# When to spay and avoiding enlarged nipples



## sagira (Nov 5, 2009)

I'm planning on getting a puppy later this year. She will be female and I'll be definitely spaying her.. Well, the vet will of course. My family and I watched a friend's female Boxer for a little over a week. She loved to be rubbed on her belly, but to tell you the truth it felt weird to me as she had these huge nipples  I know she's at least a year and a half old and spayed, but I don't know if she was spayed before or after her first cycle. Does that make a difference in whether nipples are gigantic or not? When is the best time (for the dog) to be spayed? I was planning on spaying at 6 months but I read so much conflicting info. Thanks for any help you can give.


----------



## Binkalette (Dec 16, 2008)

Both of my girls were spay at 6 months.. Zoey after her first heat, Maggie before, neither one of them have big nipples.. in fact it's hard to tell they have any at all.  6 months is usually what vets recommend as well.. I think if they are allowed to have puppies then they pretty much have large nipples for sure. Every dog at the shelter that has had puppies has huge nipples. :-/


----------



## sagira (Nov 5, 2009)

thanks for the reply! Your dogs are so cute. My son loves the pictures too 
Hmm.. I happen to know for a fact this dog has never had puppies. Could be genetic? Or maybe Boxers tend to have large nipples? 

Does it matter health-wise if you spay before or after your female first heat?

I read somewhere that if you spay a puppy too young (think 8 weeks) it's not good either. Something to do with incontinence.


----------



## Binkalette (Dec 16, 2008)

sagira said:


> thanks for the reply! Your dogs are so cute. My son loves the pictures too
> Hmm.. I happen to know for a fact this dog has never had puppies. Could be genetic? Or maybe Boxers tend to have large nipples?
> 
> Does it matter health-wise if you spay before or after your female first heat?
> ...


Right. Spaying too young is not good either. Incontinence is far more common if they are spayed young like that.. and they -do- need their hormones while they are growing to develop properly. Some people choose not to spay until their dogs are fully grown. Some people just choose to wait until they have all of their adult teeth.

There are a lot of opinions and information floating around out there about when to spay, I read through a lot of it before spaying Zoey, and decided to just go with what my vet recommended. She -was- going to be spay before her first heat, but then three days before she was supposed to go in she went into heat. :-/ The vet told us to wait another month or so before bringing her back to give the swelling a chance to go down and such.


----------



## ruckusluvr (Sep 20, 2009)

Lynn had one heat cycle before she was spayed.
and she actually sags, and has big nipples.


----------



## 3dogmom26 (Dec 31, 2008)

Boxers are not predisposed to large nipples, just FYI. 

I had my female boxer spayed between 5-6 months...before her first heat cycle, and she does not have large nipples...you can barely see hers.  I know everytime they go into heat (or have puppies) the more they will expand and the less they will shrink back up over time. Some dogs can go into heat one time and have huge nipples for life, and some barely change in only one heat. I'd say for your sake, I'd probably spay around 6 months old to avoid the big nipple thing....


----------



## Labsnothers (Oct 10, 2009)

I have had a number of female Labs go through their first heat cycle. I think they all ended up with at least slightly larger nipples afterwards. 

I don't find the evidence for delaying spaying compelling. The science just isn't there. Those pushing later spaying need to recognize that many people lack the experience to cope with some females in season. There are consequences to a female giving the unwary the slip and getting loose. An accidental breeding is neither good nor the worst thing that can happen. Since this is an area vets disagree on, I often suggest people go along with what their vet wants.


----------



## sagira (Nov 5, 2009)

Based on everything, it seems spaying at six months is still the way to go. I could ask her breeder when her mom's first heat cycle was so I have an idea. Thanks, everyone!


----------



## Labsnothers (Oct 10, 2009)

By the way, false pregnancies are common and the nipples may stay enlarged for months.


----------



## sagira (Nov 5, 2009)

I just saw the aforementioned Boxer in a public place a few days ago and as she was being petted and her nipples were visible, a person walking by commented, Oh, she had puppies, where are the little puppies? (she has never had puppies ). So I'm not the only one who thinks her nipples are a bit big.

False pregnancies. Good to know, Labs. Do they occur in spayed females too?


----------



## Labsnothers (Oct 10, 2009)

No, it is a post season thing.


----------



## sizzledog (Nov 23, 2008)

If you want "juvenile" looking nipples (the kind that are so small that you can barely notice them) you'll want to spay before the first heat cycle.

I have an intact female - I don't think her nipples are big, but they're certainly bigger than those on my female that was spayed before ever coming into season.

She's never been though a heat cycle...









But she has. See the difference?


----------



## ThoseWordsAtBest (Mar 18, 2009)

Well.. the size of my dogs nipples are the least of my concern when it comes to altering.


----------



## sagira (Nov 5, 2009)

Thanks for the photos! I don't see your intact female's nipples as being abnormally large either. 

ThoseWordsAtBest, I'm just looking to see if there's a way to do the safest alteration possible (6 months?) first, THEN try to get smaller nipples. Safety first, of course


----------



## ThoseWordsAtBest (Mar 18, 2009)

Ah. Opinions are wildly different on times to alter here. I personally waited until my bitch was 2 years old. Jack and Magpie came to us altered, so no choice there, but I altered Jonas when he was nearly 3 (the age in which I adopted him)


----------



## sagira (Nov 5, 2009)

ThoseWordsAtBest said:


> Ah. Opinions are wildly different on times to alter here. I personally waited until my bitch was 2 years old. Jack and Magpie came to us altered, so no choice there, but I altered Jonas when he was nearly 3 (the age in which I adopted him)


I'm curious. Is there a reason you waited until 2 years? I'm sure there was, and I would really like to know  The general (meaning vet) consensus ten years ago was around six months. Now I hear of puppies as young as 8 weeks (!!) being altered. It is confusing. 

Any good studies have been done on this topic that I can take a look at?


----------



## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

sagira said:


> Any good studies have been done on this topic that I can take a look at?


I thought this paper was a good read:
http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/longtermhealtheffectsofspayneuterindogs.pdf


----------



## ThoseWordsAtBest (Mar 18, 2009)

sagira said:


> I'm curious. Is there a reason you waited until 2 years? I'm sure there was, and I would really like to know  The general (meaning vet) consensus ten years ago was around six months. Now I hear of puppies as young as 8 weeks (!!) being altered. It is confusing.
> 
> Any good studies have been done on this topic that I can take a look at?


Honestly, waiting so long with Smalls was really just indecision. She was my first puppy and I read so many things about doing it early and not doing it early. It's really hard to figure out what you feel is right. The information Willowy posted is a good read. Smalls is a mixed breed, so I waited until I thought would be best as far as growth and sexual maturity before I altered her. Her spay was difficult (she had surgery that removed a good portion of her small intestine and rerouted her intestines where her spay incision would be, and ended up with a massive infection within 24 hours of her spay) but we have not had any health issues. 

I actually regret neutering Jonas. No way to tell relation, but he's just has a really hard time since then, and despite being medically clear he now urinates when picked up or approached when he never had before. I will alter my future dogs, but I wonder if I make a mistake with him and it contributed to his behavioral issues.


----------

