Neutering behavior

[Amy Mullen]

I have a 6 month old double doodle that was neutered 4 weeks ago. Everything went great his incision is healed perfectly but he hasn't been himself since then. His eating behavior has changed. He doesn't eat until around 10:00 am or later and at night he won't eat until late. Before the surgery it was 6:30 am and 5:00 pm on the dot and he gobbled his food down. He doesn't act like he is starving, he will go and sniff it and walk away. I have started adding probiotics to his food thinking it might be something with his stomach but no change. I called the vet and he said sometimes their metabolism slows down after being neutered, but it should pick back up in the next couple of weeks. Has anyone expierced this with their dog?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I think that his neuter surgery coincided with the time his growth is slowing down, which is how it should be, and he's just not as hungry now that he's not growing so rapidly any more. It's normal for a puppy's appetite to decrease as they get closer to their adult size. I don't think it has anything to do with the neutering. 

[Stella]

Is he a toy doodle? Wouldn't most dogs still be growing at five months old??

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yes, but the growth would likely have slowed down. It gets slower each month. That's why so many puppies switch to two feedings per day around 4 months old; they aren't growing as fast and start to show less interest in their midday meals.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I find this chart very informative. You can see that even in the large breeds, the growth rate starts to level out around 6 months, and earlier for all the others. 

[Frank & TeddyToyDoodle]

Very useful chart, thanks Karen.  Yes, I have all of Teddy's weights from his vet visits and while still putting on a bit of weight, %-wise it has most definitely slowed.

25-40% monthly weight gains in the early months (3-5 months) have been replaced by 5-10% growth rates (6-8 months), and slowing.

[Nancy & Echo]

Although my puppy is a female, this happened to me too.  She used to gobble down food when she was a younger puppy, (spayed at 6 months), and after that sometimes leaves food (over the last several months, now 1 year.  She's a mini.)

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I agree it is more about age.  AnnaBelle was a gobbler when she was a puppy, but now she is more like a lunch and dinner girl.  Breakfast, not so much.

[Amy Mullen]

Thank you for everyone's feedback.

[Frank & TeddyToyDoodle]

Many of you seem to have gotten the neutering @ 6 months.

I've waited/procastinated....Teddy is 8 months old in 2 weeks....he's a Toy Doodle (12+ lbs.)....wait a bit longer ?  Or move ?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Many breeders' purchase contracts require that it be done by 6 months old. But some will give you a little leeway if your vet recommends waiting. 

IMO, Teddy is old enough to be neutered now. For standard males, I would wait until they're closer to a year old. 

[Frank & TeddyToyDoodle]

Why do you think a bigger Standard can wait closer to a year while smaller Doodles go sooner ? 

Granted, he won't grow or put on more weight THAT MUCH in a few weeks/months, but every little bit helps with recovery, right ?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

We've discussed this in depth in another discussion. The bigger the adult size of the dog, the longer it takes for their skeletal growth to be complete. Spay/neuter affects bone growth, so ideally, you want that to be complete before spaying/neutering. Little dogs can be neutered earlier than big dogs, because they reach their full adult size and their full sexual maturity earlier than big dogs. 

With neutering, there really isn't much "recovery". It's not invasive, like spay surgery, and recovery time is minimal.  And their size really has nothing to do with that, as long as they are in good health overall. Big dogs don't recover from surgery faster than little dogs, just like big people don't recover from surgery faster than smaller people, lol. And this surgery is very superficial.