castration

[grunty]

Hi we have a 7 month old blue roan cocker. I have booked him in to be castrated next week but i am having second thoughts. His coat is very thick and curly at the minute, will this change? Also we consider him to be the perfect dog. He is excellent with my 2 girls, he isnt a nasty dog, he is very loving. Will it change his temperement if  we go ahead with it, cos i dont want him to change! Please help, any advice welcome. By the way the vet said he can only feel one testicle at the mo.

[maggieann]

My dog has only one descended testicle. Before going ahead with full castration, I wanted to try and get an idea of any change castration would have on his temperament, so I decided to go down the chemical castration route - Tardac injections and then a Suprelorin Implant. We're nearly finished with the Tardak injections and are now about to start the Suprelorin implants.
I had my dog booked in a few times for castration, took cold feet and phoned to cancel -It's a hard decision to make.

[lindseyp]

sorry can't give any advice as my dog are all girlie's    but I hope someone will come along soon who's a bit more knowledgable.
IMO though it does seem a little young (some vets seem over keen to castrate/spay early ) ....he's still a baby really & has so much more growing to do. If you do feel uncomfortable & not quite sure about the 'op' just yet, there's no harm in postponing until you are sure - don't feel pressured into it     hope you get the advice you need soon

[Lily Freya]

I've got two boys 14 months, and 10 months.................and the vet keeps having pep talks with me on the pros and cons of castration.

Like you, I am nervous about doing it.  They are delightful at the moment.  They have lovely coats, and their nature is delightful too.  I am scared that they will change.

Also, I am worried about 'elective surgery'.  I would never forgive myself if anything happened in the anaesthesia process.

Don't imagine I've helped you at all................except  to let you know are not alone in doubting what you are doing.

Good luck.   

[sarah25]

If your having second thoughts don't do it.The vets always tell you the pro's of having it done but never the cons of castration.And alot of vets put pressure on dog owners to have it done.....
We have had one of our boys done and tbh his not the same dog now.

Good luck 

[bracken]

My Archie is 20 months and only has one testicle he has not been neutered yet, we are in no hurry to do it as all my others have been spayed and neutered and it does change their coat, he to is very loving and has not issues with behaviour (well expect the odd tiny thing not bad for a teenager though)

I would say if your not sure leave it for a while you don't want to make the wrong decision

Jo

[Nicola]

If you're unsure as others have said there's no harm in postponing having him done for a while, he's still very young. Neutering can often make Cocker coats go thicker and/or fuzzy. I've had one male dog castrated and it didn't affect his personality at all though, he was exactly the same dog afterwards as before.

[joanne_v]

My own view is that the benefits far outweigh the risks. Its a simple op for a male and I've never seen it affect any dogs badly, its actually greatly improved many dogs behaviour at daycare. Most have been done at 6 months and are all healthy happy well socialised dogs. The only issues I ever have at daycare is with entire males, hormones do get in the way sometimes no matter how docile the dog is. I also dont see the point in keeping them entire when there are health benefits in castration and it means you never have to worry about them tying with an in-season female and producing unwanted pups in an oversaturated market.

[black taz]

I had Taz done at 7 months and have never regretted it - it hasnt changed his personality, he is still a loving, energetic, fun dog.  He had the op at 2pm on the Friday afternoon, we fetched him back a 5pm and he was already awake and lively.  I was walking him again by 8.30am on the Saturday (i had to telephone the vet to check that i could as i had been advised not to walk him until the Sunday - but he was bouncing off the furniture!).  He didnt need a lampshade collar, and hardly licked the wound either (but i guess we were just lucky with this). 

As for his coat, his legs are quite fluffy still (although not thick), but i have stripped out the fluff on his upper body and he has a lovely silky coat - but i do have to keep on top of it.  As Taz is my first cocker, i don't really know whether his coat is thicker than non-castrated dogs, but he does look beautiful for about 5 seconds after a grooming session (which he loves  ).

Good luck with whatever you decide. 

[chrisj1957]

We have 2 10 month old boys who both have only 1 testicle desended each.Have had various different advice from 2 seperate vets and from this site.We are going with the advice from the vet we had for 15 years with our previous dog who said to wait and see if the testicles drop at around 18 months old.We are also worried that their personality and coats chang if we get the opration done as at the moment they are so loving and friendly and have smooth coats.He is still evry young so I would wait a bit to see what happens.

[mcphee]

Rufus was castrated at 17 months. He was completely sleek before. His coat changed a bit, but not as much as his friends who were neutered earlier or who already had thick coats. I was worried, but because of his chase behaviour, I was worried about his safety. Since he was castrated, he has calmed down-but that might be maturity. He is the same delightful dog at home as he was, gentle and friendly. It did not help with his hunting or recall, but  the long distance bog -offs did reduce. Although I was nervous at the time, I do not regret the castration.

[Carol09]

I hadn't thought about having Jay done that is until today.  We went on a walk and we met up with a 6 month old girly and after playing for 5 minutes he tried to hump her.    I have never seen him do this before so do you think the time is right to get him done or not?  I don't want him being a nusiance to the girlies all the time but then will just putting him on a lead suffice.  Oh he will be 1 yr old next Tuesday, so what a nice b'day prezzies that would be.