Ask Dr Claire

Bichon Frise is turning 6 months, is it ok to speyed in 1 month or is that too late? I don’t know when Bichon starts to be in heat.

Many vet clinics advocate for desexing at 6 months, the reasoning behing this is that they are at a healthy age in terms of anaesthesia, and this is usually before the first season for a dog.

The average age coming into season depends on the breed and individual – there is no formula, usually a Bichon would come into season at around 8 months of age, but some can come into season sooner from around 6 months of age.

It’s likely that there will be no issue waiting until 7 months to spey your girl but there’s no guarantees she won’t come into season before then.

Best to be careful that she’s not left with entire males unsupervised to avoid risk of pregnancy before she is desexed, and if she was in season at the time of the elected spey at end July, the spey would be put off for a few weeks afterwards.