To neuter or not to neuter?

[Heidi & Milton]

Hello All!

I have been holding out on neutering Milton because I find it to be extremely unnatural; however, since Milt just turned seven-months-old, we were give the daycare ultimatum, so it is neuter him now, or he cannot return.  Milton absolutely loves daycare (three days per week), but I feel like as his mom I am hurting him by allowing this surgery to happen.  Neutering Milton honestly reminds me of a human lobotomy, and I can't bear the thought.  Quite honestly, since I made the neuter appointment this morning, I have been very teary-eyed about the whole event.  If we lived out in the country, I would never think to do this, but as a city dog, it is very easy to be banned from many things, simply because you have not been snipped.  Have any of you ever dealt with similar feelings of guilt and regret?

[Cyndi, The Boys & Callie]

Everyone has outlined all the reasons to get him neutered and I agree with all of them.  We have three male doodles (the youngest is 16 weeks) and I remember the concern about the older two (which we neutered at 7 months) being uncomfortable after surgery,scared, etc.  However, all the fears were unfounded.  They were acting like nothing happened the next day and the biggest thing was keeping them from running/jumping for a week or so after the surgery.  Their personalities did not change one bit. All the good things were still there and the ones, like digging, that I could do without stayed also.   They are still the same happy, silly guys they always were.  However,  now they are not barred from certain places because they are not neutered or constantly on the hunt for girlfriends.  When it's all said and done, I think you will find that you were more worried about this than Milton will be.  At least that was my experience. 

[Colleen, Jake & Baxter]

I AGREE with everything that has been mentioned.  Just another bit of perspective on this subject.  I have a friend who has an intact male Labrador named Sam who is about 7 years old now.  Believe me, we have had many frank arguments discussions about this over the years (especially after having several glasses of wine:).  This poor dog has a very small world.  He can't go to dog parks, he cannot be around other dogs because all he wants to do is hump, even guests visiting in their home need to be aware of crossing their legs because it seems to send a signal to Sam to come over and you guess it _______.  Sam also marks everything he can even inside the vet's office.   He is also very aggressive while out on walks and will run off every chance he can get.  Now I understand that not every intact dog is like this but as I said above....Sam is living in a very small world and so are his owners.  Because, one of the reasons I have dogs is to be able to take them out and enjoy exploring new places with them.

PS.  I did not mention this above because I don't want to start a sandstorm but the reason Sam is not neutered is because her DH will not allow it.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Oh, you can start that sandstorm here, lol. What surprised me most about this discussion is that it was posted by a woman. You usually only hear this kind of thing from men. I guess to some men, their sex organs are equivalent to their brains.

[Linda, Webber and Seda]

LOL!!!  I wondered if there was a man behind this way of thinking as well!

[Jen and Annie]

I agree with this, and I have read a similar (maybe the same) study.  There is apparently an increase in the risk of bone cancer when neutered/spayed prior to the 1st birthday.  I have a female doodle who is 5 1/2 months old, and although we will have her spayed - we will not be doing it until she is 1 year old and nearly full grown.  Aside from the increased bone cancer risk, she also has inverted vulva, so allowing her to go through a first cycle is likely to correct that in her, and prevent a lifetime of UTIs or other infections. 

I can also see that there may be a correlation with sexual hormones and proper growth in dogs.  Not to say that they need those horomones their entire life, especially if they are not going to be allowed to reproduce... but it would make sense that if they technically reach sexual maturity (6 months) before they are actually reach full adult height and weight - screwing with their reproductive organs prior to their full growth may cause problems.  I think increased risk of HD and bone disorders is documented with early spay/neuter.  

http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongT...uterInDogs.pdf
 

[Ginny Nightingale]

Just a word of caution J--I have a friend who decided to wait and her female got pregnant at the age of 8 months, had 8 pups and then was spayed at 1 year old--they watched her like a hawk after the pups were born until the day she was spayed--but when the vet went in to do the spay, they found 8 more tiny pups!!!! So, you have to be really careful about where the female goes and who she meets up with!

Now this story took place in another country where dogs roam around unspayed and unneutered, but she was careful and had a fenced in yard! The dog must have been sneaking out at night and the males must have jumped the fence! Unbelievable but true! My friend found good homes for all the pups and flew two back to the US to live with family, by the way--she did a good job raising them despite the surprise!

[Jen and Annie]

Oh I definitely know the urgency of watching every move of an unaltered female.  I have a 10 year old female dog that we did not fix - like Heidi, i was very passionate about NOT putting my girl through 'unnecessary' surgeries - and we have watched her like a hawk during each and every cycle - thankfully we have done a good job because she never got pregnant in 10 years.  We may be the exception to the rule.. A female in heat WILL get pregnant if you LET her - even unintentionally.  We are getting her spayed now, because of the risk of pyometra in older dogs, which I'll admit I was ignorant about until recently...in fact, she is at the vet today for the surgery...we love her and don't want her to get sick, the risk increases with age. 

When a female is in heat you cannot even give them 1 minute unsupervised, because that's all it takes!  The doodle, we are still going to probably wait a year until she has grown, using the same protocol we did with our 10 year old to prevent unwanted pregnancy - and also because of her inverted vulva.  I think there is creedence to the notion that the horomones play a role in proper growth of a puppy.  It would break my heart to have her fixed too soon, and sentence her to a life of UTI's or infections, or possibly growth malformities.  But I hear ya, sister.  

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I would add that the age at which it might be safest to spay/neuter depends a lot on the breed/expected adult size of the dog. Many small breeds reach full skeletal growth as early as 6 months of age. The giant breeds can take as long as two years to reach full skeletal growth. It may be significant that the giant breeds are also at much greater risk of developing bone cancer than the smaller breeds.

[Donna K & Quincy]

I totally agree with the responses you have already recieved and cannot think of one single reason not to neuter your doodle. I have never regreted have Quincy neutered and would never consider having a dog that wasn't. Life with Milt will be so much easier and you will have much more pleasant outing when you don't have to be on guard all the time. Milt will be less fustrated because he can't act on urges he is experiencing and so will be a happier dog. Just to inject a little humor to a serious subject, males have been blamed for thinking with their penis, once neutered Milt will think with his brain and you'll have a much smarter doodle. :>) You will feel bad for his discomfort for a little while but it is very short lived and the surgery will bother you more than it does him.

[Heidi & Milton]

Thank you for the onslaught of passionate replies to my post! Growing up, we lived in a secluded area, and our family never neutered our chocolate Lab. Likewise, when my brother married, they did not neuter either of their Labs. So, the whole concept of "needing" to do it is just very foreign to me.

Contrary to what some of you say, I do still find it "unnatural" to alter my dog in this way. As another living creature, I don't see how I have the "right" to do this. I know that there is a great need to control the pet population, but if we keep Milton under our care, it is highly unlikely that he will father puppies, although there always is the slight chance. Having said that, the health benefits and the non-ability to attend certain day cares, events, etc. are compelling reasons to have the operation performed. Also, I do not want those aggressive tendencies to creep in, especially if it will change his sociable personality.

I really do appreciate all of your advice and opinions. A few of you did not post them in the "nicest manner" as a rebuttal to a differing opinion, so I would still like to assert that "my" opinion is a valid one, and please feel free to attack the opinion but not the dog owner.

[Jen and Annie]

I hope that my responses were put nicely... I understand where you're coming from - see my post above about my 10 year old unaltered female - but I think that boys are different and would have more potential to become 'frustrated' - like males of the human race, if they are not able to put their 'danglers' to good use.  I really think it will be better for him in the long run, and like others said - he will probably surprise you in how little he cares, once he's back home and ready to play again.  I have owned female dogs mostly, but did have one male that we had snipped, and he was back to himself the next day.  Best of luck to you, your little guy will bounce back in no time..

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Heidi, I hope you don't think my response is an attack on you.  It's certainly not meant to be.  It's my honest answer to your question.  I can understand your feelings of sadness and that it's unnatural for the dog, but if you carry out that line of reasoning ( in my opinion) then isn't it unnatural to prevent the dog from having sex, marking his territory outside and inside the home, and showing aggression to other males?  20 years ago, my dogs ran free on my property.  I never gave it a second thought.  Today, more traffic,closer neighbors, more laws, et. make that impossible and irresponsible.  BTW, "early neutering" to me refers to neutering done before 6 months of age - most commonly done by breeders at 6 to 8 weeks.  6 months is still accepted as the norm but my vet  recommends waiting to one year of age, if possible, to be sure the bone growth, especially in the legs, develops naturally. So perhaps my comment that 7 months is fine, should be considered in light of your situation.   I would still urge you to neuter Milton no later than one year of age, although earlier neutering will have obvious benefits.  Good luck with your decision.