Too late to fix or not?

[Ryan_V]

I bought a gsp last year. She was 4 at the time. She had just had a litter and the owners simply didn't have time to hunt her anymore. So I had the opportunity to pick her up. She is a wonderful dog and a wonderful hunter. At 5 years old, should I look at having her fixed? Or is it a little late? I have no intention of having her bred any longer. thanks for info/opinions.

[gspman]

Depends on what your goal is. If you want to guarantee she'll never have pups that'll work. Some of the health "benefits" might be diminished because she is 5. I just had my dog spayed due to pyometra. She is 8 so it's not too late too do it. Just depends on your intentions.

[Ryan_V]

My only real reason was probaly the health benefits. She will not have another litter, either way, I'm not worried about that at all. Would she require less food if she were spayed?

[gspman]

All things being the same, most likely she would require less food to keep her fit.

[Rick]

If she is not fixed there is ALWAYS the risk of being bred.

[GO4]

You might want to talk to a couple of vets. I have read and heard that the older the dog is the more risk there is for negative health effects especially in the reproductive system.

I'd talk to someone with a license who you trust.

[MuleShack]

Our first two female labs we never though of getting them spayed (mostly time and money when we first got married) until they were like 6 yrs old each. We got sick of the doggy diaper and broke down. Didn't have any health affects on the dogs at all, both lived to be over 13 years old.

Your food intake would be based on activity and how the dog is looking rather than on a set amount of food per day.

My current lab we got spayed at 1 year and she is slightly less energetic than she had been but hard to correlate that to the spaying...just growing up maybe??

[Roger_Tango]

In order to gain most of the health benefits you must fix the female before her first heat cycle. I have a friend who runs a rescue and she recommended that I do it in order to have better chances of my girl living longer. The only downside is that my dog turned out to be pretty great and the perfect size for me.

On a side note, Ryan_V how is your furnace running?

[Ryan_V]

On a side note, Ryan_V how is your furnace running?

Ummmm, its running as we speak, just got in from cleaning a pheasant and it feels good in the house........ Who wants to know?

[Roger_Tango]

Your friendly furnace tech that is not around to fix it this year due to being overseas. I hope that this year you will make it through the winter without furnace issues, if not call the shop we have a few guys helping the old man out while I am away.

[Ryan_V]

Thats what I figured! Lets say I take this year off from needing a furnace repair! Hope all is well with you over there! Thanks to you and everyone else for your service!