Boxer with sex on the brain! (apparently)

[Sugarmuppet]

Our 18 month old boxer has been a bit off his food for a couple of months now and has been loosing weight. :( He will take human food but has little interest in his own food. (even if offered nothing else, after a couple of days I always give in and give him a bit of toast!)

Some days he will eat the lot but usually just picks. The vet reckons that it is his age and he has got too much on his mind to eat (ie sex). He doesn't show any signs of this however, he has never tried to mount another dog (or person) and doesn't seem to be marking any more than usual.

He only has one testicle and the vet is relucant to castrate him unless he has to. We are to take him back in the New Year to see if his weight has increased and meantime do all we can to make him eat.

Has anyone had any experience of this? Or castration with only one testicle?

Thanks

p.s when I say loosing weight he is now 30kg down from 33kg so hardly fading away but still worrying when he doesn't eat.

[minimu1]

Why does the vet think he has sex on the brain when there is no evidence (maybe that is the vets issue!!)

When you say one testicle - if the other one is undescended you will have to have it removed. Also I don't understand if the vet thinks the dog is sex driven why he will not castrate. I think you need to back to the vet and ask him for his reasons for his decision. Sounds a bit odd to me (but I am not a vet).

I have not seen the dog but I would not be happy for the reason your vet has given for a dog losing his appetite.

First of all if he is healthy and showing no other symptons you must stop feeding him your food.

Put a smaller portion than you usually do of his food. If he does not eat it after 15 mins pick it up and no more food at all (no titbits, no cheese, nothing) until his supper time then do the same again. DO not give him any of your food at all. He will eat I promise you but it may take a while.

However I would need to be happy that there was ono underlying physical issue that is making the dog leave food.

[Joolyjoolyjoo]

Hi- I'm a vet, and I usually DO advise castration if there is only 1 testicle, as the retained testicle has a higher chance of developing cancer- was your vet maybe waiting to see if the other testicle would descend?? It is a bigger op to go in and find the undecsended testicle, but if it's still not down by 18 mths, I would usually advise going ahead with it.

His eating is unlikely to be realted to his sexual desires- unless there is a bitch in heat nearby which CAN put a dog off his grub, but only for a week or so. Is he otherwise healthy? Some dogs just don't have as big an appetite as others, but if he is continuing to lose weight, you may need to look at his diet again. A lot of dogs do become somewhat greedier after neutering, so again I don't really see why your vet is against it (unless it's something you would rather not do?)

[Alouiseg]

Sounds like my 13 year old ds! He's a lovesick puppy too.

[kid]

Can I ask what you are meant to do if your dog is constantly mounting (and humping!) another male dog?
Is it best to let dog being mounted to tell the other dog off or should we separate/distract?

The dogs don't live together but it would be good if they could be friends.

[Sugarmuppet]

I know, we need to try harder with the food. We had been trying the offering a small amount, lifting after half an hour but after a couple of days I crack and give him something more tasty. Rod for my own back? I am more disciplined with DD than I am with the dog!

Yes, undecended testicle, vet said it would be a big op to castrate and he would rather not do it unless he had to. We don't mind either way, what ever is best for my baby dog.

I'm pretty sure that there is no under lying problem, when he takes it in his head he will finish his dinner and he is too very active!

(also jooly can I pick your vet brain while you are here? Is it okay for a dog to never bark? He has only ever barked at the hoover? Never ever at another dog or when someone is at the door? Is that normal)

[minimu1]

Please please get a second opinion it is essential that you remove undescended testicles as they can cause major health risks if left.

You need to go back to a vet and get this sorted. It is definately best for your baby to have the undescended testicle removed asap.


I have never ever ever heard of a vet recommending leaving an undescended testicle in place.

[Sugarmuppet]

Will do. We have used the vet since we got him because the breeder recommended him, however my OH has always used another vet in the past so will take him there and see what they say.

Just googled it and it doesn't make for pleasent reading! Why would the vet say that then? He has had an anesthetic before with no adverse reaction.

[midori1999]

How old is your dog? Sometimes vets suggest waiting to see if the testicle descends by itself and then the op is easier. I agree with what has been said, it is essential to remove an undescended testicle for health reasons. You get good and bad vets just like everything else sadly.

I do think you are making a rod for your own back. A healthy dog won't starve itself. He will eventually eat what you want him to if you don't offer him anything else. He knows and expects that you'll offer him something else, so holds out for that.

As for barking. One of my girls doesn't bark. She is five and has probably barked about half a dozen times (single barks) in her life and twice of those were when she caught herself on electric fencing at the farm. She's fine, just not noisy. Believe me, far better than a dog that is inclined to bark.

[GrimmaTheNome]

Our last dog had an undescended testicle. He was also a persistent humper and skinny as a rake - I'd always thought it was just because he was a fussy eater, didn't realise it could be oversexedness!

Anyway, when we had DD we decided we must have him neutered - the vet didn't say anything about it being more difficult, but did say it was definitely the right thing to do for a monoorchid dog. (He was 3 by then so I suppose it was obviously never going to come down unaided).

There was no problem at all with the op.


The humping almost totally went (he'd occasionally start and look puzzled, poor dear ) but it did cure his 'fussy eating'.

So, I'd definitely say go for it.

[Sugarmuppet]

Thanks Grimma thats all very reassuring! Was it very expensive compared to a normal 'snip'?

What are you all feeding your pooches? He was on Royal Canine puppy food when he first came home, now on the adult stuff and we put a tin of dog meat in with it as that used to be enough to encourage him to eat.

[GrimmaTheNome]

I can't remember - I dont think there was any mention that it would cost more.

[minimu1]

Wow you are giving him way too mucu to eat. dry food and wet dog food is double the quantity he should be having! No wonder he is not hungry.

Just give him one or the other do not give both it can really upset the digestion as dry food is digested at a different rate to the wet food.

[Alouiseg]

Our dog is on adult Royal Canin food, he won't touch it unless there is some liquid on it, usually milk, which I'll probably be lambasted for.

[Sugarmuppet]

We are only giving him half of each, is that still bad? So which is better wet or dry?

He has never had millk, as a young pup hot water mixed with the dry food was enough to make him eat it but not now.

Went a massive walk in the snow this morning and he must have been starving when we got back but he didn't want anything. :(

[midori1999]

Don't forget that dogs are evolved to be opportunistic eaters, to eat large amounts when food is avaliable and go without for potentially fairly long periods of time, so it won't do him any harm to go without and if he is hungry, he will eat.

Tinned dog foods contain a lot of water and aren't really good value for money, They tend to hang around in the teeth for longer than dry foods too. If you want to use a wet food, Naturediet is one of the better ones, but would work out expensive for a Boxer. It is a complete food though, so you'd only need to feed that. Otherwise, I'd stick with the RC.

Try not to worry, he'll eat evetually. My friend has a St. Bernard that won't eat for her and stays painfully thin. My friend insists on leaving food down for her to pick at as she won't eat at set mealtimes for her. Whenever I look after her she eats every single meal with gusto. I suspect it is partly to do with the fact my friend stresses about it and the dog picks up in this.

[Sugarmuppet]

Mmmmm he always eats when he is at my Mums, maybe we are fussing too much? We worry more about the dog than we do DD! She is no trouble compared to him! We got him the day before I found out I was pregnant and can, hand on heart say he has given us more sleepless nights than her!

Would like to stick to the RC, is adding anything at all to it a no-no?

[Sugarmuppet]

Forgot to say gave him plain RC today and he has in the last hour started to sniff at it and bring it through to the livingroom piece by piece and eating it in front of us?? He is one strange doggy.

[midori1999]

Are you leaving his food down when you feed him? If so, I would pick it up after 20 minutes or so, whether he has eaten it or now. He's far more likely to eat that way. I know it seems harsh, but it is best for him in the long run.

As he is being fussy, I wouldn't add anything to it, otherwise you run the risk of heading down the slippery slope to trying to tempt him again.

[Bella32]

Agree with midori - feed him the recommended amount of RC only, and take it away if not eaten within 20 minutes. Put it down at next meal time and he should eat it. Does sound like you are panicking a bit, and trying much too hard to make him eat.

[GrimmaTheNome]

Yes, do what they say!!!

Our current dog happily eats RC.

The previous fussy one was a nightmare, because he was skinny (and a skinny dachsie pup is a very skinny beast!)so we pandered to him dreadfully. DH used to go specially to ASDA to buy him rotisserie chickens sometimes. MIL would cook him proper beef in butter. Barking mad!

[Sugarmuppet]

Day 2 of put down food for 20 mins 3 times a day and he hasn't eaten anything yet. :(

Just been on a huge walk in the snow and he was as energetic as ever, snow was up to his shoulders so he had to work hard to move!

Grimma My mum was here the other day and she asked if we had tried feeding him from a spoon now I love him but that is barking!

[midori1999]

Just feed him twice day. He'll be fine, it might take up to a week for him to eat something as he is used to you giving in, so it's going to be a bit of a battle of wills.

If he is hungry, he'll eat.