Spay and Neuter Requirements
for all puppies.
I advise my puppy buyers to wait until they’ve gone through all of their growing and growth phases. They need their hormones to tell their bodies when to stop, and their brains when to mature. We are starting to learn that neutering too young means the growth plates don’t get the signal to close and you can end up with tall leggy whippets, who have a greater risk of cruciate injuries because their proportions are off.
So my advice for males is to wait until 2 years if there’s no urgent need to get them done, but at least 18 months if they feel they need it earlier. Even if testicles are missing there is little to no risk of the cancers vets will tell you about until well after 3yo.
For females I suggest at least 18 months as well, or 3 months after their season, whichever is later. Many whippets don’t have their first season till then. Some will have it earlier, but I would still wait. 3 months post season is generally the safest time as the uterus is in a resting state and all blood vessels are at their most contracted.
By 18 months to 2 years they’ve now had all the hormone boosts they need to have finished maturing properly both physically and mentally.
Vets have been trained that for overall animal welfare (and to prevent unwanted puppies) that altering them around 6 months is best, but both the science and the anecdotal evidence are showing otherwise.
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Because of the speed, turning ability, and generally all the things the breed was bred to do and therefore the overall shape and conformation of the whippet, it is so very important to have growth plates close when they’re supposed to or there is too much pressure on those extended lengths of joints and ligaments leading to increased cases of CCL injury.
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I don’t know if this will help further but here’s the in depth supplemental information they refer to which breaks things down into finer detail of risk and ages
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2020.00388/full#supplementary-material
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Here’s one video that talks about it. It’s 7 years old, but can help you make an educated decision.
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