Consequences of Early Spaying & Neutering
VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION YOU MUST READ! To be clear, we at Pleasant Meadows, support and require that our puppies are spayed and neutered to avoid irresponsible or accidental breeding which contribute to over-pet-population. In a perfect world no dog or animal of any kind should have to be altered as this can affect their health adversely if not done at an appropriate age. We have designed our spay/neuter policy for the benefit of our puppies to allow them to grow structurally mature prior to this life altering procedure. Our Cavapoo puppies physically mature between 8 and 12 months of age depending on size and gender. We require that NONE of our puppies are spayed or neutered BEFORE 7 months of age – ANY puppy that is spayed or neutered PRIOR to 7 months of age will be VOID of a health guarantee! There is an overwhelming amount of research, studies, and proof that dogs that are spayed and neutered at a young age can suffer from a multitude of health and behavioural issues and sadly many vets still ignore the facts and push for early spaying and neutering, almost to the extent of bullying their clients. The whole concept of early spaying and neutering has come from animal shelters in an effort to prevent irresponsible breeding and control the pet population, and it has become the common place “thing to do”. Years ago before all this pressure was placed on veterinarians by shelters and animal activists – vets used to actually recommend in the case of a female dog, that she either go through a first heat cycle or have a litter of puppies before spaying and for males to reach physical maturity. Reaching a state of maturity is vital in any species! We worked very closely with our veterinarian to choose a time specifically tailored to our Cavapoo puppies for their spaying and neutering procedure to take place! We took into consideration that the families purchasing a female puppy from us may not want to go through a 1st heat cycle (lasting 3-4 weeks), and therefore, we allow for our female puppies to be spayed at 7 months of age which is very close to when they are structurally mature and also 99% of the time squeaking in the procedure just before their 1st heat cycle begins around 8 to 10 months of age. And for our male puppies, we allow for them to be neutered as early as 7 months and up to 12 months of age. If a male has not finished growing by 7-8 months, then the procedure can be put off up until 12 months of age when he would definitely be structurally mature. Again, we require that all of our puppies are spayed and neutered between 7 and 12 months of age and NOT BEFORE OR AFTER that time frame! The health guarantee becomes null and void if this is not adhered to strictly! If a health issue arises from a puppy that was spayed or neutered prior to 7 months it will be assumed that the health issue is a DIRECT RESULT OF PRE-MATURE SPAYING OR NEUTERING and NOT a genetic fault.
Years ago, in our first 2 Cavapoo litters, prior to us (or most breeders) knowing the adverse affects of pre-mature spaying and neutering (as this information was not readily public) – we had two male puppies that were neutered between 4-5 months of age that experienced rapid and, at the time, unexplained height and weight gain. They were both puppies that should have matured to be between 15-18 pounds and 13-14 inches tall at the shoulder. One male reached 16 inches at the shoulder and weighed around 30 pounds, and the other male reached 18 inches at the shoulder and weighed around 40 pounds. They both looked entirely out-of-proportion with long gangly legs, as naturally, the Cavapoo is not intended to reach those sizes. After researching, speaking with our veterinarian, we ultimately changed our spay/neuter contract to allow for proper growth in our puppies prior to spaying and neutering. Since changing our policy – we have not had any reports of our puppies growing to outrages sizes!
HOWEVER, we are now including this information in your Puppy Starter Kit after being hugely disappointed in TWO puppy owners from the same litter born October 30th, 2018 who completely disregarded the Purchase Agreement which they both agreed to and signed and then decided to have their female puppies spayed at 4 months and 5 months. These blatant breeches of the Purchase Agreement have resulted in two of our puppies being voided of a health guarantee due to the irresponsibility of their owners. At this stage, we have no idea what health consequences will potentially arise for those two puppies, but we hope and pray that all will be well!
Many articles listing many of the health and behavioural issues associated with early spaying and neutering can also be found on our website on the Health Topics page, and you can feel free to do your own research. We encourage you to use this knowledge to help you stand your ground while speaking with your veterinarian about spaying or neutering your puppy! Have the courage to say NO to early spay and neuter!