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01-04-2012, 12:40 AM | #1 |
Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: usa
Posts: 158
| What age to neuter a male? What age would you guys recommend neutering a male? He's just 13 wks old now and doesn't really mark or lift his leg yet, but I'm thinking about the future plans. When would be the earliest? what are advantages or disadvantages to doing it early. He's just 2.5 lbs but will probably weigh 5 lbs |
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01-04-2012, 05:55 AM | #2 | |
YT 2000 Club Donating Member | Quote:
Here is one very good site that you can read up on some of the pros and cons with respect to neutering a male or spaying a female. I know for me I will never neuter a healthy male dog prior to growth plate closure. You can be assured of growth plate closure if you do an Xray of the lateral view of the tibia. This is the last growth plate that closes. If this is fused/closed then all other joints are. An Xray is not that expensive particularly just doing one view. 12 -14 mths of age is the range at which growth plates close. Leg lifting is not something that neutering early automatically 100% protects against. Good luck in your decision. You can also visit Dr Jean Dodds website, I attended a lecture of hers Sept 2011 where in she also agrees with much of the information on this website.
__________________ Razzle and Dara. Our clan. RIP Karma Dec 24th 2004-July 14 2013 RIP Zoey Jun9 th 2008-May 12 2012. RIP Magic,Mar 26 2006July 1st 2018 | |
01-04-2012, 05:38 PM | #3 |
Donating YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: montana
Posts: 2,945
| morgan was neutered at 6 months old and he was micro chipped and they pulled some baby teeth that he had retained |
01-04-2012, 06:24 PM | #4 |
Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Texas
Posts: 175
| I'm getting Teddy neutered at 6 months.
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01-04-2012, 06:32 PM | #5 | |
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01-04-2012, 06:53 PM | #6 |
My furkids Donating Member | I just got a new little guy...have had him for 2 1/2 weeks...He is 5 1/2 months old and 2.6 lbs...my vet wants me to wait until he is 7-8 months old...He still squats and hasn't started doing the "male" thing......yet...He isn't going to be a big boy but I want to wait until he is a little bit bigger...
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01-04-2012, 08:32 PM | #7 |
Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Texas
Posts: 175
| With the rescue groups I work with, the spay/neuter clinics we use will do it earlier than 6 months (in terms of prevention of overpopulation) but most vets opt to wait until it is safest. My vet waits until they are AT LEAST 6 months of age and are of a good weight to handle the anesthesia. My vet also makes the pre-op bloodwork mandatory. I wouldn't think it's something they "push" solely for overpopulation, but altering also prevents a lot of potential health hazards in the future.
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01-04-2012, 09:45 PM | #8 |
T. Bumpkins & Co. Donating YT Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: New England
Posts: 9,816
| I had Teddy neutered at 6 months old.
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01-04-2012, 11:00 PM | #9 | ||
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01-05-2012, 01:08 AM | #10 |
♥ Maximo and Teddy Donating Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Northern Virginia
Posts: 25,041
| Max was neutered right at 6 months of age, and Teddy was closer to 8 months. I wish I had held off with Max. The only downside to waiting until a year is that if baby teeth are retained, you have choose between putting your pup under anesthesia a second time, or leaving the teeth until he is neutered and risk tooth damage.
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01-05-2012, 02:31 AM | #11 |
Jada + Bogie = ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Mayberry AKA smalltown usa
Posts: 24,078
| Bogie was 9 months old when he was neutered. I hope his growth plates were closed, I had no idea about waiting until they were to be neutered. He hasn't had any joint or bone problems so hopefully he is ok.
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01-05-2012, 04:48 AM | #12 | |
YT 2000 Club Donating Member | Quote:
There should be a discussion with your vet about your particular dog when to neuter or even if to neuter. There are breed specific health issues, as well as individual health issues that will push the decision one way or the other. For males for example an undescended testicle is a very very good reason to neuter as there is a high incidence of cancer in this circumstance. Testicular cancer in older intact male dogs has a reported incident rate of 7% How-ever the prognosis for treating testicular cancer is very good owing to a low rate of metastasis, so testicular cancer is an uncommon cause of death in intact dogs. The high cure rate of testicular tumors combined with their frequency suggests that fewer than 1% of intact male dogs will die of testicular cancer. Source: Early Spay Neuter Considerations for the Canine Athlete. Chris Zink DVM,PhD, DACVP
__________________ Razzle and Dara. Our clan. RIP Karma Dec 24th 2004-July 14 2013 RIP Zoey Jun9 th 2008-May 12 2012. RIP Magic,Mar 26 2006July 1st 2018 | |
01-05-2012, 05:46 AM | #13 |
YT 2000 Club Donating Member | Additional thoughts+an Evaluative Protocol While Dr Chris Zink entitled her article Early Spay Neuter- Considerations for the Canine Athlete, in my opinion this information is important for all dog owners whether you think/plan on doing performance sports or not with your dog. I have copied what she has to say about the ortho considerations below. What does this mean in terms of our breed - the Yorkshire Terrier? Is it pertinent to me? After all they are just tiny dogs. There are several key points; a) length of and weight of tibia and b) bone density - c) hip dysplasia Let us take a look at bone density. Peak bone density the sex hormones are critical in acheiving this - this means intact testicles. This is important for our breed as although tiny the density should help to give "strong" bones, not so easily broken. Now the length of tibia in relationship to the femur. Given the very high incident rate of LP - luxating patella in our breed, any benefit that would give a better chance for our pup to grow up without LP is a good one. Hip Dysplasia-Is creeping into our breed and Leggs Perthes is already here. Again the sex hormones are important. So especially if I've been told by my vet my pup has "loose knees", or I have been given an LP diagnosis of what-ever grade, I would make the decision to withhold neutering until after growth plate closure. Also any competent vet should be able to evaluate LP and give you a grade if they feel it is present. The great thing about growth plate closure is - You or the vet do Not have to guess. Just take a lateral view of the tibia - one Xray $40 or so, and you will know for sure. There is very little risk health wise for a male to delay neutering until after one year old. Orthopedic Considerations A study by Salmeri et al in1991 found that bitches spayed at 7 weeks grew significantly taller than thosespayed at 7 months, who were taller than those not spayed (or presumably spayedafter the growth plates had closed).(1) A study of 1444 GoldenRetrievers performed in 1998 and 1999 also found bitches and dogs spayed and neutered at less thana year of age were significantly taller than those spayed or neutered at morethan a year of age.(2) The sex hormones, by communicating with a number ofother growth-related hormones, promote the closure of the growth plates atpubjerty (3), so the bones of dogs or bitches neutered or spayed before pubertycontinue to grow. Dogs that have been spayed or neutered well before puberty canfrequently be identified by their longer limbs, lighter bone structure, narrowchests and narrow skulls. This abnormal growth frequently results insignificant alterations in body proportions and particularly the lengths (andtherefore weights) of certain bones relative to others. For example, if thefemur has achieved its genetically determined normal length at 8 months when adog gets spayed or neutered, but the tibia, which normally stops growing at 12to 14 months of age continues to grow, then an abnormal angle may develop atthe stifle. In addition, with the extra growth, the lower leg below the stiflelikely becomes heavier (because it is longer), and may cause increased stresseson the cranial cruciate ligament. In addition, sex hormones are critical forachieving peak bone density.(4) These structural and physiological alterationsmay be the reason why at least one recent study showed that spayed and neutereddogs had a higher incidence of CCL rupture.(5) Another recentstudy showed that dogs spayed or neutered before 5 1/2 months had asignificantly higher incidence of hip dysplasia thanthose spayed or neutered after 5 1/2 months ofage, although it should be noted that in this study there were no standardcriteria for the diagnosis of hip dysplasia.(6) Nonetheless, breeders ofpurebred dogs should be cognizant of these studies and should consider whetheror not pups they bred were spayed or neutered when considering breedingdecisions.
__________________ Razzle and Dara. Our clan. RIP Karma Dec 24th 2004-July 14 2013 RIP Zoey Jun9 th 2008-May 12 2012. RIP Magic,Mar 26 2006July 1st 2018 |
01-05-2012, 07:22 AM | #14 |
Action Jackson ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Maryland
Posts: 17,814
| I completely agree that a lot of dogs are s/n way too soon. Jackson was almost 7 1/2 months old by the time he was neutered; I may have waited a bit longer but luckily, he was pretty much full grown by that point and already 12lbs. I can often times tell when a dog was neutered really young. I dogsit a boston terrier/beagle mix who was all of 8 weeks when neutered thru rescue and he's very immature still at 1 years old. Hard to explain. But he is. He also is built a little funny, and I think had they waited to neuter him, he wouldn't have such a weird body, it was like he grew in funny. I dunno... this isn't the only time I've witnessed a dog who was fixed before 4 months just... act and look different to me.
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01-05-2012, 07:35 AM | #15 |
T. Bumpkins & Co. Donating YT Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: New England
Posts: 9,816
| I wanted to add that my older dog Barney was neutered at 12 weeks of age. He is 9.5 lb yorkie with solid bones. The only skeletal issue he has is a unilateral grade 1 LP. My other dog Teddy who was neutered at 6+ months old has Leggs Calves Perthes, bilateral grades 2 and 3 LPs, epilepsy, intention tremors and learning disabilities. All due to breeder issues (genetics or at birth injuries) based on the opinions of all the many vets who have seen Teddy in his very short 3 years of life and read his 5 inch thick chart. I just can't conclude that either dog was neutered too young. Neither one of them are small dogs - and both have adequate bone structure - in fact, Teddy's neurologist commented that Teddy's skull bones were large enough for his brain, something he sees a lot of issues with in yorkies and the cause of a lot of hydrocephalus. So in my experience, it's all about the genetics. And, disappointingly, my puppy mill dog has better bones and teeth than my breeder dog. ETA: Can't conclude either was neutered too young in terms of how they turned out and grew - still would not neuter today before 6 mos.
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