I 'rescued' my dog from a very negative situation for her about 6-7 years ago. (The rescue wasn't straightforward, she was coming and going to me and away from me for 2-3 years. Eventually I got tough with the unstable person who called himself her 'owner' and walked into the sunset with her.) She had already had one litter of puppies, which the pack of mindless drug-heads who had previously owned her let die from Parvo.....
So after all that trauma, I just let her be, let her heal, let her build up her strength, run, enjoy life and the countryside. I didn't even think about getting her spayed (We'd had an entire b.i.t.c.h. when I was a kid, and she never got any problems with womb or anything, so I didn't think there would be any problem leaving her entire.)
Ok I've got older and wiser in those 6-7 years. Now I am concerned she might be in some kind of danger from not being spayed. She is fit and well, though is aged about 10. She has never shown any problems after her 'season' and has never had any vaginal discharge or bad symptoms. Today she ran at tremendous speed chasing a rabbit, all across a great wide field, she looked like a racing dog. And when she came back, she was not out of breath, but wanted to chase the frisbee! We regularly go for 4 mile walks and runs, and she shows no sign of 'slowing down' yet. Of course I realize I should have had her spayed before. Or I should do it now. But I feel uneasy about the op, the effect it will have on her, whether she is too old to be ok with that, and she is so traumatised by a visit to the vet, I keep avoiding the issue! The more I hesitate, the older she gets. I should 'bite the bullet' I know, for her sake in the future.
Is it likely that she will be ok with the op. if she is generally fit and well, even though she's no youngster? (The vet listens to her heart and lungs at every health check, and has never told me he's heard anything to make him suspect abnormality)