posted 11-09-2003 02:35 PM         

"The Australian Shepherd probably originated in the Basque region of the Pyrenees, mountains between Spain and France, but was dubbed the Australian Shepherd because of its association with Basque shepherds who came into the United States from Australia in the 1800s.
The Australian Shepherd was initially called by many names, including Spanish Shepherds, Pastor Dogs, Bob-Tails, Blues, Heelers, New Mexican Shepherds and California Shepherds."

posted 11-10-2003 06:58 AM         

The younger animals bleed less during the surgery and recover more quickly. Most shelters around here will not let their animals go to a home without being altered first. Our pup was about 12 weeks when she was done, and she hardly noticed. We picked her up the day after and she was totally fine.

Here is a quote from this web site: http://www.danesonline.com/earlyspayneuter.htm

"Quietly over the past twenty-five to thirty years a few progressive animal shelters began various early sterilization programs with uniformly consistent success stories. If they are spayed or neutered before they leave the shelter … they cannot become contributors. Puppies and kittens are being neutered as young as six to eight weeks. The development of new anesthetics and surgical procedures has made these procedures as safe or safer than the commonly accepted time of six months. The younger patients recover faster and have fewer surgical and post-surgical complications than their older counterparts. There is very little to no body fat to contend with, the incision is smaller, surgery time is reduced and recovery time is very short.

The research available on the physical, behavioral, short and long-term effects of prepubescent neutering in dogs and cats shows no adverse results. Based on this information, the American Humane Association supports this practice as a feasible solution to decreasing pet overpopulation and the tragedy of resulting deaths. Early sterilization practices are also endorsed by the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Animal Hospital Association and the California Veterinary Medical Association."

It goes on to say that early spay/neuter does NOT stunt the growth of an animal, and that actually animals that are altered early tend to get slightly bigger than their counterparts.

The beginning of the article also talks about how the "6 months" thing was arrived at in the first place - was pretty arbitrary.

There are tons of articles on the web about this. I posted some links to them in a thread a long time ago. Perhaps a search of this forum and the cat forum would uncover them.

posted 11-11-2003 05:26 PM         

The reason most vets wait until after a bitches first heats is because her ovaries are then amture and it makes it easier to do the operation and does not take aslong...

Neutering a male dog before 4months old is abit strange as there testicles dont usual drop until around then and doing it sooner can actually cause problems....

I have 5 bitches and 4 dogs all are full pedigree german shepherds. 2 of my bitches are spayed and they were done after there 1st heat which was around 7months old when the procedure was done....

My males are not castrated, When i give my puppies to new owners they are given a full check up by the vet and they are also given information on the best time to neuter or spay there dogs this info is given by the vet.
They also have to agree that if they take a bitch that she will not be bred from and i get them to sign am agreement to this i also do spot checks on my puppies in there new homes..

But i have to say i would wait till after the first heat for a bitch and wait till a dog ( male) is 4months old to have the spayed or neutered.....

posted 11-12-2003 06:44 AM         

I think maybe some vets are hesitant because this is a deviation from what they were taught in school, long ago. Everything I have read says the surgery is easier, faster, and less traumatic for the animal when done at an early age. If my vet were uncomfortable with early spay/neuter, I think I would question his surgical skill.

Nala never had a bit of trouble with her surgery at about 12 weeks, and a friend adopted a kitten from a shelter that was already neutered - probably around 10 weeks old - and he is a huge, gorgeous, personable one-year-old now.