Thanks for all of the advice! Yes, paranoid I am, I admit it. I talked with my vet and she suggested 8mos. as the earliest. I will wait and see, Melissaandcrew (a side question to you… was the female you lost to bloat tacked?!). She has HUGE paws, and our veterinarian thinks she’ll be at least 80lbs. In the meantime, I am following all of the guidelines I can find: a special bowl to slow down “gulp eating”, not letting her have free access to all the water she can drink, no exercise an hour before or after eating, and the “raised bowl” issue… most seem to be coming down on the side of NOT using a raised bowl. Also, soaking her kibble and adding wet canned. This site was so helpful in choosing a puppy food.
Dori, I didn’t know about this procedure, either until we got our chocolate lab puppy last year and were ready to have her spayed. You can imagine how happy I was to hear about this preventative measure…I swear I was dancing around the vet’s office!
