Chemical castration

[mintbiscuit]

We have a 10 month old lab and considering the above. Although only once fully matured.

No major problems at the moment except that he is obsessed with playing with every dog he comes across (working on that). He can be a tad nervous with strangers hence the reason for considering chemical route.

Does anyone have any experience with this method? What are the costs like? Pros and cons? Do most vets offer this?

Our dog on chemical castration ATM. We chose to try it as he doesn't really have problematic behaviours but is a tad nervous and we didn't want to castrate him and find that his anxiety gets worse.

The jab cost about 120 quid. The vet had to order it in but did it no problem. Since he had it, ddog's testicles have shrunk dramatically in size which has been a bit of a surprise. He wees less often on walks (I assume marking less) and is slightly less confident around other dogs. He has put on a bit of weight too. Has also developed flea allergy which may be coincidence? I don't think we will renew it but will have him revert to his intact self as his dog walker is happy to have him intact, which was the main consideration.

We tried it with ours when he was 3. Can’t say there were any noticeable effects - he was also a less confident dog which is why he was 3 and why we tried the chemical first.
Vet did not recommend renewing, it was a one time thing to see any effects.
We thereafter had him castrated. No personality change but at this point he did start to gain weight , and having lost his interest in bitches, became food obsessed.
I would think long and hard if I had another male. I live in an area with lots of dogs, so it was necessary, but in a less populated area I might leave him entire for longer.

Interesting thread. I have girls at the mo. I know people who use an implant for boys. But recently heard it may cause increased risk of cancer. Anyone heard similar?

Thanks for all the responses so far!

Seems like any form of neutering can cause weight gain, which is what I want to avoid with a food obsessed lab!

@Wolfiefan my vet had explained that permanent neutering increases the risk of some types of cancer (prostrate I think?) but interesting point that chemical may be linked to cancer. Though I wonder how much data they actually have on chemical vs permanent. Not sure how long it’s been around for dogs! Off to see if any research…

It something I had heard third hand at best OP. I haven’t spayed my girls as it is supposed to increase risk of bone cancer which is prevalent in the breed. Not sure what I would do for the best if I had boys.

Yes, cancer risk was one reason why my vet did not want to repeatedly inject my boy, particularly as we had no intention of breeding.

Surgical castration hugely decreases the risk of prostate disease and infection, and eliminates the risk of testicular cancer. I think you may have misunderstood your vet?

Dpup had the implant in June and I've not noticed any negatives from it. It cost £118 and is just started to wear off.

I noticed him humping his bed which he not done for months and then had a little look and his balls are defo coming back.

I'm going to book him in for the actual op in February. He has to be neutered in someway to go to daycare.

From what I understand there is only one size implant so if you have a big dog it doesn’t last as long. SIL had it done to her 70kg dog and they’ve since had him castrated.

I haven’t spayed my girls as it is supposed to increase risk of bone cancer which is prevalent in the breed.
Pyometra would worry me more than a “supposed” risk of cancer, given it’s incredibly common in unspayed dogs and life threatening.

@NonagonInfinityOpensTheDoor bone cancer is extremely common in my breed. They are at more risk of that than developing pyometra. In other breeds pyometra would worry me much more and I would spay.

My vet suggested I avoid neutering as weight gain is a huge risk to the breed who are prone to heart problems.

He mentioned could try the implant if wanted to see how it went /calm some unwanted behaviours in adolescence, if he was too excited but he’s really ok.

I was really surprised by my vet’s opinion.
He said traditionally many vets encouraged all dogs to be done (a bit like the drill and fill dentists) but really is dependent on breed, personality and life style.

Anyway just an alternative viewpoint.

We did the implant to trial the effect of castration, our pup could be nervous of some people hence wanting to try a temporary solution. We found after an initial two week testosterone surge (during which time he became incredibly hard of hearing and wouldn't respond to recall!!) he basically lost his interest in dogs and marking. Initially we thought his confidence was unchanged but over time he actually became slightly worse with people, we allowed it to wear off alongside behaviour modification training, he is much better now.

Basically castrated: slightly less confident, tended to get along better with other dogs (less chance of other dogs responding badly to him), slightly more obedient

Uncastrated: more confident generally, more likely that other dogs have a go at him, much more interested in sniffing and marking and slightly less attentive.

We have chosen to leave him uncastrated, he is not really reactive to most dogs anyway and we don't usually allow on lead greetings (which is when other dogs sometimes decide they don't like him after an initial sniff!).

Be aware that it can take longer than advertised to wear off - the 6 month implant lasted more like 9 months on our 20kg dog.