castration

[TeaOneSugar]

Some advice would be great. We have a nearly 7 month old cocker, we've spoken to a couple of vets at our practice, during routine checks and vaccs, about when to have him castrated and got different advice, one said wait until at least 9 months so he has a chance to become more masculine looking, the other said anytime after 6 months.

A friend of DHs who breeds, a different breed, told him we need tobe careful with the timing because he may go through another fear phase and you have to avoid that.

Our last male came to us as a rescue at 8 months and we had him done quite soon afterwards, it was years ago and I don't remember timing being a big issue.

My vet castrates from 6 months and I had my Westie done then.

No issues for me other than he's just as hyper as he was before

I think vets are each to their own as I've seen a lot of conflicting advice.

I'd go with whatever your vet says.

We got our lurcher from Dogs' Trust at 4 months and they booked him in for his castration for when he turned 6 months. Doesn't seem to have affected his temperament or build but tbh it wouldn't bother me if he looks less masculine than he would have if left entire a bit longer.

Thanks, doesn't help when vets give conflicting advice, one of them is Canadian don't know if that's why. He's going on a trial visit to a friend who boards in April so We'd like to get it done by then. Just need to find a few days when one of us can be home all day with him afterwards.

Do whatever suits you...you can spend days researching online and not come to a definitive answer.

There are basically two schools of thought, that doing it early is better because they miss the big rush of hormones and never develop unwanted behaviours or that doing it later is better because they need those hormones to develop physically and mentally and it's better to get over the big rush of hormones, wait for them to calm down and then get it done.

My puppy is about the same age - I'm leaving him later, but that's purely because of the breed he is, it's a large breed prone to bone cancer and joint problems and there is evidence that in large breeds early neutering increases the odds of those. Also he already has a joint problem, so I'm being extra cautious...if he was fit and a different breed I'd have had him done last month.

Thanks.

We'll check diaries and get him booked in for when one of us can be,around all day for a few days.

He needs to go for a trial visit to a friend of DH who boards, he's also a breeder so I'd feel more comfortable having dpuppy sorted first.

You're best waiting until he's fully matured, mentally and physically, so about 18 months for a cocker.

Neutering too young can cause joint issues, and your puppy will take much longer to mentally mature as it will never get it's adult hormones.

To be honest you don't need to neuter at all, if you want to then it's best to wait until a dog has reached adulthood. Your friend is also right, males go through a few fear phases when going through the teen years and if you neuter during or just after one it could cause serious behavioural problems.

Spaniels' coats can be ruined by neutering, growing very woolly and thick. Boy dogs don't need neutering unless for severe problems.

Actually thats one of the things we were discussing last night, our springer who was neutered put on lots of weight (more difficult to manage his eating when he had access to another dogs food as well), and his coat did change and became more coarse.

We need to give this more thought, we had the springer neutered because he wanted to play a new game with our bitch (who had been spayed) and she really didn't want to, it was a case of the vet doing it before the bitch did it herself.

There are two points of view as others have said, some against neutering too young. I discussed this with our vets as our 5 month old cockapoo was humping and 4 year old spayed labradoodle completely fed up with him. The vet didn't share the concerns about immaturity and stressed the health benefits for the pup. I decided to have him done at 6 months and no regrets. Coats change as the pup hits adolescence and the adult coat comes in. Of our many dogs, the only one who gained weight after spaying is the labradoodle, so she just gets slightly less food now. Given the number of unwanted dogs around, not spaying/castrating seems wrong to me, though I do accept not everyone agrees.

The advice given to us was any time after 6 months when they have reached sexual maturity.

There seems to be a lot of conflicting views out there but we waited longer with our last dog and I think in comparing them both I would now choose to have it done at an earlier stage - he was about 8-9 months whereas our last dog was nearly 2 years.

He is noticeably calmer, has stopped humping everything and doesn't mark everywhere like our last dog.

6 months is not sexual maturity, 6 months is roughly when they start puberty, most males from around 6-14 months will be total sods, then at around 2 they'll do it again, most dogs are sexually mature from 18 months-2 years.

Most vets will advocate early neutering, my vet tried to make me book my spinone for neutering at 5 months when he had his puppy vaccs, no way was that happening!!!