Hi, Humphrey was castrated at approximately the same age, he had an undescended testicle which the vet couldn’t detect with a scan (we‘d hoped a regular control would be able to determine if there was any change in size etc, but that wasn’t possible). I was really undecided what to do and was worried it might become cancerous and decided to have it removed. We were also given the option of removal of just the one testicle or a full castration and I chose the latter and really regret it.
Humphrey is a gold sable and his coat was beautiful, silky and manageable but now its very curly, he has a lot of under wool which matts easily and requires a lot more grooming. I had no intention of showing him either and was obviously prepared to forego his appearance if it insured his health but in retrospect, I think it would have been better to have opted for the removal of just the one testicle.
Weight gain is also a side effect, I manage to keep it under control but its hard as he can’t exercise so much now, ( he had a back injury, although not relevant) and is permanently hungry.
I had hoped that a good side effect would be that he became less of a target for other uncastrated male dogs but this unfortunately wasn’t the case either, he‘s lost a lot of his confidence and tends to get a bit defensive and grumpy with male dogs now. This could ofcourse be age related and may well have happened anyway, I shall never know, but he‘s not as outgoing and tolerant with strange dogs as he used to be.
Its obviously a decision based on personal circumstances and the health of the dog and every case is different but if I had to make the decision again with Humphrey, I wouldn’t have had a full castration.
Hope that helps, whichever way you decide, take your time and get advice but don’t let anyone persuade you one way or the other.
