Neutering?

michdee

Hi, can any of you give me an idea of how much it costs to get your dog neutered or how old has he to be to get it done? Ours is a lab cross sheperd, and for some reason I think once 6 mths they can be done, would this be correct?

mistybluehills

michdee wrote: »

Hi, can any of you give me an idea of how much it costs to get your dog neutered or how old has he to be to get it done? Ours is a lab cross sheperd, and for some reason I think once 6 mths they can be done, would this be correct?

6-7 months is standard, but as your vets are the experts let them decide when is best, they may delay the surgery in certain breeds, or certain circumstances
They do 100s of these procedures a year so no doubt will be better placed to give advice than some "experts" that lurk on online forums
Approx 120 Euro for male (neuter) but costs escalate for larger dogs. female (spay) about50 per cent more.
Large breed bitch could be €300 plus easily.
Dublin more expensive than rural, what's new☺

Knine

6 mths old is very young to neuter a large dog. If you must get him neutered I would wait until he is fully mature to help avoid any joint/bone issues especially as he gets older!

tk123

Knine wrote: »

6 mths old is very young to neuter a large dog. If you must get him neutered I would wait until he is fully mature to help avoid any joint/bone issues especially as he gets older!

+1 my vet recommended the same with Lucy. She was 17-18 months when she was spayed. Personally I wouldn't get a male neutered unless I was having crazy behavioural issues having first hand experience of joint issues.

DBB

mistybluehills wrote: »

They do 100s of these procedures a year so no doubt will be better placed to give advice than some "experts" that lurk on online forums

Hold your whist there a sec mistybluehills... I've seen you make this sort of comment a couple of times lately, yet the same threads are often peppered with you giving advice that's coming uncomfortably close to giving medical advice.
Now, I've been pulled up for doing this myself before... Who was it again who pulled me up on it again... Umm... I think it was a user called Deisedays, or didgeridoodoo, or something like that. Anyway, in the interests of fairness across the board, I think it only fair now to suggest that you tone back on the medical advice yourself, and more's the point, please desist with the veiled "online experts" swipes that you're making a bit too often. You're fooling no-one.
Do not reply to this post on thread.
Thanks,
DBB

michdee

Thanks for all the replies didn't hear about that before with getting a male neutered too young. Thanks v much

volchitsa

Our vet told us before that unless we wanted to breed from her first, anytime before puberty was probably better than waiting until puberty had set in, because her never having been under the influence of adult sex hormones meant she'd probably be less affected by their removal. A bit like avoiding the menopause (was my interpretation of what he said, maybe that's not what he meant!)

But was that not necessarily the best way to look at it?

tiredblondie

mine (girl / small breed) got done at 5.5 months as advised by the vets as we weren't going to breed her....think it cost around 200euro

Knine

I prefer bitches to be fully developed & leave them until after they are mature to help prevent bone/ joint issues. Hormones are need for growth. One of my breeds are much more prone to bone cancers if spayed or neutered early in life.

I guess what I am saying is make sure you do plenty of research. My entire dogs and bitches are very different from my altered dogs.

volchitsa

As far as bitches go, what are the sorts of differences you see? More/less playfully? More concentrated/"mature"? I'm intrigued by that, I mean it makes sense, but I wonder if you can identify a change that happens due to sterilization. Does it sort of freeze their development or send it on a different path?

Knine

volchitsa wrote: »

As far as bitches go, what are the sorts of differences you see? More/less playfully? More concentrated/"mature"? I'm intrigued by that, I mean it makes sense, but I wonder if you can identify a change that happens due to sterilization. Does it sort of freeze their development or send it on a different path?

My entire bitches have much nicer coats. I can hand strip their coats leaving them with a lovely weatherproof coat that looks amazing. They are fitter, more athletic & have much better muscle tone. The spayed bitches often lose their undercoat, stripping is very difficult so I have to clip. They have less muscle definition & not as athletic.

Of course heat cycles are a nightmare, phantom pregnancies, pyometra risk is higher after a certain age. Cycling bitches can be moody.

So if I am not breeding or showing a bitch I will gave her spayed but never before 18 mths.

I will not neuter males at all anymore. I have never had a dog with testicular cancer but I have had neutered males with joint issues.

I think it is important that people know the pros & cons.

michdee

Great info there, thanks v much. Maybe I'll reconsider getting him neutered so until much older anyway and see if needs to be done then
Thanks a million for all in info

lazeedaisy

volchitsa wrote: »

As far as bitches go, what are the sorts of differences you see? More/less playfully? More concentrated/"mature"? I'm intrigued by that, I mean it makes sense, but I wonder if you can identify a change that happens due to sterilization. Does it sort of freeze their development or send it on a different path?

Our Greyhound has had no visible differences to be honest.

She has always had an amazing coat, except when it's changing, and she is very trim and athletic but she was a runner and has always kept very trim.

We had nightmare phantom pregnancies, omg honestly, a complete nightmare, the moodiness she had was bad,

She took 2 weeks to get back to normal, cost 180. But Greyhounds have a very low pain tolerance,

Personally, it's more beneficial to us to have her neutered,

She is still a very playful happy dog, don't see any difference there, but then we do happen to own one of the happiest dogs on earth,

ShaShaBear

We had our collie cross neutered at almost 9 months. He is quite big for a collie (I've seen smaller labs) but next door's bitch is not spayed and every time she went into heat, he'd spend days on end (and nights) howling, digging the floors, throwing himself against walls and going MENTAL. If we let him outside, he wouldn't go to do his business, but rather howl and cry repeatedly at the side gate between our houses. Neutering stopped that completely. Personality-wise he has not changed an iota. He's still buck mad, practically uncontrollable :pac: and will fetch a ball until he's dead if you let him. He has a beautiful collie coat with a lovely shine off it and oddly suffers minimal knotting when he blows his coat.
The one downside was that we went to the place that put our last collie to sleep as we felt we were dealt with very well. He developed severe behavioral issues from his treatment there that took us months to rectify and some still linger. So ensure he's going to a place that not only delivers excellent procedures, but also aftercare.