Pediatric Spaying - Background

Background

It was once believed that female cats and dogs should not be spayed until the animal delivered one litter or, at least, experienced one estrus or “heat” cycle. (There was little concern about neutering males, other than for behavioral reasons, since males do not get pregnant.) Research in the 1960s proved that female animals permitted to reach sexual maturity prior to being spayed were susceptible to a higher risk of mammary cancer than those animals spayed prior to their first cycle. As a result, the recommendation was revised to perform surgeries just prior to the average anticipated age for the first cycle, 4 to 6 months for cats and 6 to 12 months for dogs. ====

Research from the 1990s and early 2000s suggests that it is safe, and maybe even desirable, to perform sterilization surgeries prior to sexual maturity and as early as 6 weeks old.

Rationale Preventing breeding through sterilization is considered one approach to controlling the population and reducing the number of animals surrendered to shelters, thus reducing the number of healthy but homeless animals killed in shelters. Animal shelters typically have policies requiring adopters to spay or neuter cats and dogs after adoption but compliance rates are usually low. While a majority of adopted animals are eventually sterilized, many females have a litter prior to the surgery.

Shelters that have access to spay/neuter services and participate in pediatric spay/neuter programs can ensure that nearly 100% of adopted animals are sterilized prior to adoption.