Has anyone ever regretted getting their dog neutered?

[FuzzyFairy]

Dpup is coming up for 18 months and we think it might be time to do the op. Initially my OH wasn't keen on the idea, he thought it was unnecessary etc but he's coming round to the idea.
He's quite competitive with his male doggy friends and can sometimes be a bit rough. Would the op change this at all? I've read practiced behaviour remains so not sure.

Would he be lazier? or does the risk of weight gain just come from his diet?

IMO I think the medical advantages outweigh the risks such as lower prostate cancer but I'm still in two minds if I'm honest. I would hate it to change him for the worst eg. becoming fearful after the testosterone drop etc.

Tell me your experiences,TIA :)

I had my ddog Neutered at 10 months due to him scent marking and it stopped that straight away his personality didn't change but he has gained alittle weight since, but I don't regret doing it.
My sister Neutered her ddog at 6 months and he did change after, he became fear aggressive other dogs he doesn't know and adult strangers, yet is great kids,adults he knows well and dogs he knows. My sister does regret neutering him as he wasn't fear aggressive before she had him done she was told he must have been going through a fear period when he was Neutered.
I guess it just depends on the individual dog I think, as my father's dog who is brothers/ littermates with my sisters dog was Neutered exactly the same day as his brother and he's not fear aggressive.
In my opinion the pros seem to out way the cons regarding neutering.

I neutered mine at close to 2 years. It definitely wasnt before 18 month or after the 2 year mark but cant remember exactly. (He is 6 now)

He was always really placid and lazy anyway and has just remained so. He still humps the sofa cushions which i thought would stop but its actually an anxiety thing in response to me leaving the house and not a hormone thing. I dont regret it at all and i can't say it has changed him either. He's still the same lovely boy.

The weight gain is generally because after neutering their metabolism slows but people often aren't aware of this and do continue to feed the same which is now too much. Id always agree with getting dogs neutered as way too many unwanted dogs already.

Men are rarely keen on neutering and always side with the dog .

I think the health benefits outweigh the risks and most dogs come through it fine. Just spend some time with your vet discussing it and they will be able to go over it all with you.

My lasy boy was done quite young, under a year, but I just went with what the vet advised.

I regret neuter in my male as young as I did. We should have waited until he had finished growing as he is leggy. However he was trying to hump every other dog & a complete pain. We then went through a long period of him being frightened of other dogs and then fear aggressive, I don't know whether waiting would have helped but what happened wasn't good either.

I think with males in the absence of problems the health benefits are less clear cut than for females. Most of the prostate issues can be dealt with by castration when/if issues arise rather than early. Too early can definitely cause problems.

Obviously the main thing is to ensure no unwanted pregnancies

BigDog was done at 20 months. He's a big breed so wanted to wait until fully grown and mature. He didn't do humping but turned into a stroppy teenager and would just raise an eyebrow at me and run away.
Neutering didn't change his personality at all. No weight gain either.

SmallDog is about to go and have his bits off at 7 years because NewPup is a girl and we really don't want puppies.

Neutering actually increases the risk of prostrate cancer in dogs www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/17516571/
However the risk is often quite small to start with. It does reduce the risk of prostatic hyperplasia (enlargement) which can be painful in older intact males.

It is also indicated if your entire make dog shows aggression/competitiveness to other entire males but may make fear-related aggression worse

18 months sounds about the right age - he will have stopped growing and reached maturity in behaviour.

why are men so reluctant to have their male dogs castrated -
neutered dogs do not normally put on weight unless overfed and under exercised
Unless you are planning to breed from the dog - it makes sense to prevent the possibility of his siring an unwanted litter.

Is that study still relevant Veterinari, only it's quite old? Is the advice still the same?

Yup, the disease risks haven't changed as far as I'm aware.
There are many good reasons for neutering as listed by the BSAVA, but prostatic neoplasia isn't one of them

www.bsava.com/Resources/Positionstatements/Neutering.aspx

But I should also qualify my responses by saying that whilst neutering may increase the risk of some disorders it reduces the risks of others, and whilst the risk is increased for some conditions its worth considering whether that increased risk is actually meaningful in terms of your particular breed. An eight-fold increase can still be a very small relative risk, assuming that the initial risk was very small. For some breeds the risks may be greater than others, and it may also be case of mitigating potential risks by choosing to neuter later, or by weighing up the benefits of neutering against potential risks - it has to be an individual decision, and there are benefits too (as the BSAVA suggest)

My point really was that your vet had suggested neutering to reduce the risk of prostate cancer and as far as I'm aware there's no evidence for this so i'd perhaps be questioning what this recommendation is based on and are you sure they didn't mean prostatic hyperplasia?

Seems to be quite a unanimous response here, thanks all. I think I'll get him booked in in the next few months then.

Thanks for your response Veterinari, I think I probably did mean prostatic hyperplasia. I just picked what sounded right in my head. (There was an "etc" in the original paragraph but I decided there were too many!)

He's very confident, perhaps too confident?? So I don't think fear aggression would be an issue. I think once he's used to the lower testosterone he'll be his old self.

I regretted having my first setter done. His coat went curly and lost colour and he put on weight, even though DH used to take him marathon training!

Other gun dogs like retrievers also lose coat condition so I would never get it done again. The temperament issues are overblown IMO, as being patient and calm around a maturing dog will see it act more appropriately anyway.

you should talk to your breeder - or a breed specialist about what time is a good time to have your dog done. Many breeds are not mature at 18months (while some are), there are quite significant (as I understand it) detrimental health effects to neutering before a dog is fully mature. These are often not discussed, and poorly understood in this country (UK) where it seems almost considered mandatory to neuter.

My rescue puppy was neutered when I got him from Dogs Trust at around 6 months. What kind of health problems might I expect?

I had my cocker done at about 6 months. He stopped humping completely. I reckon he is at risk of getting fat but becauSe he's spoilt. I have got really strict about his portions now.
He never got to the scenting stage and still wees like a girl dog. Dp is quite alarmed by this!
He's not aggressive unless he's heavily provoked (dd2 poking him when he's asleep) but he wasn't before. He wasn't aggressive or that boyish with other dogs - he is very sociable with humans and other dogs and I trust him in the park to play nicely.
My only other observation is that he's always found electrical noises a bit scary - washing machine/lawn mower/vacuum. Since the snip this seems to have got worse not better as he was starting to tolerate the washing machine - now the spin cycle horrified him again!
I got him done because he is a pet and other cocker owners said it makes them more contented - I would say that's largely true.

Hello, I am curious if your pup ever got over the fearful period and what you did to help him. Mine got neutered 2 months ago and is terrified of new dogs. I got him a trainer but a bit worried. Thanks

18 months sounds like an ideal age and as others have said, being aware of metabolism changes and altering how much you feed and exercise means weight gain won't be an issue. Always neutered our dogs and never had any issues, go for it.

I had my boy done at 3 years old, so had fully finished growing. I wouldn't have done it if there were no problems, but he was attracting the other entire males at the park, and he is not a submissive dog so as you can imagine I've had to divert a few scraps! All natural behaviour of course, but not really what you want in a pet dog. I also had an unspayed bitch (not old enough to be done) so it made sense to have him neutered first so that no accidents would happen.

The neutering really made him a lot more chilled out with other dogs and he rarely humps anymore. His recall is slightly better and he doesn't go off after scents quite as much as he used to. The downsides though - he's become SO greedy. Can't trust him around food because he will take any opportunity to grab it. And his lovely silky coat has changed texture (he is a cocker spaniel) so can't be handstripped anymore, only clipped. He still has lovely fur but it's not the same.

It depends a bit on breed. On vet advice we had our older dog done at 6 or 7 months, and it was way too soon: he grew very leggy and very nervous of unknown dogs. Given his size and type, we should have left him until he was about 2 or even 3, when he was both physically and mentally mature. If your dog is a lab or a vizsla or in that size range, it might be good to wait a bit longer.

This is interesting though possibly a bit out of date.

I personally have never neutered my dogs, I grew up with dogs and some were and some weren't.

Our vet doesn't believe that it has the health benefits some people think and I have no problems with my boys behaviour- both are fine.

If I was to get a female dog then yes, I'd get them done but other than that I won't.

Our last DDog went into be neutered and died under the GA. I will never neuter my dogs again. I know it is extremely rare but to have to explain to the DC's that their 1yr old dog had died was devastating.

That's horrible, but a risk with any anaesthetic.

I was speaking to someone who had spent £2k on an operation for their 12 year old dog and found out it was unexpectedly pregnant, again. These things happen and it's why I can't excuse not neutering dogs.