Dog Neutering....

irishleedsfan

My pup is currently 5 months old, and the vet advised me to get her neutered because of her size (Jack Russell) but ive heard stories that the dog is never really the same afterwards.. could anyone confirm this, or has anyone any experience?
Thanks

Dannyboy1987

The poor dog will change a little i had a great Dane (male) he use to be hyper all the time not anymore. Well worth tho better for there long term health so i believe

andreac

Her size would have nothing to do with getting her neutered, all dogs should be neutered unless you are showing them or plan to breed (which should only be done by the experts)

All that info about a dog not being the same is absolute nonsense. The dog will be a bit uncomfortable for a few days and maybe a little out of sorts due to the operation but once they get over that they will be back to normal.

Neutering a dog is the kindest and healthiest thing you can do for it and you dont run the risk of your little dog getting caught by a male dog and going in pup and it reduces a lot of health risks for them too.

CreedonsDogDayc

I'd say her vet advised getting the little dog neutered because, say, if a lab bred with her she may have trouble carrying and delivering the pups.

I have a female Jack Russell. Got her spayed at about five or six months and she was absolutely fine afterwards, she's six now and she's a typical jack russell!! Mad as ever and still like a pup!

Sigma Force

Neutering doesn't change there personality, some people think so because dogs are usually done around 6 months of age and at this age ish they go through a naughty teenage stage.

Neutering is the responsible thing to do, good on your vet for recommending it.

morganafay

And small dogs develop faster and will be sexually mature earlier. So five or six months is a good time to neuter a jack russel.

It won't change her personality at all. Might make her calm down a bit yeah, but that's not really her personality. She'll be just the same so don't worry

It's a girl right? You should definitely get her neutered, just in case, cos when she comes into heat she might try to escape and get pregnant, or else males dogs might show up at your house and annoy you. And she'll be healthier, and less likely to get certain types of cancers.

IrishHomer

Will neutering stop a the dog chasing after bitches in heat?

CreedonsDogDayc

if the female is spayed then they're not going to chase her, and if the male is neutered he won't have the urge to roam when he picks up in the scent of a female in heat miles away. If he comes across a female in heat he'll think 'there used to be something i did about this scent..... now what was it?'

peasant

A few remarks on this:

Firstly, I'm all for neutering in principle, but it is not as complication free as is sometimes claimed:

- There is research that neutering male dogs before they've reached sexual maturity affect the growth platelets in their bones. They will experience what is called eunuchal growth which mostly results "just" in a taller dog with longer legs but could also lead to bone/joint problems later in life.

- There is research that spayed females have higher rates of incontinence later in life

- There is evidence that neutered dogs and bitches can have altered hair growth. In males it usually leads to pronounced "trousers" round their rear legs where there is profuse hair, in females this could happen everywhere, but usually more evenly.

- In females, spaying is a severe operation under full anesthetic. This in itself is risky.

Generally speaking, neutering/spaying does change a dog's personality. Female dogs will no longer be affected by their hormonal mood swings. This is largely percieved to be positive, it's a personality change nonetheless.
Equally, male dogs generally become somewhat calmer, especially in relation to other male dogs. Once again this is largely perceived as positive, but still a personality change.

I do not agree with the mantra that once you don't want to breed your dog you absolutely should neuter it. I think is a too far reaching decision to be just taken automatically. The individual circumstances of dog and owner should be considerd and the matter talked over thouroughly with a good vet.

fatmammycat

I do not agree with the mantra that once you don't want to breed your dog you absolutely should neuter it. I think is a too far reaching decision to be just taken automatically. The individual circumstances of dog and owner should be considerd and the matter talked over thouroughly with a good vet.
I agree with what you say here, at least taking into consideration the physical risks, but if you are going to have an intact male- I am not talking about female dogs here- whom is never allowed to breed, not neutering is a horrible state to leave the animal in. Male intact dogs are highly intune with ready bitches for MILES and even if sexually active are far more likely to exhibit aggressive behaviour and dominant behaviour, all of which can be taxing and overwhelming for the casual pet owner. If you do not ever intend to breed your animal, neutering is far and above the most practical thing to do.

morganafay

I agree there are risks but usually the animal is fine after neutering, even three month old kittens get spayed now and are fine a few days later, usually. And there are some negatives to neutering but I think the positives outweigh them.

Whatever the owner wants to do is fine, but it seems like alot more hassle for them to have their dog always coming into heat, and if she accidentally has pups it'd be alot of work.

denhaagenite

Well done OP, having her neutered is the best thing you could ever do for your dog. Our little one had her op at 5 and a half months and while she fell asleep a bit earlier than usual that day, she wasn't in any pain and there was absolutely no change in her personality either.

It was the exact same with the male lab I had before. I think it is generally more stressful for the owner than the dog, because on some level we feel we are depriving them of something. The truth is, for a female, they would reject their pups as soon as they were old enough anyway and not spaying will leave her open to all sorts of problems aside from pregnancy.

Good luck!

Jip

We had a young bitch with absolutely piles of personality, best of any dog we ever had and were also told not to get her neutered as it'll change her. I thought it was nonsense but obviously it does play on your mind. Afterwards she was miserable for a while but was back to her being her usual bundle of joy soon afterwards.

mymo

I had my pup spayed before christmas, she had come into heat at six months (1 week before she was booked in to be spayed)and it was murder. Every dog around was following me every time I went out, I couldn't walk her or even leave her in my garden alone. It really isn't worth the risk with a small dog.
As for did it change her? Not one bit, if anything she's more mad. She was sore for few days and I had a full time job to keep her from wrestling with my other dog within a few days. She's 8 months now and doing great, I know some people say bitches get fat and lazy when spayed but I think thats down to owners overfeeding and not giving enough exercise as I've seen 2 un-spayed bitches who are very overweight as well as spayed bitches who are perfect weight.

clevercanines

Any responsible pet owner should have their animals neutered.
As with any surgery there are risks involved but the heatlh benfits to a dog in its later life out way any of these IMO.
Also who wants to add to the ever growing number of unwanted dogs/ dogs put to sleep in this country & if only for purely selfish reasons who wants to be lumbered with a litter of puppies to rehome.
DO IT.
In my own experience it has made no difference to any of my dogs they dont know they're missing anything;)

peasant

clevercanines wrote: »

Any responsible pet owner should have their animals neutered.

That's another thing I don't like

The inference that leaving your dog not neutered makes you an irresponsible owner. It doesn't. Neither does neutering your dog automatically turn you into a responsible owner overnight.

A responsible owner (given the opportunity) researches the issue, weighs up the consequences, talks it over with their vet and then makes an informed decision ...either way.

kylith

Unless you can absolutely, totally, 100% guarantee that your garden is dogproof then I'd say neuter. When I was a kid our dog had 2 litters despite being confined to the back garden when in heat; in both cases males scaled a 7' wall to get to her. Not to mention having gangs of males trailing after us when we went for walks, barking and scrapping. A breeder of my acquaintance was left with an unwanted litter of pups after his dog managed to tie with a bitch through their kennel divider. Males will do anything to get at a bitch in heat.

If you decide to neuter the most her personality will change is that she won't get PMT, she certainly won't shouldn't put on weight, one of my current dogs lost weight after being neutered in rescue.

Ultimately the decision is yours, but ask yourself why you wouldn't you neuter; is it because you think she'll be 'missing out' by not having a litter? She won't know any different. Because you think she'll gain weight and be lazy? Not if you feed and exercise her correctly. Because you think her personality will change? If it changes at all it'll probably be for the better.

clevercanines

Neither does neutering your dog automatically turn you into a responsible owner overnight

True, but neuteing does mean if you're irresponsible that you wont be adding to the epidemic proportion unwanted dogs.
I guess what i should have said is that in my dream ideal world people would always think of neuturing first & keeping their dogs entire second. None of this, well just in case, I want another dog one day or if she turns out to be a nice dog or just because I can make a new designer breed.
Of course responsible owners have entire dogs. However I find most pet owners ill informed as to the benifits of neutering, beliving old wives tales or thinkng that their dog will be missing out on something.
We could go on forever having this dicussion but at the end of the day it's up to the individual owner what they do with their pet.

lrushe

peasant wrote: »

A few remarks on this:

Firstly, I'm all for neutering in principle, but it is not as complication free as is sometimes claimed:

- There is research that neutering male dogs before they've reached sexual maturity affect the growth platelets in their bones. They will experience what is called eunuchal growth which mostly results "just" in a taller dog with longer legs but could also lead to bone/joint problems later in life.

- There is research that spayed females have higher rates of incontinence later in life

- There is evidence that neutered dogs and bitches can have altered hair growth. In males it usually leads to pronounced "trousers" round their rear legs where there is profuse hair, in females this could happen everywhere, but usually more evenly.

- In females, spaying is a severe operation under full anesthetic. This in itself is risky.

Generally speaking, neutering/spaying does change a dog's personality. Female dogs will no longer be affected by their hormonal mood swings. This is largely percieved to be positive, it's a personality change nonetheless.
Equally, male dogs generally become somewhat calmer, especially in relation to other male dogs. Once again this is largely perceived as positive, but still a personality change.

I do not agree with the mantra that once you don't want to breed your dog you absolutely should neuter it. I think is a too far reaching decision to be just taken automatically. The individual circumstances of dog and owner should be considerd and the matter talked over thouroughly with a good vet.

I agree with this, I had my 7 month old Rottie bitch booked in to be spayed last month but the more research I did into pre-maturity spaying / neutering the more I was convinced not to do it until she is 2 years old and fully matured. I understand the reasons why, with the great number of dogs without homes that resuces, vets etc. recommend early spay / neutering to prevent unwanted pups. However if someone can guarantee, and only if someone can guarantee the security of their dogs I would recommend holding off until a dog was fully grown before desexing.

irishleedsfan

thanks for all your comments, they really helped! definetly going to get her neutered, another question now, how much dose it cost?:)

star-pants

Prices depend on the size of the dog and the vet you go to.
The cost can be in relation to the weight/size of the dog due to the amount of anaesthetic that's required. Best to ring up and ask, but ball park can be anything from 130-180, possibly cheaper or dearer (I know that's not helpful) but just a general idea for you.

Orla K

star-pants wrote: »

Prices depend on the size of the dog and the vet you go to.
The cost can be in relation to the weight/size of the dog due to the amount of anaesthetic that's required. Best to ring up and ask, but ball park can be anything from 130-180, possibly cheaper or dearer (I know that's not helpful) but just a general idea for you.

I think it's good to know that if you have a medical card/on benifits most vets will neuter for cheaper. Not too sure of the ins and outs of it but I think they have only so many places a year.

Sadly they do not have the same for cats

morganafay

It depends on the vet really, some charge alot. Mine is pretty cheap and they charge €50 for a small dog to be spayed. Same as a female cat.

Well the last time I got one spayed, which was 5 years ago . . . but they still charge 35/50 euro for a male/female cat so I don't think they changed the price for dogs.

Dee_animallover

I got our dog done when he was 3 years old, only thing that changed is that he quietened down alot which was great as he was a bit hyper but apart from that he is the same.
Got our other dog done at 6 months and she's still hyper :rolleyes:

My vets charge 180 euro for females and 150 for males but I got them both done for 20 euro each coz I was on social welfare at the time and the Dog's Trust paid the balance to the vet - I only had to show them my SW card and sign a form.

clevercanines

It's €80-€100 around my area for a male dog.
€20 with a neurering voucher, I just enquired for a client of mine.
The vet will only have a certain number of vouchers but it's always worth ringing around.

Amzie

I got my samoyed neutered at 6months,hes a very active dog and I thought It would calm him, I was of course worried about him going in but when i picked him up that evening after the op there was no need to worry he was still his self,he jumped up to me looking for attention,hopped in the car,was sleepy for the first night and the next day he was back to normal-ish! I think it actually made him go a bit mad for about 2weeks like he would run madly around the garden and bark alot more and stangely he even tried to hump me:eek:which he never did before but he hasn't done any of this recently and now hes very happy and I think a 'little' bit more relaxed:P Just watch he doesnt tear out the stiches in the first few days or you'll have to bring him back!

crotalus667

kylith wrote: »

in both cases males scaled a 7' wall to get to her. .

Funny story , my sisters rottie bitch was not spayed when she got her , the guy she got her from had rescued her but had to keep her out side because she would not get on with his other dog , anyway there was an old collie dog that was obsessed with her , one night when she was in heat the collie scaled the wall when the guy came out to see her in the morning the rottie was on top of the collie trying to be the male apparently the face on the collie was priceless