Which type of spay do you guys recommend?

[Kumah]

Before getting Kumah spayed I had planned on not spaying her at all, because my thought is that they are born with these parts and I feel as though they should not be removed. She was just shy of her 2nd birthday when I spayed her last september. She'd had a false pregnancy and was starting to show minor signs of possibly getting pyometra so I spayed her as soon as I could. Honestly, after spaying her my thought on not spaying was altered a bit. Kumah became more active, she seemed happier-just a lot perkier. I will be letting Nala go through 1 or 2 heat cycles and will then be doing a full spay on her as well.
I understand completely why you are considering the ovary sparing spay, but my reccomendation would be to do the full spay. Going through 2-3 heat cycles will put her around 2-2.5 years old and her major growth is done for bones and joints so the risks of not doing a full spay would then outweigh the risks of doing one.

[emeko]

Thanks for all the input, guys. I'm think I have pretty much decided I will let her have at least one heat, assess from there and spay around 18 months. If she has terrible moodiness or bad false pregnancies I will have he spayed fully before before her second heat. If she does turn into a monster I might let her have a second heat or consider an ovary sparing spay.

So far we're at 13 months and no heat yet... Tick, tick tick tick tick... haha. I think we're getting close though. She's developed tiny but noticeable little puppy boobies in the last two weeks a she seems super tired right now. Wait and see!

As a weird aside, her sister's owner had his dog spayed at 8 months. He said all went normally, but the vet commented that she had "the smallest uterus she had ever seen" and that she doubted she ever could have conceived...weird?

[MeMyselfAndI]

I haven't had experience with the hysterectomy, but we do have an intact female who we co-own and show. Keep in mind every bitch is different, but this has been our experience with her cycle. She comes into season about every five months or so. It begins with the swelling of the vulva and then the bleeding. And then there is the smell. We are extremely cautious during this time and don't take her anywhere or let her out of our sight. It is basically several weeks of house arrest and only going outside on a leash. She is emotional and very needy. After that she has a false pregnancy. Every time. She totally stops eating, and lies on the floor or walks around the house aimlessly just whining. She constantly moves blankets around and paws at her beds to nest. Even in the middle of the night we hear her. Her teats have also swollen and she has even begun to produce milk. She doesn't experience all of these symptoms every time, but she has had each of them at one time or another.

[JanesMom]

17 month old ready to spay.... nervous mom!

Hello everyone, Im new here so I hope you will bear with me if I am not as familiar with all the spaying procedures. I have read through this conversations, and I am meeting with our veterinarian tomorrow. I must say, I am finding this very nerve wracking... I need to spay my TWO girls, so my anxiety level about their wellbeing is way up there to say the least. I will give you a little background on our family as this may help to understand where we are a bit better:

I had been given previous information that I should wait until they were about 18 months old, which I have done for Jane (18 months next month and getting ready to schedule ). Jules will be one year next month, and now Im wondering if I should wait that long with her, after seeing the postings here.

My girls play really rough, so one thing I am doing is sending Jules to training camp for three weeks while Jane is spayed and so able to better relax. Also, this will allow me more time to work on her housebreaking. Our home has been under renovation for over a year, and the girls have not been able to have full access, and so this is something mama has to deal with now. They are beautifully crate trained, but the housebreaking we need to work on. I am hoping that Jules will follow along with her big sister when it comes to this, when she gets back from her training. They will work on this with her there as well.

We live in Las Vegas, but our property is completely fenced/gated and we have 1.3 acres; plenty of room for them to run and play. They have a very large outdoor play area to themselves, with a heated and air conditioned house for year around comfort. I like to let them play outside as much as possible, either free in the entire yard or in their area if work is being done they shouldn't be around. They come in at night and sleep inside. As our home is nearly done they can start coming in and having full access to the house; once they are properly potty trained.

But back to the spaying; My girls are happy healthy girls. Love to run and play and love to meet anyone and everyone new, including other dogs. They are just big sweethearts, and I really do not want anything to change their sweet dispositions.

We lost Janes brother to an auto immune disease this past June, which is when we got Jules (Not wanting Jane to be alone as I was told this was not a good thing for Danes; they would do better with a doggie companion), so I am a bit ... not paranoid, but very concerned, with anything that could jeopardize my girls...

Any insight before my meeting with our regular vet tomorrow would be most appreciated...any questions I should be very specific about, etc. (I am taking notes with me from previous postings in this forum as well) They may or may not be the best choice for my girls, and I just want to feel secure in knowing what to ask to make the right decision. (Unfortunately no gentle giants rescue locally so I could not ask an opinion there)

Thank you all!

Elise
Jane and Jules' Mom

[hdpartsman0032]

This past September I recently had a laparoscopic spay and gastropexy performed on my then 14 month old girl. I timed it for 3 months after her first cycle and decided on a "backwards spay" where only the ovaries are removed, and the uterus is left.

Two very small incisions, and two weeks on a short leash and we were done. No complications or issues.

[emeko]

Hello everyone, Im new here so I hope you will bear with me if I am not as familiar with all the spaying procedures. I have read through this conversations, and I am meeting with our veterinarian tomorrow. I must say, I am finding this very nerve wracking... I need to spay my TWO girls, so my anxiety level about their wellbeing is way up there to say the least. I will give you a little background on our family as this may help to understand where we are a bit better:

I had been given previous information that I should wait until they were about 18 months old, which I have done for Jane (18 months next month and getting ready to schedule ). Jules will be one year next month, and now Im wondering if I should wait that long with her, after seeing the postings here.

My girls play really rough, so one thing I am doing is sending Jules to training camp for three weeks while Jane is spayed and so able to better relax. Also, this will allow me more time to work on her housebreaking. Our home has been under renovation for over a year, and the girls have not been able to have full access, and so this is something mama has to deal with now. They are beautifully crate trained, but the housebreaking we need to work on. I am hoping that Jules will follow along with her big sister when it comes to this, when she gets back from her training. They will work on this with her there as well.

We live in Las Vegas, but our property is completely fenced/gated and we have 1.3 acres; plenty of room for them to run and play. They have a very large outdoor play area to themselves, with a heated and air conditioned house for year around comfort. I like to let them play outside as much as possible, either free in the entire yard or in their area if work is being done they shouldn't be around. They come in at night and sleep inside. As our home is nearly done they can start coming in and having full access to the house; once they are properly potty trained.

But back to the spaying; My girls are happy healthy girls. Love to run and play and love to meet anyone and everyone new, including other dogs. They are just big sweethearts, and I really do not want anything to change their sweet dispositions.

We lost Janes brother to an auto immune disease this past June, which is when we got Jules (Not wanting Jane to be alone as I was told this was not a good thing for Danes; they would do better with a doggie companion), so I am a bit ... not paranoid, but very concerned, with anything that could jeopardize my girls...

Any insight before my meeting with our regular vet tomorrow would be most appreciated...any questions I should be very specific about, etc. (I am taking notes with me from previous postings in this forum as well) They may or may not be the best choice for my girls, and I just want to feel secure in knowing what to ask to make the right decision. (Unfortunately no gentle giants rescue locally so I could not ask an opinion there)

Thank you all!

Elise
Jane and Jules' Mom

I've copied below the 3 types of spay for you to compare. If you don't mind dealing with full regular hormones, an ovary sparing spay is an option. If you don't want to deal with "heat cycles" (but infertile) I'd go with removing just the ovaries like Hdpartsman -- less invasive, faster healing, and the uterus is inert without ovaries anyways.

Spay options

Full Ovariahysterectomy: most common procedure, total removal of ovaries and uterus, no sex hormone production. Can be a risk factor for osteosarcoma in giant breeds and can be a factor in female incontinence.

Ovariectomy: Least invasive option, can be done laparoscopically with minimal scarring and healing time. Same issues above with removal of sex hormones and also leaves the redundant uterus, BUT uterus typically isn't prone to pyometra without influence of hormones from the ovaries.

Hysterectomy: Removes the uterus only, spares the hormone producing ovaries. Decreases the risk of osteosarcoma and incontinence. BUT, she would still essentially go through the heat cycle mentally, she just can't get pregnant and if I understand correctly wouldn't go through the bleeding either. Can experience false pregnancies and lactation.

[JanesMom]

Emeko

Thank you so much! That made it so much easier lol

I agree with you, and will be talking to my vet about the ovariectomy. I also have two other vets I will be talking to today so that I can choose the best one for my girls. The information Ive gotten here makes me much more comfortable about talking to them about their spaying.

As a side note; I also want to have my girls have the gastropexy; the statistics are just too high to ignore and I really don't want to take the chance.

Thank you everyone!

Jane and Jules' Mom
Elise