neutering support

[woofwoofwoof]

Hey Everyone - I am so torn and so scared to neuter my little one. Can anyone make me feel better about it? I am afraid he could die under anesthesia and I just don't know if I can do it!!

Can you share your experiences with neutering and if I should do it. He is 6 months, raising his leg now and peeing on things in the house. I planned to wait till he was 6 months and now it's here and I am really scared!

[DvlshAngel985]

A few things you could do to ease your mind is to do a blood panel before surgery is done. This will tell you if your baby is healthy enough to undergo surgery. This second thing is my personal feelings about neutering: don't do it too young. I prefer 12+ months to allow the pup's body to fully develop (growth plates close). A pup can be trained not to mark. I trained mine not to mark, and have had success discouraging temporary fosters from also marking in my house. (I say discourage vs trained because they don't spend enough time in my house for me to be confident they are officially, fully trained)

[woofwoofwoof]

Why is it better to wait for his growth plates to close? I appreciate your response. What are some methods to use to train him to stop marking. I can't keep up with it!

[Verbena]

I had Galen neutered at 8 months. He is a little guy so I wanted him to get bigger. Also I had his puppy teeth pulled at the same time. The toy dogs tend to not loose them

[matese]

Neutering is the best thing you can do for your pup health wise. Neutering early can / may eliminate the marking, the longer he marks it becomes a habit. Ask your vet what is the proper age to neuter, and make sure you get a blood panel test before surgery is done. We all fret and worry when our wee lil ones have to under go anesthesia, just keep in mind it is the best thing to do for his future health. Stay strong, you are doing this for your baby's health, not for yourself.

[DvlshAngel985]

Originally Posted by woofwoofwoof

Why is it better to wait for his growth plates to close? I appreciate your response. What are some methods to use to train him to stop marking. I can't keep up with it!

From what I've read here on YT by a great breeder (she no longer posts) it gives a pup a chance for their development to complete uninterrupted (ex. Their growth plates closed). Another great benefit is they are pretty much done teething at 10+ months old. If there are any retained puppy teeth you have to take care of those. That includes putting them under again to have those teeth pulled. If you wait, you can do it all at once, and only risk putting them under anesthesia just once instead of twice.

As for training them not to mark, it is essentially going back to potty training. Limit his space, no free roam of your home until he EARNS your trust. When you do give him time to explore and run around inside your home, watch him like a hawk. Look for signs that he's getting ready to mark, which is usually intense sniffing. When you do see the signs, or if he's already lifting his leg, get his attention and redirect him. For my dog, I clapped and that usually got him to focus on me. I gave him a stern "no" and we went about our business. There are also great training aids that will help you. Belly bands are great. They save your furniture from being ruined, and they stop them from getting what they want, which is marking their territory inside your home. Eventually, they will get the hint that marking just isn't getting them anywhere. I do however encourage marking outside. I like my pup to know that what he is doing isn't wrong, just the place he chooses to do it sometimes is wrong. He gets praised for making and pottying outside. This method hasn't failed me yet! Several boys have come through my house, and all have learned to comply (sorta) by the end of day 1. They still think they're being super sneaky when they think I'm not watching. Thank goodness for belly bands, and I do catch them every single time. It's a process, and eventually they all learn the house rules.

[megansmomma]

Originally Posted by woofwoofwoof

Hey Everyone - I am so torn and so scared to neuter my little one. Can anyone make me feel better about it? I am afraid he could die under anesthesia and I just don't know if I can do it!!

Can you share your experiences with neutering and if I should do it. He is 6 months, raising his leg now and peeing on things in the house. I planned to wait till he was 6 months and now it's here and I am really scared!

So I don't confuse you further with YT "statistics" I will answer your questions regarding marking, neutering and anesthesia safety.

Marking is a very difficult thing to correct once he begins and neutering will help with this issue. Yes, this is because their hormones are removed during the neuter. I think this is something that you should speak to your vet about if this is a concern. Personally, 2 of my 3 were neutered/spayed by 6 months and my vet was not concerned so I was not either. They both had any retained teeth removed and he said they were at the end of teething. So this was not an issue either or a need to wait longer.

As for the actual procedure, there is such a very small risk from anesthesia which is way over blown by people that do not understand the OR or what goes on during surgery. I've working in the human OR for many years now and I can assure you that people are not dropping dead on the table like it's played up in our minds from both TV or stories told on line. Having a simple neuter is very safe and with recovery afterward is also pretty quick. Within a day or so he will be back to his old playful self

Anesthesia is metabolized (removed/cleared) by the liver which is one of the reasons that your vet will offer pre-op blood work. They like to know that your puppy has a healthy liver that will allow him to get rid of the anesthesia when he wakes up after his procedure. There are several drugs that your vet uses before, during and after to put his patient to sleep. Afterward, he might be a little sleepy in recovery but that is only because his liver is clearing the anesthesia as he wakes up. Most vets allow the dog to go home that night and when they do it's not uncommon for them just to want to sleep.

I hope that I've been able to reduce your worries over having a neuter as well as answered your questions. My suggestion is always to have a very open conversation with your vet to help alleviate your concerns. Now that things like growth plates and retained teeth were previously brought up I think you should ask your vet to weigh in on their opinion instead of causing yourself further worry and confusion over this subject. Believe me they are more than willing to answer your questions to bring your anxiety down when it comes to your puppy's health.

Good luck and try not to stress yourself out over a procedure that's been done successfully millions of times and on a daily basis for the health of our pets

[Maximo]

Testing to see if I can reply to this thread.

[Wylie's Mom]

Aww, I totally understand your fears as I've had them myself - so you're not alone in this. When you love a kiddo SO much, it can be very hard to feel peaceful about having anything done to them that involves even the slightest risk.

Leg lifting seems to be inherent to some dogs, no matter if fixed or not -- so it's tough to say if neutering will help w/ this problems. It does help some dogs, others it just doesn't change it. So, can't predict that one with any surety.

As far as anesthesia...again, I totally understand your fears and have been there. But I can assure you it's VERY very safe and complications are so incredibly rare! You ALWAYS want to do pre-surg bloodwork bc you want to make sure general health is fine and that the liver / kidney / blood cells , etc are within normal limits. This gives that extra assurance that your kiddo will do fine.

As far as neutering in general -- it's a personal choice. My preference would be to keep their natural and needed hormones intact bc hormones play such vital roles in our bodies. However, there are benefits to fixing pets - as I'm sure you're already aware. All 3 of my kiddos are fixed.

This is a thread you may want to read: http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/gen...n-if-ever.html

The bottom line is...try your best to put your fears aside so that you can make a good / rational decision -- and so that you can assure yourself that as long as your kiddo is healthy, everything should go wonderfully.

[Maximo]

Sorry, I was receiving a "Forbidden" message when I originally posted.

Do pre-op bloodwork and discuss anesthesia protocol with your vet. There is a sticky post in the health section about the protocol.

Anesthesia is very low risk, but I understand not being excited about it. Who likes any risk when it comes to our babies?

Max did great when he was neutered and had 5 baby teeth pulled. He was home by 3:30 - 4 pm.

Teddy, I wimped out and had his breeder take care of it before we picked him up. He was 8 months and sailed through it.

[DvlshAngel985]

Originally Posted by megansmomma

So I don't confuse you further with YT "statistics" I will answer your questions regarding marking, neutering and anesthesia safety.

Marking is a very difficult thing to correct once he begins and neutering will help with this issue. Yes, this is because their hormones are removed during the neuter. I think this is something that you should speak to your vet about if this is a concern. Personally, 2 of my 3 were neutered/spayed by 6 months and my vet was not concerned so I was not either. They both had any retained teeth removed and he said they were at the end of teething. So this was not an issue either or a need to wait longer.

As for the actual procedure, there is such a very small risk from anesthesia which is way over blown by people that do not understand the OR or what goes on during surgery. I've working in the human OR for many years now and I can assure you that people are not dropping dead on the table like it's played up in our minds from both TV or stories told on line. Having a simple neuter is very safe and with recovery afterward is also pretty quick. Within a day or so he will be back to his old playful self

Anesthesia is metabolized (removed/cleared) by the liver which is one of the reasons that your vet will offer pre-op blood work. They like to know that your puppy has a healthy liver that will allow him to get rid of the anesthesia when he wakes up after his procedure. There are several drugs that your vet uses before, during and after to put his patient to sleep. Afterward, he might be a little sleepy in recovery but that is only because his liver is clearing the anesthesia as he wakes up. Most vets allow the dog to go home that night and when they do it's not uncommon for them just to want to sleep.

I hope that I've been able to reduce your worries over having a neuter as well as answered your questions. My suggestion is always to have a very open conversation with your vet to help alleviate your concerns. Now that things like growth plates and retained teeth were previously brought up I think you should ask your vet to weigh in on their opinion instead of causing yourself further worry and confusion over this subject. Believe me they are more than willing to answer your questions to bring your anxiety down when it comes to your puppy's health.

Good luck and try not to stress yourself out over a procedure that's been done successfully millions of times and on a daily basis for the health of our pets

Great advice! Like I said, the waiting is my personal opinion based on breeder recommendations. You've done more rescue work than I have so I know you know how hard it is to break the marking habit. It can be done but it's definitely not easy.

[107barney]

I have to say that breeder "recommendations" as to any medical issue are not anything I would put stock in. I have seen too many breeders right here on YT who know little about the dogs they breed let alone anything about basic vetting. I would go with my veterinarian's recommendation which in most cases is 6 month.

[alyssa18o6]

I completely know how you feel. We don't have any kids yet, so our little guy is my baby. We just got him neutered on Wednesday. I made my fiance drop him off because I didn't think I could do it. I had a conversation with my vet during one of his first visits, she was super sweet and told me it was totally up to me, and told me she'd be there for support when the time came. She recommended between 6-8 months. He was 7 months at the time. I was worried about his weight and anesthesia as well, that was my biggest fear. I also read horror stories about dogs not coming out of anesthesia and I think that's what scared me the most.

Overall I think the trust in my vet, and how much I liked her was what helped me out. She called us right after his surgery to let us know that he was awake and that everything was fine. They did a blood panel, and we're going to pull any baby teeth (he didn't have any) as well. Once I got the phone call I was more revealed. Our little guy was a little sleepy once he got home, but he was fine within hours. The only thing is that he wouldn't drink any water, he was super hungry though. We gave him half his amount of food, and my FI snuck him a treat but he didn't have any issues.

The recovery is whats killing me now! We are not having luck with his cone. He gets it half off no matter how hard we try. And i'm starting to think he has a small head because the cone is way to large for the little guy (I asked the vet she said it's the smallest they had..) so we ended up forgoing the cone for some undies (I got them at Build A Bear, haha). He's SUPER active so trying to keep him quiet is such a challenge, it is very stressful!!!!! We never crate him so we don't have a crate to keep him in, and I don't wanna start now because that would be even more stressful! So we try our best to keep him quiet, although it is not working out well at all. My FI had to call the vet today about some "arousal" issues we we're having, and mentioned to the vet our difficulties and she said just to keep an eye on him, and obviously it isn't bothering him very much.

I assumed prior that it was more female dogs that needed to be quiet since their surgery is in their abdomen and it be easier to tear... Learned something new!