Hello everyone! I wanted some input from everyone on when to spay my pup. I know this topic has been covered to death but I'm nervous on getting her spayed! She is 6 months old today and just weighed in at 2.8 lbs. I want to spay her before her first heat but was wondering if I would still be safe if I waited until after the holidays, say mid-January? Or is there a good chance she could go into heat by then? She would be 7 months old then and will hopefully weigh more! I assume a dog's first heat has nothing to do with their size does it? Any helpful advice would be wonderful!!!

I read your post with interest because I have a five month old female who only weighs about 3 lbs. I am also concerned about having her spayed because of her size.

The size of a dog doesn't necessarily have anything to do with when they go into heat.

I plan to wait until Taz is six months old and see how big she is then. Then I am going to make an appointment with the vet for a checkup for her and talk to them in person regarding having her spayed. I'll ask if there are any risks with a smaller dog and what they do to minimize those risks. I may also decide to wait to see if she grows a little more. I'm not worried about her going into heat first. She uses peepads in the house and my only other dog is a neutered male and if we have to endure one heat before I have her spayed that's okay.

That said, there have been many others on this forum that have had tiny females spayed and they didn't have any problems. That does reassure me and I hope it makes you feel better too!

My Zarita was only 2.4 pounds when she was spayed at 6 months. Did fine. Sue

What is the healing process for the pups like, any do's and dont's?

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I'm like Sue. My girls were 2 lbs. 15 oz., 3.0 lbs. and 3.2 lbs. at spay.

Eden, my smallest, was 9 months old at spay. We got her at 8 months and I wanted her to settle in a bit before we confused her with surgery. She had not yet gone into heat. My other girls were 6.5 months and 7 months and I had them spayed on the same day.

Guess who did the best? The almost 3 pounder! She will be 1 next month and she is all the way up to 3.2 lbs.
Who did the worst? The biggest one.

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photos-Jennifer Hague, fixyourimages.com

Thanks everyone! I feel okay with her being spayed in terms of size because I know small animals such as ferrets and guinea pigs get spayed, but still the bigger the better. I was mostly wanting to make sure I'd still be safe if I wait to get her spayed until 6 or 7 months, and while I know only time will tell, I do feel better that so many waited past the 6 months and they were fine. I think it'll be best to wait after the holidays after I'm not running around so much. And if she goes into heat before then I won't fret even though I'd like to have it done before due to the lessened chances of cancer and pyometra.