When is the best time to spay a Great Dane? Should she have puppies?

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Grace. Spaying her will prevent the possibility of a uterine infection and several types of cancer. Beforehand though, I recommend bloodwork and urine testing as well as possibly chest x-rays to ensure that she is healthy enough for anesthesia. You also want to have the surgery performed 2-3 months after a heat cycle. The surgery has the potential to be costly given her size. I hope this information helps!

I typically recommend that female dogs are spayed before they go into their first heat. With a German Shepherd being a larger breed, that can be closer to 12 months of age. I would spay Casper before that time. It is never recommended to breed a dog on their first heat, so no, I would not let her have litter first. Best of luck, I hope this helps!

Hello, female puppies can be spayed when they are 12 weeks old. I always suggest spaying before her first heat cycle unless she has viginitis issues. In dogs, spaying before the first heat cycle reduce chances of mammary cancer by over 99% . If spayed after first or second eat cycle, there are still some great benefits. You should call a few veterinary office close to you for an estimate. Prices often vary depending on sIze and can vary very much between veterinary offices. I work for a non profit organization in north Florida, we charge about a $100. This does not includ pre anesthetic bloodwork and may not reflect prices in private practices around the country.I hope this helps,

I usually recommend to have the spay done before the first season, although in her case she is probably so close the her first season that you might not have time to have it done. however it's not a major issue, it's absolutely fine to have it done after the first season as well.

Hi there. You're right that the question of when to spay a large breed dog isn't as simple as we might like! It sounds like you've done some research on the pros and cons of spaying at different ages, which is great. In general, for my large breed patients, I recommend spaying at around 10-12 months of age (as long as the owner doesn't mind dealing with a heat cycle, since most dogs will go into heat for the first time prior to this). This still gives us an extremely low risk of mammary cancer, but also minimizes the risk of orthopedic issues since she should be finished growing by then.

There is some evidence that waiting until an adult has reached skeletal maturity, which for a female dog occurs around the same time as the first heat cycle, is beneficial for bone and joint development and could decrease the risk for orthopedic disease in the future. This is relatively new research however, and if you have reasons to want to schedule the surgery now it should be fine too - many shelter animals are spayed when they are 8 weeks old prior to adoption.

Not really, at least not a proven benefit. some believe that it can prevent incontinence in the future which is more common in spayed females in general but this has not been proven. at out surgery we usually recommend having a female dog spayed at the age of 6 months, before her first season.