Age for Neuter (And a bunch of rambling)

[SarahA14]

What are your personal thoughts on when is the best age to neuter?

I plan to do further research on my own.  I have also searched through older post but the word “neuter” is brought up a lot so I’m sorry if I missed the answer to my own question.  Also, I hope it’s appropriate to ask here and isn’t controversial.

All of my pets have been spayed/neutered.  Most are from my time in dog rescue where all pets were fixed before 5 months old.  My oldest dog (nearly 14 yo, purebred dachshund) was fixed at age 5 only because I was lazy.  I have only had 1 dog unfixed and he was 14 years old when I adopted him from the shelter and his health was not good, due to age and not being well cared for in life, so he could not be neutered.

My pup is still very young (19 weeks) and I have no desire or reason to breed.  

Over the years I’ve read a lot of contradicting information and have heard many vets with different perspectives.  

I like hearing personal preferences/experiences.  I have found, sometimes, personal experience is equally as informative as actual clinical research. 

Sideways picture just because I like to show off my boy.

[GentleLake]

The subject's been discussed here repeatedly, and relatively recently. Links to other information's been shared.

Use the search function here and you'll find all you need.

[SarahA14]

Just now, GentleLake said:

The subject's been discussed here repeatedly, and relatively recently. Links to other information's been shared.

Do a search here and you'll find all you need.

Thank you.  I’ll try searching again.

[Riika]

My personal thoughts are to not neuter at all, or do it around two years of age. I agree, it can be hard to find things on this forum through searching, but a google search will help a lot with information on age of neuter and new research.

[Michael Parkey]

This is very close to home as our Levi is just a year old.  We've had many intact dogs in the past and never had any of the behavior issues that are supposed to happen.  I am beginning to think that much of this is a myth.  But we do live in a mandatory spay/neuter city with stringent exceptions for purebred dogs.  After doing a fair amount of research here and on line generally we are trying to find a vet who will do a vasectomy.  These links were helpful to us:

 Hormone-sparing Male Sterilization - Parsemus Foundation

The Spay/Neuter Conundrum (Long version) | Pawsitive Veterinarian Care

[GentleLake]

I found several threads very easily by using the keywords "spay" and "neuter."

http://www.bordercollie.org/boards/search/?&q=spay neuter&search_and_or=or

If I ever have control of the issue again (my last several dogs have been rescues who were spayed or neutered before I got them), I'd opt for either a vasectomy or an ovary sparing spay. The health benefits seem pretty apparent to me.

[GentleLake]

6 minutes ago, Michael Parkey said:

After doing a fair amount of research here and on line generally we are trying to find a vet who will do a vasectomy. 

Here's the list from the group that Micheal just posted by state: https://www.parsemus.org/projects/veterinarian-list/

Hopefully, as people become better informed more vets will start offering the procedures.

 

[terrecar]

If I had it to do over again, I’d either look into an option that spares the ovaries, or I’d wait until maturity. We recently started treating my eight year old dog, Hannah, for spay incontinence. Incurin (estriol) has worked (and is mild compared to DES), but I’d rather not have to give hormones to my dog.

[jami74]

Is the point of the vasectomy so that if the dog does mount and penetrate a female in heat, there is no pregnancy? Sorry if that seems like a really dumb question.

My last dog wasn't neutered but he was my work dog, always with me and lots of wide open spaces. Most of the dogs we knew were not really considered pet dogs and my dog never showed any signs of sexual interest so I never really thought about it. I can see for him that if I'd wanted to leave him 'in tact' but not risk unwanted pregnancies with strays then a vasectomy would have been a sensible consideration.

Now, living in a residential area and walking off lead in heavily dog populated areas I'm thinking that calling out 'Don't worry, he's had a vasectomy' probably wouldn't be enough to pacify owners of female pet dogs if he was trying to mount them.

So, if he starts showing a lot of sexual interest and trying to mount everything that moves then I guess neutering would be the best option to try and curb that, whereas if he appears to have no sexual interest, then surely there's be no need to bother with a vasectomy?

Again, sorry if I'm sounding really stupid. I'm just trying to work out how the choices (neuter/vasectomy/leave in tact) apply to our situation. At the moment I'm thinking that we will probably neuter around about or just after his first birthday, partly because he's on the small side so I'm not in a rush to do it any sooner and partly because I'll get 20% off if I do it within a year of registering with our vets. I can't help wondering if neutering will cause him to calm down and be less reactive, I know there is lots of debate on the subject and I honestly don't have very little experience with dogs, but I did work with another species for a long period of time and in nearly every case, after castration the animal was more focussed on its work and more amenable.

[GentleLake]

14 minutes ago, jami74 said:

Now, living in a residential area and walking off lead in heavily dog populated areas I'm thinking that calling out 'Don't worry, he's had a vasectomy' probably wouldn't be enough to pacify owners of female pet dogs if he was trying to mount them.

Anyone walking their bitch in heat is courting disaster and IMO the primary responsibility for preventing conception would be in the hands of the female's owner, though I also believe it's irresponsible to allow intact dogs (or any dog for that matter) to roam. But, yes, your dog would be shooting blanks. He would retain his hormones but the vas deferens is severed and usually also either clipped or tied off so that no sperm are ejaculated.

14 minutes ago, jami74 said:

So, if he starts showing a lot of sexual interest and trying to mount everything that moves then I guess neutering would be the best option to try and curb that, whereas if he appears to have no sexual interest, then surely there's be no need to bother with a vasectomy? 

Castration's no guarantee that sexual interest will be eliminated. I had a mixed breed who was castrated at 9 months of age who would tie with bitches in heat of we weren't careful to separate them.

There's also no guarantee that an intact male who doesn't show much sexual interest won't when you least expect it. The only ways to guarantee unintended matings by a male are sterilization of some sort or absolute, unwavering diligence to prevent access to females in heat, which is sometimes harder to do than it might seem.

As for other behavioral consequences, thre's some evidence that aggression in desexed dog may actually increase, and there are many people who maintain that intact males are better working dogs, though I suspect that's mostly anecdotal.

[Michael Parkey]

We are required by law to sterilize our dog.  The main reason I am interested in vasectomy is because of the reduced health risks for vasectomized dogs versus castrated ones.  If behavior problems related to testosterone develop later, we can still have him castrated.  The same goes for very rare but possible testicular cancer.

[SarahA14]

On 12/30/2018 at 1:08 PM, GentleLake said:

Here's the list from the group that Micheal just posted by state: https://www.parsemus.org/projects/veterinarian-list/

Hopefully, as people become better informed more vets will start offering the procedures.

 

Thank you for this. I see many vets within a reasonable distance.

[Mandy1961]

Our pup is 7 months old and we have decided to wait to make a decision on whether to get him neutered. Although our vet has said the best time is around 6 months, we would rather he finish growing first. Whilst he is very slim and active so many people have warned us that they are prone to putting on excess weight after neuturing. He is very active and still a bit boisterous sometimes, we do not want any of his mannerisms to change at the moment. I will definitely look into vasectomy if the need arises.

[GentleLake]

6 hours ago, Mandy1961 said:

...many people have warned us that they are prone to putting on excess weight after neuturing.

That won't happen if you don't overfeed.

If a dog, neutered or intact, starts putting on excess weight, it's a sign that they're getting too many calories for their body size and activity level and intake should be adjusted accordingly. It's that simple.

I have a castrated male and a spayed (i.e. complete ovariohysterectomy) female. (Not my choice; both are rescues neutered prior to adoption.) Neither are overweight, though each of them would easily become so if I fed them as much as they wanted to eat.

[SarahA14]

6 hours ago, Mandy1961 said:

Our pup is 7 months old and we have decided to wait to make a decision on whether to get him neutered. Although our vet has said the best time is around 6 months, we would rather he finish growing first. Whilst he is very slim and active so many people have warned us that they are prone to putting on excess weight after neuturing. He is very active and still a bit boisterous sometimes, we do not want any of his mannerisms to change at the moment. I will definitely look into vasectomy if the need arises.

Personally, I have found that it is untrue that dogs will put on weight due to being altered.  I had 2 that were a bit plump and quickly lost weight when we adjusted feedings and exercise they maintained healthy weights.  We had been way over feeding.

Our dogs after that have all maintained healthy weights now that we better understand proper feeding proportions.  

Edit to add: watching your dogs body type and adjusting their feeding is better then sticking to a set amount of food.  My chihuahuas are both small but my 4lb chihuahua requires more food then my 9lb chihuahua.  Through the year the amounts will vary a bit depending on their activity and the weather.  The same with my 90lb pit (who has since passed away) and my 75lb gsp mix.  GSP mix is very active and required much more food then my pit who was unable to be as active due to being disabled (he was born with severe birth defects to his front legs).

[alligande]

My current two dogs are entire. The decision to not neuter my older dog was a bit of an accident, initially I decided to wait till he was at least 18 months old, he was going to be an agility dog and at that time there was more documentation saying waiting was better, then I was encouraged by my vet to wait as she bred standard poodles and had seen the difference in her litters and encouraged her “responsible” clients to wait. Well we waited and then my other dog got sick with huge vet bills so we waited some more by which time it did not seem worth it, he was a good boy with zero interest in girls. With my younger dog who is 2 1/2 I have never planned on neutering, and can’t see any reason to do so. I am conscious though that he likes girls so I do watch him when there is a BIS with future dogs I have no plan to neuter (we are a boy dog house)  We live in Spain and the majority of dogs/bitches are entire especially in agility circles.

[ShellyF]

Not quite on topic but lovely photo of your pup who’s wearing the exact same harness that ours has haha!