer risk? I would assume still the same risk for mammary tumours? It sounds like a good compromise, I don't know anyone who has a bitch that has had the ovaries left in, full ovio-hysterectomies are the norm here. I may have to research it further.


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## Zatara (Feb 16, 2014)

woodard2009 - that's interesting info, thanks. 


Am watching this video, which others might want to view regarding Ovary-Sparing Spay Procedure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BJL42MtHwmE



lancestar2 - so glad you saw this thread and that you didn't feel pressured to make a choice you weren't happy with. Hopefully we can find out more before either one of us is happy to make the decision.


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## susan davis (Mar 25, 2011)

with ovary sparing surgery, you would still have all the signs of a heat, EXCEPT for the bleeding. Also you'd have the possibilities of a false pregnancy.


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## Melesine (Jul 7, 2014)

lancestar2 said:


> oh my god! thank you for this discussion!!! I recently discussed here about a year or so ago about my Vida not being fixed and I was overwhelmed with negative comments questioning my ability to take care of my dog as they told me the increased risk was so great that I was endangering my dog's life!
> 
> WOW! Luckly I procrastinate I was planning on doing it this fall but I saw this post and thought I give it a read. Also is two un-fixed females bad together? I was thinking of adopting another girl thought she may or may not be fixed depending on the situation and where I find her.
> 
> ...


There are a lot of old wives tales about two female dogs being bad together. Even ones that are spayed. It just hasn't been my experience. I think it all depends on the two individual females.


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## Wicked Pixie (Oct 14, 2011)

My girls all get on fine, even when one is in season, but none of them come into season at the same time. 
I have known two in-season bitches to fight to the point of causing serious injury, one small breed bitch I worked with was killed by a large breed bitch because their seasons coincided. They were normally very good friends. They were also breeding bitches who had both previously had puppies, which may have been a factor.
All dogs, including spayed bitches and neutered males act differently when around an in season bitch, hormones are powerful things. Some can be aggressive, some very protective, most just want to hump them lol. My three girls do a lot of humping when one is in season, but never when they are not. This can also trigger aggression, if the in-season bitch is not keen on being humped. Mouse does not like the others near her when she is in season, but they are respectful of this and hump each other instead.
So yes, as Melesine said above, it is very much down to the personalities of the dogs involved.


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## ChiMixLove (Jul 9, 2014)

Neither of my girls are spayed. I am constantly on the fence about it. Leia for sure isn't getting spayed anytime soon. She is 6 months old and I don't believe in spaying so young. Fae is 2 and I bounce back and forth on the idea of spaying her. Mainly because she becomes of bit of a basket case when she is comes into season. 

I am sure I will get them both done eventually as I have no plans to breed. But it will be when it is right for myself and my dogs.


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## Anneka-Ruby (Oct 10, 2014)

I have a 9 month old chihuahua Ruby, she has to go get 15 baby teeth removed and the vet thinks i should have her spayed. I did think about getting her done as she was gonna be in surgery anyway but the more i thought bout it the more i don't want her spayed. I wouldn't of have her spayed if she wasn't gonna the teeth removed. 
I just don't know what to do... Im a good owner, very careful and caring so i know she wont get pregnant, i just don't know to do as i have read so much stuff on the internet. Help!!!


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