Hi all, So we had wanted to leave getting oscar neutered until about 18 months, as a results of info that we had read regarding the matter. Howerver when we asked the vet she said, we would only not recommend not neutering him now if he was a shy quiet puppy, so basically she thought oscar should be neutered now. So we went ahead and go him neutered, only to find out now that the women taking our gundog classes that she thought we should have left him, as he hasn't even started lifting his leg yet. But said the vet would have had a good reason as she knew the practice and said they were well recommended. Basically just after some reasurance from other lab owners that have gotten their pups neutered around this time they we haven't made a mistake thats going to have a negative impact on oscar.
Re: 6 months too young to be neutered I really would not worry, I had Otis castrated at six months, which was recommended by my vet, its a kinder operation at a younger age. Otis has been fine since. Maggie x
Re: 6 months too young to be neutered There is quite a lot of controversy about this, it seems, a lot more than what I had previously been aware of since joining the forum. But I have had three male dogs, two raised from pups, one was approximately a year old when we got him. All were neutered, the two pups I had done before they were a year but it's been a long time since then and I can't quite remember what age they were but I would guess 6-9 months. I have not noticed any negatives from any of my dogs from the op. Don't worry about it, not like you can undo it anyways, and you have on,y done what you felt was best for him based on the vet's recommendation.
Re: 6 months too young to be neutered I've had two male dogs, one neutered at 6 months and the other at 7 months. It is very much the normal practice here in Australia. Incidentally, with females, here it would be very unusual to let your bitch have a season before neutering. It's done at 6 months. So, don't worry at all What you have done is absolutely fine.
Re: 6 months too young to be neutered I'm sure he will be just fine - lots of people have dogs castrated at that age, without any problems at all. I should declare myself slightly anti blanket castrating of all male dogs though - I think this is a minority view though and am aware lots of people hold a different view. None of the male dogs in our family have ever been castrated. I say this so you know this is where I'm coming from when I say that I do wish some vets in the UK would be a bit more balanced about the the pros and cons, and personally I feel later is better if possible. Your gundog trainer maybe thinks differently to your vet, just like I do, but that's not to say she (or I) am right - after all, your vet is probably a lot better qualified to express an opinion! The evidence and arguments either way are definitely mixed with pros and cons on both sides. [quote author=Oberon link=topic=4214.msg50215#msg50215 date=1390789906] Incidentally, with females, here it would be very unusual to let your bitch have a season before neutering. It's done at 6 months. [/quote] I have also been wondering about that - lots of people on the forum seem to wait until after a season before neutering. When I was reading up, I got the impression that the arguments for spaying are much clearer than for castration, and it's only necessary to wait for a dog to have a first season if there are specific medical reasons to do so, but it seems to be the norm to wait. I don't know why.
Re: 6 months too young to be neutered I would be interested to know the reason for that too I've often wondered about it when it comes up on the forum.
Re: 6 months too young to be neutered Many pups are fine being neutered at six months (or sometimes younger in some rescues) in fact the younger ones seem to bounce back quicker after the op. Personally I would have waited, but like a previous poster said there's a lot of controversy about the topic and lots of people have very strong opinions on the subject. I was going to have Penny speyed at six months but a medical condition meant that she had to have a season before speying so we are now waiting.
Re: 6 months too young to be neutered Our vet recommended spaying BEFORE the first season. A friend of ours who' s partner is a vet thought we should have waited. I'm not sure if its true that older vets say wait and younger ones say do it early or if I am making assumptions based on too little evidence! As we were never considering breeding and we have an intact male farm dog up the road (with a tendency to go AWOL) in hindsight I think early spay was a good decision for us.
Re: 6 months too young to be neutered All of our boys have been done when they reached 6 months. Charlie is our only ever girl, and she was done at 6 months, before her first season. They've never had any negative effects of neutering at 6 months old.
Re: 6 months too young to be neutered I wouldn't worry about it at all, it won't have a negative effect on Osca. The only impact it may have is that he may not 'grow up' quite the same way. I know that here, in Germany, the main reason vets advise not neutering dogs too early is that they believe neutering early causes dogs and bitches to retain some of their childlike attributes. I can't say if this is true or not! Like Julie, I am a bit anti blanket castration for my own dogs. I certainly don't object to anyone else doing it, though.
Re: 6 months too young to be neutered We were advised by our vet to have Hattie spayed after her first season which we did at about 18 months, she is perfectly fine and healthy now 6 years old. Charlie is our rescue and was already neutered at about 8 months before we got him and he does not cock his leg and is a very big tall boy. There was some discussion on the forum about having neutering done too early affects growth. Not sure if anyone could find it as I can't seem to locate it. I am sure Oscar will be just fine and I quite like the fact that Charlie doesn't cock his leg at every lamp post, infact he will only wee in our garden and in fields so a plus as far as I'm concerned
Re: 6 months too young to be neutered Do you think the fact that Charlie doesn't cock his leg is directly related to him having been neutered at 8 months, Helen? Not that I can see that cocking a leg matters, but if so it would give some credence to the idea that early neutering stops a dog maturing fully.
Re: 6 months too young to be neutered I'm not sure Karen, but I am sure Pippa put an article up about this very subject of early neutering and the effects especially rapid growth. It's not a bit bothered that Charlie doesn't cock his leg infact it's always something I dislike - sorry all cocking leg dogs
Re: 6 months too young to be neutered I would pay good money to have a boy dog that doesn't want to mark every blade of grass!
Re: 6 months too young to be neutered Sam was snipped at about 11 months , he sometimes cocks his leg but not with any regularity , he was already a very tall lad when he was castrated so I dont think it affected his growth at all , no change whatsoever in him or his nature apart from not being remotely interested in the ladies
Re: 6 months too young to be neutered Hi, I think all vets have different views on when to spay. My elderly lab who's almost 14 was spayed before her first season because this is what our vet at the time advised and she had no ill effects from it. In fact next day she was bouncing around, normal puppy behaviour which was difficult as we had to try and stop her from being too energetic because of her stitches. Still, no harm done, like I say within a day you'd never have known she had had an op previous day.
Re: 6 months too young to be neutered Blimey we nipped over to the park at 1.30 for a toilet break today,park was empty apart from a beautiful 19 month old ridgeback .Dex was they had a great play then after about 10 mins dexter started to hump with all his equipment ready to do the business is this normal?his only other humping is of his male friend when they are on a wrestling frenzy and get too excited? Hope this isn't a hijack,it's kind of experience of a pre fully mature castration x
Re: 6 months too young to be neutered [quote author=charlie link=topic=4214.msg50296#msg50296 date=1390829118] Fancy a swap Barbara ;D [/quote] Sure!
Re: 6 months too young to be neutered Lmao Dexter, you randy boy My vet has strongly suggested letting Harley have her first season before getting her spayed. The reasons given were to allow her to mature and grow normally. The vet said in smaller dogs they do it before a first season, but strongly suggest against this with larger bitches!! I am going to wait as suggested.
