Kingsley was a stud dog, so wasn't castrated.
He started to have medical problems when we was 7 years old. The vets couldn't find anything wrong with him, and were doing an exploritary operation, and asked if we would like him castrated.
We said yes (the vet told us of the cancer prevention etc).
His health problems stopped after he was castrated.

I had Teagan spayed in January. She had finished her first season and was 10 months old.
I was planning on getting her spayed anyway, as she is a family pet, and I never intended to breed from her.


Can bitches who have been spayed not be shown?

As far as I know they can be shown but you have to apply to the KC for permission.

I believe that it is the individuals choice to have their dogs neutered or not, I always get the feeling that in many walks of life people get pressurised to do the correct thing, although it is usually some other bodies correctness, I am a great beleiver in freedom of choice and I admire those who don't follow the crowd, these are generally true individuals.

I had Saffy spayed at 6 months before her first season because we had an intact male in the house. On quite as few dog sites I was slatted for doing this but I believed it was the best for my bitch and for the whole family.

I totally and wholehearedly agree. With one proviso, they look at both sides of the coin and armed with that information make a informed decision.

I am sure you would agree.

Stan

It may be a 'medical fact' that the animals are less likely to get cancer, but really its just math - no organs - then no possbility of cancer in the organ that isnt there! not much medical about it really...

there are currently much differing views on castration in the male, the females dont seem to change much (apart from the obvious slow down of metabolism) but the males go through sometimes serious physiological changes. i wouldnt even know about this, had it not been for my vet recommending it be done as a matter of course to my little male. he changed aggressivly towards other males, i have been told as he is 'neutral' they dont resepct him as they should, as he feels 'a stong male'.
after speaking to a behaviourist who has studied this for many years, i feel i have done the wrong thing. some males turn shy, some it doesnt affect.
In my knowledgable opinion; dont castrate the males unless there is good reason for it....

also thought i might add to this 'opinion':
"males should not be castrated until they have been cocking their leg for at least one month....If you castrate before this the males will always squat"

This is again not always the case as i have read, and myself have a dog that was castrated at 1 1/2. He 'cocked' from 6 months and after the op, has always since 'squatted'.

Jess I don't know where to start - most males become less aggressive after castration not more so. Their health is improved (no fear of testicular or prostate cancer). My dogs have all but one cocked their legs both before and after castration the one dog who didn't was brought up with cats so never learnt to do it - nothing to do with him being castrated.
A female who is neutered is much less likely to get mammary tumours and a male much less likely to get prostrate so it isn't just a case of no organ no cancer it affects other organs too !

I am a big believer that all non breeding animals should be spayed/neutered (unless there is serious medical or behavioural reason not to). There are just too many health benefits to it to ignore. If Ruby had been spayed at 5 months old, she would not be dead now.

The statistics for mammary cancer are frightening. Many people are still suggesting that bitches shouldn't be spayed until they're at least 2 - by this point the preventative action against mammary cancer from spaying is lost and that bitch has as much chance of developing fatal mammary cancer as any other unspayed bitch. The safest time for spaying to prevent mammary cancer is before the first season, when if carried out, spaying reduces the risk to nigh on nothing (0.5%). After the first season the risk goes up to 8%, but after the second season that risk rockets to 26% - that's over one in four.

Then there is the risk of pyometra, something I pray I never witness another owner losing their dog to again. One of the most horrific diseases of the pet dog.

For males the answers are less clear cut. Obviously neutering takes away the risk of testicular cancer, which is very common in especially older dogs. However, neutering young means avoiding having to do so as an emergency measure in later life, with the higher risk of anaesthetic.

When it comes to the growth aspects of neutering young, there is no evidence to suggest their is any difference between neutering at 8-12 weeks and neutering at 6-7 months. I believe paediatric neutering would be of great benefit to rescues and breeders, and some are starting to carry out this practice in this country - our local cat rescue being one. The rescues in the US who have taken part in paediatric neutering schemes report a lower amount of animals in rescue.

The only physiological difference between neutering at 8 weeks to 7 months and neutering at adulthood is that the growth plates remain "open" for longer, but the results of this are absolutely minimal and often not noticeable at all. There has been no evidence to suggest there is any higher occurrence of urinary incontinence in the spayed bitch when compared between neutering paediatrically and neutering at 6 months. In fact having spoken to many vets about this, they still feel the most common cases of incontinence are in the older bitch, whether spayed or not.

Edited to add: Jess, mammary cancer affect the "boobs", the lungs, and in Ruby's case spread to her brain. None of these organs could have been removed. By the time she had tiny pea sized lumps (3 of) it had already spread to her lungs and turned terminal. Vigilance alone will not stop this killer.

KathM we had the same situation with out little chi Rosie by the time anything showed in her "boobs" it was too late her lungs were already affected. Something I never want to see again !

I'm so sorry Julie.

We adopted Ruby in October of 2003, and by November of that year she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She had 3 tiny lumps that came up within a week, and by then she was showing severe immune system "failure" and it had spread to her lungs. She made it to 23rd September 2004 just after we were told it had spread to her brain and possibly her kidneys. She fought on happily until it took her mind and she didn't know us any more. It was and will remain the most upsetting and heartbreaking year of our lives, but I will never regret sharing my life with her. She was the best dog in the world.