Thoughts on Spaying/Neutering Pup at 7-8 weeks of age

[Adrienne]

I have a friend who has a Golden Doodle and when I mentioned that my pup would arrive, already spayed/neutered, she was horrified.  She indicated that spaying/neutering pups when they are 7-8 weeks of age causes all types of health problems and gender confusion, i.e. male dogs squatting to urinate (that was the example given...).  It had never crossed my mind prior to this conversation because almost all breeders that I researched had the procedure done during the early puppy stage.  I wanted to get feedback from others in this group regarding this matter--What are your thoughts???

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

I don't know if it causes 'all types of health problems and gender confusion' but we opted for doodles that came from a breeder who sells with a spay/neuter contract, meaning it was up to us to have it done by 6 months of age. I never liked the idea of little puppies being spayed and neutered. I mean, you certainly would never do that to a human baby. I realize its not right to humanize puppies, but there just seemed something wrong about the practice. Breeders do it to ensure their dogs are never used to breed. Contracts, I guess, are only so effective.

Oscar still squats to pee at 8 months, btw. I'm okay with it if he never lifts his leg :)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

We have had several discussions about this here before. There can be health issues associated with early neutering and spaying, especially for large breed dogs and especially for males, especially orthopedic issues. Personally, I wouldn't do it. It really only seems to be the doodle breeders doing the ESN, you will not find quality purebred breeders doing it. The purebred breeders I had in the past had an agreement in their contracts about spaying or neutering at a later time, usually 6 months, and withheld the registration papers until it was done, but doodle breeders can;t do that and I guess they have no way to enforce their contracts, especially with the volume of puppies they sell. There are some doodle breeders who do not do ESN because of concern for their puppies' health, and I applaud them

However, the thing about "gender confusion" is ridiculous. It isn't true, and even if was, who cares?

"Doctor, Spike keeps wanting to wear a pink collar and stealing my nail polish". LOL 

[Star and Goldie]

I am not educated well enough in this area to give a solid argument on either side but I am on the side of not doing early spay/neuter.  We do have some DK members who had early spay puppies that ended up with some effects from it. One that I know of is still very young at has urinary incontinence and has to be on medication for the rest of her life to keep from leaking urine (My older dog has this but it's due to old age and not from early spaying)

My breeder had the early spay/neuter option as well.  The contract included the spay/neuter clause of agreeing to have the puppy spayed/neutered by 7 months of age unless you let her know ahead of time that you wanted them done early and then she took care of it. While it was an option that she gave, she still listed on her website that she preferred that they wait.

On her site she also adds "Basically not enough research is out there to promote the {early} spay/neuter as neither a pro or a con. You have to weigh the advantages and disadvantages to make sure the decision is one you are comfortable with. I prefer the six to seven month guideline as stated on my health guarantee."

[Diane, Baker & Oskar]

We have had 5 male dogs, none were early neutered, & squatting to urinate is what males dogs do when they're young.  The ones that did learn to lift their legs did not do it every time, so I wouldn't believe anything about 'gender confusion'.  

If you do a search on DK, you will see that early spay can produce problems with continence in females.  I'm sure someone with experience here with address this with you.

[Star and Goldie]

Here is an article definitely worth reading... especially since they mention Golden Retrievers and that's where our doods come from.

http://www.akcchf.org/news-events/news/health-implications-in-early...

If I remember correctly, there was a discussion around this a couple of months ago that included this article or one very similar.

Even more reason to be on the no early spay/neuter side.

[AndySharon BoomerShaynaMariner]

I just did a quick search on the main forum and came up with this discussion - there have been others.

http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/early-spay-and-neuter

As far as I can figure out there are 4 pros - quicker recovery, cheaper, population control and not having to have it done later in life.

The cons are : possibly uninary incontinance, bone growth issues and brain development (these are both affected by the hormones).  There are probably others but I think that is enough.

There are many doodles on this forum that were ESN puppies that are in perfect health.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

That's a very old discussion, the one that Star linked below is more recent and much more relevant. 

[Trudy Harlow]

You might be interested in reading this article:  http://news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=10498

[Star and Goldie]

Here is a more recent discussion that took place in January of this year.

http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/early-spay-and-neuter-evid...

I still can't find the one that included the other article I posted but I know I've seen it on here before and that article was from Feb of this year so even more recent than some of the others.

I would talk to your breeder and see if it's a requirement or an option. If it's an option... OPT OUT!

[Diane, Hurley and Sidney]

Hurley was neutered before we got him and he has no health problems and sure hasn't shown any inclination to wear a dress. He is happy, healthy and very active. Frankly, I am probably missing something along the way in my thinking but I prefer his having been neutered before we bought him home.

[Adrienne]

Thanks everyone for the feedback.  This info makes me nervous but I guess that there are no guarantees that your pup will not have health issues.  Any procedure done prior to 1 yr is considered "early", so even if there is an option to wait until the 6th month, that would not really suffice.   I did send an email asking the breeder if there was an option that allowed me to wait.  If the answer is no then I guess that I have to pray that all goes well; and, purchase health insurance in the event that it doesn't. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

You need health insurance anyway.