Late spay increasing risk of cancer?

I was just reading on another thread that the chances of cancer in a cat are increased with each heat they go into.... I didn't get Dori spayed until she was a year and a month old. Long story short on my waiting is I really couldn't afford the $140 it cost to have her spayed at her regular vet and I was scared to have it done at the low cost clinic here because she had problems with her shots as a kitten they made her really sick, my friend had a problem there and I just didn't feel comfortable with it. I kept Dori inside ALWAYS and was very very patient with her when she was in heat. Anyway, I thought that once I got her spayed everything would be ok. Now I am concerned that waiting could have caused long term problems as well If I did increase her risks of cancer, is it possible to reduce them now?

Here are a few links about increased breast cancer risks after going through heat:

http://www.thedailycat.com/bringing/...ve/needtoknow/
http://www.petorphansfund.org/vouchers.htm
http://www.spca.org/site/PageServer?...me=SN_SN_Facts

This is about dogs, but I assume it's similar for cats: http://www.thepetcenter.com/sur/mam.html

That you got her spayed eventually is a good thing. You can't turn back time now. But so long as you take good care of her, her chances of any health problem will diminish.

I hope that you can pass this onto someone who is considering waiting before spaying their dog or cat. A lot of well-meaning people don't find out until it's too late. And a lot of people don't believe me and/or think I'm being preachy when I give advice first, even when I'm just the messenger and back up what I say, so I tend to wait until I have an opportunity to talk about it after they bring it up. Perhaps we can gradually spread the word and prevent unnecessary breast cancer ^^

It's true that alot of people just don't know... I didn't evn know animals could get breast cancer. I truly thought that once I got her spayed everything would be fine. I would definately let people know who have animals and are waiting. The thing is, I had a conversation about it with my vet. He basically told me it wouldn't hurt anything to wait, and actually encouraged it, while not as long as I did, but he thought I should wait a few weeks after her last set of kitten shots at 7 or 8 months I believe. But that was because f all the problems she had with her shots. I consider him to be an excellent vet, but wonder why he didn't inform me of those risks.

No vet can know everything about animal health; some vets seem to be quite aware of common topics, while others don't and yet know more about some other issues. Because of this, I wouldn't hesitate to see more than one professional if in any doubt.

And because one individual with too much free time can do more digging on an specific issue than a hard-worked vet who needs to be knowledgeable in a much broader area, I usually look up prescriptions and conditions after hearing the vet's advice. I do this with doctors as well. I haven't gone to medical school and certainly don't think I'm better qualified to diagnose and treat myself, but I also have more time to look up little details on things that the pros might not have time to research.