Mercy. Google is not my friend. I've just spent an hour going cross-eyed over what age to neuter. Our vet says now is ideal (9 months). Online, I keep seeing I should wait till 14-18 months or even longer! This is to allow for full maturity, etc. Then I see neutering can increase the risk of a certain disease by 5 times in specific breeds, specifically certain ones such as.......yep....Labs!! So now I'm in a dither. Opinion??
Re: Neutering - age? If you have no plans to breed from your pet then vets in the UK recommend neutering at six months of age, before their first season as it reduces mammary tumours later in life. Also, the surgery at this age is more straightforward and the recovery times are shorter. Similiarly with male dogs they recommend castration at six months, provided that the testicles have fully dropped. Castration will ensure that your dog is more social with other dogs, much less likely to develope adolescent behavioural problems and testicular cancer. So at 9 months (assuming you have no plans to breed) now is the time - do not wait any longer.
Re: Neutering - age? We were watch and wait .....after him demonstrating quite spectacularly what could be in store for us when he saw a bitch in heat we decided to proceed but still wanted to try and wait until 18 months.....he had an operation on his tail at 13 months so we took advantage of the GA and did it then.....no Ill effects,no,personality change, and a lot of peace of mind that no worrying events could potentially happen
Re: Neutering - age? There is an article here that might help: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/should-i-have-my-labrador-castrated/ Views do differ. I'm not in favour of the routine castration of dogs. I'm not anti castration though, if it's the right thing for that dog. Charlie is intact. I grew up with family dogs that were intact, none were every castrated. They didn't roam, didn't mark in the house, never had a fight with another dog, and didn't get any girls into trouble. So against that background, I was surprised - years later when I got Charlie - that my vet asked me when, not if, I would have Charlie castrated (and when I said I'd think about it, was told not to read any rubbish on the internet). Well, so far, I haven't had any problems, and nothing has prompted me to have Charlie castrated. I'm unconvinced it has any health benefits. If I have any signs of problems, that castration might help, I'll reconsider. Some people find my choice surprising and tell me horror stories of dog fights and dogs legging it off after bitches in heat. I walk on Wimbledon Common and if I go when it's busy, will meet at least 20 dogs in a walk. I haven't had any problems that I can relate to him being intact. He is a gentle boy, and I'd actually like him to be more assertive with other dogs. I think I'm lucky in that the vet I have now, the gundog trainer, and socialisation class trainers, are all supportive of my decision not to castrate Charlie - not one of them think it would be right for him. So feel happy with my decision. For now. It's not something I have high principles about though, if I had a reason to do it, I'd do it.
Re: Neutering - age? We waited until 3 months after Tatze's first season, so she was spayed at 12 months old. I felt she needed to be fully grown before neutering. None of my other dogs were neutered - except the last two, who started marking in the house at six years old! I have no idea what started that but neutering cured it. Gypsy will also be spayed 3 months after her first season.
Re: Neutering - age? I was brought up with the view that dogs should be neutered as soon as is possible ie six months of age. I worked in rescue kennels for a long time and this is standard practice. When I got my own dog I was still very much in two minds and did lots of research on the internet and I still couldn't really make a decision. The more research I did, the more confused I became. Subsequently we discovered that Penny had something called an inverted vulva which made her very prone to urine infections - the cure: allowing her to have a season. Or else speying and condemning her to a lifetime or recurrent uti's. So I was given some more time to make a decision as she didn't have her first season until she was 9 months. Then of course you shouldn't Spey until 12 weeks after a season which would have put her at 12 months old. She is quite a small lab so had finished most of her growing by the time she was a year old, so we thought this would be the ideal time to Spey her - if we were going to get it done! Still no decision concretely made! Then nature took it out of our hands again and decided that Penny would be one of those bitches who had very short seasons - she she came into season again only 3 months after the last one! (Average cycle is every six months or longer) This now started to affect her behaviour as her hormones were constantly raging and she had permanent PMS! She after consulting with the vet we set a date for speying 9 weeks after her current season had finished - earlier than recommended to prevent her coming into season again. By the time she was speyed she was about 15 months old. If I was doing it all over again with a bitch? I think I would wait for at least one season. With a male dog I think I would wait until he was at least a year old, if I had him castrated at all - there seem to be quite a few male dogs on here that are still entire and don't have any issues resulting from that.
Re: Neutering - age? My friend's male dog is the same age as Tatze, he's intact and they have no plans to neuter him. he has no behaviour issues at all.
Re: Neutering - age? My dog is intact at over three years old and we still have no plans to neuter him. I think the health case for neutering is not as clear cut as that for spaying. Whilst he does show interest in females approaching their season we haven't had any behavioural issues that I would put down to being intact. Like Julies Charlie my dog is very mild mannered out and about. I'm not against neutering but would address it on a case by case basis and wait for physical maturity.
Re: Neutering - age? Harvey is still intact (just over 12 months old) and we have no plans to neuter him. I'm not convinced that routine neutering at a specified age is the way to go - if there is a specific issue that makes it necessary then we'll have it done at that time.
Re: Neutering - age? My two male labs were never neutered - I never saw any need for it. Poppy is also intact, and I do not plan on having her spayed until she is 6 or 7 years old, to guard against pyometra. Otherwise, I wouldn't have her spayed at all. It's a very personal thing, and really depends on your circumstances and on the individual dog.
Re: Neutering - age? Hattie was spayed 3 months after her first season so she was about 18 ish months, can't quite remember :, Charlie was neutered at the rescue centre and he was 9 months when he came to us. I have never heard of UK vets recommending neutering at 6 months and certainly never before a bitches first season. I thought neutering males too early affected their growth plates and you should wait until they have fully matured. Someone else might know.
Re: Neutering - age? Our local vet advised neutering at 6 months with no mention of having a season first. I do have Holly booked in for when she will be 7 months but have a few more questions for the vet re seasons on our next visit before we go ahead with anything. We're having it done because a) we have no plans to breed from her and b) we are in such a heavily dog populated area I would be extremely concerned for her during any season. Even in the garden for pee breaks. We have already had one over excited local boy jump the fence to come say hello when she was small, before she was even allowed out. Fortunately she was small enough for me to scoop up in one arm and manhandle the other dog out the gate with the other. I couldn't physically do that with 2 full grown dogs, especially on heat.
Re: Neutering - age? Our vet was happy to do Lilly's spay at 6 months before her first season. We had no plans to breed and this was before all the useful info on this site. Now, if I did it again, I might wait until after the first season, but we do have an intact male farm dog with a tendency to roam within spitting distance so wouldn't take this decision lightly. Not sure about a boy. All I can say is that my friend with two entire boys (and 3 girls) has had some adverse comments from randoms about leaving them intact. They are delightful boys.
Re: Neutering - age? Our pup is a large male choc lab, coming up to 11 months old. At the moment we see no reason to neuter. I appreciate that this may change. The main reason is we want Benson to mature fully, both from a physiological perspective and psychological, although I suspect the two are linked. Benson is a bit immature just now, this is demonstrated by very submissive behaviours with other older dogs, which you would expect with a young male. He also has a bit more growing to go both upwards and outwards. If his behaviour changes when he is older which causes issues which we can link to his entire status and not something we can resolve through training, then we will reconsider. Waiting as long as possible for us is the right thing based on his behaviours and the evidence which suggest a link to increased risk (although small) of certain cancers when male dogs are neutered early i.e. before 6 months and up to a year of age. I also have concerns, now just my opinion, that interrupting growth signals may have other effects, such soft tissue development (muscle, tendons, ligaments) I think it is a very personal decision, and I don't think there is any right or wrong, with the next male dog we have, it could be we have a different approach. Certainly for females I think it is a much clearer picture, I would cetainly spay after their first season.
Re: Neutering - age? Our vet advises 8 weeks after first season ends and we tend to follow that advice. Only ever kept one entire and we had 8 phantom pregnancies and female cancers when she got older, swore we would never put another dog through that. We had one done before her first season and that caused a few problems too. So this have a first season works for us.
Re: Neutering - age? My vet strongly advised if we were not going to breed from Harley to get her spayed 12 weeks after her first season. Unfortunately due to pyometra she had to be spayed 7 weeks after her season ended. Harley is 13 months. She was booked in for in 2 weeks time! I live in a highly populated dog area and did not want to breed from her. We made the decision to get her spayed due to her first season being so bad - we were going to wait a year longer I know lots of entire males locally and we never had a problem with them, even walked past a few when Harley was in season (Harley was on lead and we couldn't cross the road!). My neighbours lab is the same age as Harley and was done 2 weeks ago. I think it is entirely a personal decision only you can make.
Re: Neutering - age? As I stated in another post our dog trainer asked why he wasn't castrated. I replied he is not aggressive and the vet does t think he needs to be. However, he did have one undescended testicle until 6 months and had it not dropped then we would have done. Our other beloved dog was not neutered and it was never a problem. I agree case by case decision and if it does become a problem then we will seriously consider it.
Re: Neutering - age? We have no desire to neuter Pongo (now 9 months old), unless his behaviour changes and makes it obviously a good idea. But the local doggy daycare (who are fantastic, and we rely on heavily) have a guideline that they won't take entire male dogs over a year old. That's a real conundrum for us. Not discussed it with them yet. Putting off that conversation as long as possible (ie another three months at least...)
Re: Neutering - age? [quote author=Rosie link=topic=7689.msg107523#msg107523 date=1409999080] the local doggy daycare (who are fantastic, and we rely on heavily) have a guideline that they won't take entire male dogs over a year old. That's a real conundrum for us. [/quote] I had to stop using daycare for this reason - they wouldn't take any entire dog or bitch over 6 months. My dog walker was also concerned about the risks, so I told her to keep him on a lead. But now she has been out on the Common with him off lead, as my stooge person with a football and as a dummy thrower, she would be happy to have him off lead.
