Spay or not advice please

[MillicentWight]

When we had our last dog, Millie, our vet strongly advised us to have her spayed on the grounds that
she would not get pyometra and much less likely to develop mammary tumours later on in life. We took his advice, but lost Millie at seven following years of battling Thrombocytopenia, a terrible disease
causing reduced blood platelets and internal bleeding. Since losing Millie I have spent alot of time reading about Thrombocytopenia and wondering why she developed this awful disease.  I have since read  that cocker spaniels are predisposed to this disease, and although rare, it is usually seen in female middle age  spayed  dogs.
We now have Willow and after two seasons and a false pregnancy we are finding it so difficult in
deciding to get her spayed. In fact she has been booked in at our vets twice for the operation and each time I cancelled because I am tormented by what happened to our Millie, and so frightened something similar may happen to Willow.
Am I being irresponsible in deciding not to have Willow spayed, at least for the foreseeable future?
It would be a big help to know how others feel.

[Pearly]

I think it's all down to individual choice which of course, is based on previous experience and your dogs health/situation - what's right for one may not be for another.

In Pearls case I had no intention of breeding from her and she had problems in her first season, I wanted her to have one clear season before spay - that didn't happen as she went on to develop a closed pyometra at time she was due a second season.

Coral is a rescue pup, it is a condition of both the Rescue and her breeder she is spayed after her first season.  Having gone through one dog being so ill with a pyometra I'm only too happy to comply, particularly as she has a genetic condition which would be passed on but skips several generations 

I have no experience of thrombocytopenia or of an older dog. 

[MillicentWight]

Thanks for the reply. Pyometra really does worry me and that's what makes it so difficult a decision.
Willow is only 19 months old but we are probably too old and not well enough to be dog owners, but the thought of being without is unimaginable.

[MIN]

Gemma had a phantom pregnancy after every season so we were advised to get her spayed. Her "out of action" days seemed to last forever.She was about 40 months when we had her done. I have never heard of Millie's illness but I will not google it. If I do and read about it then I will most likely start unnecessarily worrying.
The chances of Willow getting it aswell are remote. You need to think of Willow's health and comfort.
Sometimes we go seeking information that we don't really need to know

[rubybella]

If she has already had a false pregnancy she is highly likely to have another. My girl had a false pregnancy and went on to get mastitus too. She was really unwell, horrible to see, and I made the decision then to not let her go another season as the chance of it reoccurring was high. The stuff you have to give to stop the pregnancy made her worse. I would never have let her go through that again.

I think what your previous dog had was rare and she was unlucky. I would suggest that having Willow spayed is the best thing for her as the chance of her getting what your previous dog had would be slim.

[julie1]

I guess it's swings-and-roundabouts 
Having experienced false pregnancy's that caused mastitus & later mammary tumours in one dog & pyometra  in two others, I took my vet's advice & had Kez spayed at 6 months (this seems to be the norm. here in the Midlands)
I have no knowledge of the other illness.