Spaying and Personality Changes

[mahmood]

Hi everyone!

We have a 7 month old Bichon / Yorkie mix named Donut who we let go through her first heat. I have a coworker whose wife is an Alaskan Kleekai breeder and she had recommended we do that so that the hormones and other chemical puberty signals in her body could adequately complete, and allow her to grow and mature correctly. She said the bones and joints will end up stronger as a result.

We are purely thinking from a health and wellness standpoint for HER needs. We want to make sure she lives comfortably and safely because she is our v.v. special child.

With that preamble I will get to the main question I had for discussion - we heard that spaying can cause major personality shifts in a dog, and she could become aggressive, more annoyed, and other negative aspects.

What is everyone's opinion on this?

Thank You!

[hazelrunpack]

Welcome to the board, mahmood! We'd love to see pics of your pup if you have some to share! Donut sounds adorable!!

We've had a number (over a dozen individuals and 3 breeds) of dogs, neutered after varying lengths of time (from 9 mos to 2 yrs) and we've never had any of them get aggressive from it. (Lili was just spayed last Thurs at the age of 2 after her second heat, so I guess the jury is still out on her.) If anything, they end up a little more laid back, but mostly they stay about like they were before the procedure. If there were changes, they were minimal.

Our dogs were bigger--labs, springers, and English setters, so I have no experience with smaller breeds, but my feeling is that if your dog is well-adjusted and happy now, she'll continue that way after her spay.

The only negative effect we've noticed in our neutered fems is spay incontinence. Of the 6 fems (not including Lili, since we won't know for a few months after the hormones leach from her system), 5 of them needed treatment with Proin for minor leakage. Interestingly, they responded to well under the recommended dosage, and as long as they got their daily meds, it wasn't a problem. We were running a bit above the average--I've seen figures that say about 30% of fems develop the problem after spay.

[mahmood]

Thanks for sharing your experience, hazelrunpack.

Here are a few pics of Donut

[hazelrunpack]

Oh my goodness, Donut is a doll! Small of stature, but I'll bet really big in character!!

Thanks for sharing her pics!

[marko]

such a cutie!