The neutered dog... - Page 1

So I began to involve myself in the dog world trough rescue kennels and stuff like that, so to have a dog neutered/sterilized or not never were a question, with time I started to know all the people that are against it but mostly just have some really "Latin / Macho Man" theories on why not to neuter, but today, as I saw my cat's (Wally) health decline since he has been neutered I'm finding my self thinking more about this question...

Now, what is in your opinion the real ups and downs of neutering a dog? male or female...

I've always been all for it, we have a huge problem of stray, mistreated and/or abandon dogs, where for example the 2 shelters I'm more in touch, one have a capacity for 50 dogs and is now with about 150 and the other should be able to have about 20 dogs and is currently with about 90 or more dogs, so population control is a must do...
But Wally is getting really fat (only feed him good quality neutered cats kibble, and I'm cutting his daily feed to less than the advice on the package and he is still not losing weight) he is having more urinary troubles, and became much less active since neutered, however Mic is neutered and he is ok, not fat, not thin, healthy as a dog can be, my vets see him once a year for vaccines...
We are thinking about neutering Isa and Becky, Isa because she is now at her 5º eat and has already done 3 physiologic pregnancies, and Becky the vets thinks that her eat hormones make her skin condition worse (in fact she should be in eat in about 1 or 2 months and she is, like it happened on the previously, getting much worse)...

I'm pretty scared... Mic was adopted neutered, was not our choice, and Wally was peeing EVERYERE so "balls off"! (Ninja is also getting to "that" age where if we are going to neuter him it should be now, before I'm having pee stains on my windows again...)

ARe you talking cats here? With pee stains on the windows, that's my guess!

Neutering with cats is pretty much a given. My husband was against me neutering our female, as she was so tiny. She came in heat about 4 or 5 mo. old, and wouldn't go out! (He had her brother neutered the minute he started to mount her.) It was awful! Then she started to squirt pee everywhere, and her brother followed suit. Every vertical surface in the house got it, especially pictures, computer screens, windows, etc.!

We had her done, and peace descended!

I've never had a cat respond badly to neutering. I don't free feed them, and control the amount of food carefully. Some cats need less than others. My current male, Black Jack, is very tiny, and gets a small handful of food twice a day.

Pretty good article on dog spay/neuter:

http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/16_2/features/risks-benefits-spay-neuter-your-dog_20685-1.html?page=2

 

As far as cats I haven't seen any negatives on spay/neuter but maybe the research just hasn't been done.  Just as it is for dogs, the best food for a cat is raw, then canned and lastly kibble.  Cats do best on highly moist food.  They have a low thirst drive = urinary issues when fed dry kibble. 

 

Personally, my females go through several heats before being spayed.  Males never neutered unless necessary for a medical reason.  Cats are spayed/neutered by one year the latest.

Any animal spayed or neutered before physiologic maturity is harmed. Humans want to do what is most convenient and the veterinarians, public health, and animal control people tell us what we want to hear.

thanks for sharing, but what about in dogs? male and female? I've talked about the cats as an example and it was the main reason I started to think about it, but my doubt is mostly about the dog issue, Isa and Becky to be accurate... Isa because she does so frequent phycology pregnancies, and Becky because of the chance of her hormones messing with her skin condition...

Sunsilver I was talking about the cats and yes the cats are not even a question, am not going through the window "problem" all over again, no way!

ZweiGSD thanks for the link, I only have male cats so this is more a hormonal problem then a reproductive question, all the cats in my street are in eat and my poor Ninja is getting crazy trying to run away to then (and Becky is going ballistic EVERI single time a cat passes don't her balcony...), so should I really way until he is about a year old?

buba, but what show that an animal is phycology mature? I'm now seeing the difference in Isa for example, she is almost 3 years old and she is now mature, definitely not any "puppieness" left, really grown up and a real lady (when she is not trying to kill Becky), but she is a small dog (9kg) and it common believe that a small dog is mature by one year or one and a half year old, so how can we know when an animal is fully mature? is it like we noticed in Isa? do they all make it that clear? or is it a specific time for the general dogs? (not sure I'm making myself clear, sory if I'm not)

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