Does neutering always ruin the coat

[Emilyoliver]

I've kept my 6-year old boy, Ollie, entire.  I haven't had any problems with finding dog walkers or with kenneling.  He's socialised and not aggressive (with anyone), or interested in girls (unless they're in season), so poses no more risk than any other 'normal' dog.  If there's been a bitch in season in the neighbourhood, I've always just told the dog walker to keep him on lead or take him to a park further away.

[Shell]

Hi all

we have bowed to pressure and booked our prcious 8 year old boy Bailey in to be castrated next month .. i've been worrying ever since making the appointment!

Just wondering if anyone had tried chemical castration before going the whole way with surgery?  Is there any risk or advantage in trying it?

Our vet has said that Bailey has some swelling in his prostate and its not too bad right now but is likely to impinge on his intestine in the future ... other factor is he shares a home with a very dominant 12 month old girl cocker - He is already too submissive in my view and we are always trying to bolster his confidence and help him assert himself ... after reading some of these posts I'm afraid he will become a nervous wreck if he looses the little boost that his testosterone is giving him ... 

Any opinions or experiences with prostate issues &/or chemical castration would be much appreciated

Shell M

p.s. Im not really worried about his coat ...

[JaspersMum]

I regreted having Louie castrated as he went from a confident young dog to one with some fear agression (which we have worked hard to overcome).  Would he have had the same problem if he wasn't "done"?  I guess we will never know 

Had I known about chemical castration at the same time, I certainly would of tried it.

There have been several posts about it in the past if you do a search.

[wendyt]

My 2 WCS Murphy and Indy are both intact. The training classes I take them to are very keen on castration, and to be honest I feel a bit pressured to have them done.  At the moment I'm standing firm and leaving things as they are as Indy is only 8 months old, Murphy is 20 months old and isn't the most confident cocker and when I mentioned castration to the vet she advised us that in many cases castrating an anxious dog can make matters worse. Neither of them have any medical problems or issues apart from a bit of anxiety with Murphy when in certain situations which I can control, so I've decided to leave well alone for now.
On the subject of chemical castration, both of my CKCS have had Tardac injections (chemical castration) in the past, one for prostrate problems which worked for a while, and the other for anal adenomas which also worked for a while. Eventually I had to have them both castrated. Harry's coat changed very little but Chester's coat went wild.