Older dog and spaying...

Today was Camber's scheduled spay (she is between 6-8 yrs) and the Vet ran some preliminary tests before the operation and found that she had low sodium. We were presented with either: A: operating on her and taking the chances of complications or B: paying like $350 for test to see why her sodium is low and rescheduling her spay.

We chose B.

She was tested 6 months ago and her blood levels were fine. We hope it is nothing serious, but jeez…

Now I wonder, “Why even spay her?” We made it through two “in seasons” and the second one was no big deal, so why bother? I know everyone says they dogs should be spayed, but we’ve also been told that each year the dog gets older, the more complicated it is to spay her.

Neither of us wants to be bad dog owners, but we also have to be realistic. Why put her in jeopardy (having surgery) for spay when she could be 9 years old this year?

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Permalink Reply by Sylvia on October 31, 2008 at 5:18am

Quite the Saga to read. I joined this site sometime last week and have only just found this forum post. It was interesting to be able to read all the way through it and has furthered a great deal of questions I have about Spay/Neutering. Mostly as to when and what age is best to have it done. Most Vets want to do it early because its easier for them to do the surgery, or so I've heard. But I've also heard that the earlier its done your robbing the dog of really becoming their full potential. I want my dog to be at his very best and would love to see him fully develop into what he's actually going to become. but at the same time I don't want things to be overly complicated etc. But I do have more faith in older spay's once reading through your post even with the complications your having. You always hear of rescues spay/neutering all their animals before adopting them out but you never hear how the surgeries actually go. So thank you.
I am glad to hear that Camber is doing better!

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Permalink Reply by Sam on October 26, 2008 at 8:18pm

I think my first plan would be to reasearch "low sodium" and complications of surgery. I am not a vet but I have to say this is something I have never heard of. I would also do some research on pyometra which is a deadly uterine infection that intact dogs can get. At this point chances of mammary tumors have increased greatly. Lastly an accidental breeding could be very difficult for her. You have to weigh the options. Managing seasons can be most difficult.