Canine Vasectomy - Page 1

Hi All,

Well my boy is now 6 1/2 months and I have an appointment with the vet to discuss a vasectomy. Does anyone have any experience with this procedure and is there anything I should be bringing up with the vet? Have any of you encountered problems?

Thanks,

Karen

I'm curious why you are considering a vasectomy instead of castration? 

   Most people choose to "alter" their males to reduce testorone issues such as wandering, looking for females, unwanted breeding, decreasing male drives in general, and to reduce problems in later life with various forms of male cancer (testicular and prostate).   Vasectomy will leave all male drives intact... he's still going to want the girls, and have all male drives.  It's also not likely reversable, though in some cases it has been possible.  For pet dogs generally full castration i s generally prefered, especially if you have more than one male dog.  Health problems of a whole male in later life are not resolved. (personally I've owned a lot of whole males without health issues, but mention them.)      In  the years I worked as a Vet tech we did MANY castrations, but I can only remember one vasectomy... A lovely  Dandy who was homed with his mother and father, and nobody wanted him to get to his mother at the wrong time.  The only relate problem he had was in a battle with his father while the mother was in heat and both were trying to breed her, and required sutures.

    The benefits would come in a setting where you may have closely related females in the household that you don't want to accidentily get bred to this male, especially if he has some fault you don't wish to see carried forward such as displasia...etc.   but you want the fully developed male characteristics, without the issue of him being breedable.  For working dogs there would be more "drive" both on the field, at home.  

Hi Windtalker, In the past I have always neutered my males but I have been reading more and more about the benefits of leaving a dog intact, at least until they have reached maturity. There are no other dogs in the household except my boyfriend's 6 year old retriever (when he's over) and he was neutered years ago (the retriever, not the boyfriend ). I do not let my dog run loose, but accidents do happen and I want to do the responsible thing, while still allowing my boy to reach his full potential. I do realise that castration has many behavioural benefits and perhaps one day I will have to go down that road, but for now I'd like to look at alternatives. Karen

It may or may not have behvioral benifits( more likely not) and it will not reduce the risk of cancer of the prostate or testicles. Never heard of vet's doing that.

I do know that in humans it is thought to cause other cancers because the sperm production still goes on but it empties into the body cavity and the "little guys" cause constant irritation to the internal organs.  That is not proven facts just some expert's studies suggest the possibility. 

I always recommend to my male puppy buyers to wait for neutering until after two years old so that you get the development of all of the male characteristics. This is important to European lines as the males to not fully mature until around 3 or 4 years old.

Debby

 Windwalker is absolutely right that neutering is preferable for health and behavioral reasons, and will save you expense not only in the procedure but in the long run, since you may well end up having to neuter later on.

Also I would add that negative adolenscent behaviors can become entrenched and difficult to eradicate to the extent that belated neutering may improve them but not cure them.  You may find it difficult to eliminate behaviors that never would have developed had you neutered in a timely fashion.

There is no health benefit to delayed neutering and there can be definite negative behavioral consequences.  You can check with your vet; the literature supports early neutering, well before one year.  Earlier than six months is fine.

It is true that some male structural features may not develop until after adolescence with early neutering.  I don't think that this is an acceptable excuse, even if it is valued by the breeding community.  The dog's health and well-being comes first.

poodlespoop, check this link out, and you'll find  what you're saying is absolutely NOT true!

http://www.caninesports.com/SpayNeuter.html

More and more evidence is coming to light that spaying and neutering before a dog is fully mature is harmful. There are breeders on these boards that will tell you they've seen dogs from their litters that were spayed or neutered early, and they are much taller than their intact littermates, or those who were s/n after sexual maturity.

The lies we've been fed for so many years about the benefits of early spay/heuter is a bunch of PETA propoganda, suitable only for those idiots who don't know how to keep their intact animals from producing unwanted litters that wind up in the animal shelters.

No kidding, Kudoos to you London to have a vasectomy done on your dog!!!!

  I wanted to do it, but my darn retarded vets here in Santa Fe know nada about this procedure.   One vet is against spaying and neutering, of course, he is a homeopathic vet,  but unfortunately, he was in need of a practice dog (a dead one in other words) to get the lay of the land before daring this operation.   I will only go to an experienced surgeon, one that has done it plenty of times before, so I was forced to neuter the dog.  

Yes only those without any regard for the wellbeing of the future of all dogs, leave them wander about and reproduce with any dog out there.  Most dog owners I know personally wouldn't think of that!  

And Peta and all the other flaming liberals (Ellen Degeners and Oprah, Bob Barker)  feed into that feeding this BS to the comatozed masses.  

Instead of educating the masses they are digging the graves of many dogs early because early spaying and neutering have been clearly linked to many dogs illnesses.  

I agree with Sunsilver here, you need to wait untill the dog is both physicaly and mentaly mature before castration. earliest I have had one of mine done is 3yrs of age;

Prepubertal gonadectomy (early age neutering) significantly delays epiphyseal (growth plate) closure, apparently due to lack of gonadal steroids. As a result of the longer period of growth, length of long bones is increased in animals neutered at a young age and the animal's size will be larger at adulthood, and often results in an animal with an insufficient breadth of chest for orthopedic health.

Testicular cancers are very rare and almost always benign.

Castration predisposes the dog to highly malignant prostatic cancer, nearly all dogs afflicted by this are neutered individuals.

Pam