Again, I must add it is WRONG to advise someone not to spay/nueter their dog, just because you aren't going to do yours..So you have found all this information that makes you feel like YOU are making the best decision, however THOSE ARE YOUR DOGS!!! To advise someone of such is irresponsible. So you have many sites that say it can kill your dog, it can make your dog fat, your dog will be this... You should make the best decision for YOU, AND YOUR DOG...NOT be pushy, and push your beliefs on other's..Gosh, who would care if their dog gained a pound or 2..... :rolleyes: hummmm...

Lorraine
 

I disagree with the reluctance to spay/neuter. One of the foremost reasons to not breed and to not leave a dog intact is the dearth of puppies and dogs in rescues and animal shelters. Breeding is a big responsibility and if you are going to do that, be willing to interview prospective puppy buyers turning down those that are not suitable homes, and be prepared to take any dog or puppy you place or sell back again at any time in its lifetime if the new owners cannot keep it.
I have had a mobile dog grooming business for about 14 years grooming many different purebreds and mixed breeds. Pretty much all these animals are spayed/neutered as someone's adored pet. I have not seen health problems created by spay/neutering and certainly there has not been a bunch of broken legs, bone problems etc. The only indication I have seen back problems related to disc etc types of problems is in long backed dogs such as Corgis and Doxie's and that sort of thing is pretty breed specific.
Dogs are not people. A dogs lifespan is about 12-15 years sometimes less sometimes more. People's lifespans on average nowadays are much longer so that someone in their 70s is considered young. People have other factors in their lives than dogs do so reactions to sex hormones or lack thereof are going to be different.
My spayed/neutered pets are wonderful pets, I just lost my 14 year old Yorkie in Oct who was spayed at a year of age. She had no health problems and died of effects of old age. Same drill with most of my clients dogs. The ones that had health problems of which there are few, I would wonder about various things such as genetics, vaccination protocol of which there is a hoofla now saying an annual vaccination is not a good idea and has been believed to be causing a lot of hormonal and blood disorders, we also have environmental pollution, additives in our dog foods etc.
I dont agree wtih spay/neutering at too young an age. I think anytime around 7 months or so is just fine. Most of the growing etc is over and done wtih in the small breeds, you can wait longer for the larger breeds but be prepared for a heat cycle in a female and make sure there are no accidents.
Pet owners that have my puppies have had them all spayed/neutered as required by my contract. I groom many of them. They are not obese. They are active, walked, played with and are not couch potatoes. They are healthy mature dogs and loved dearly by their families. I think weight problems can be more related to junk food or too high an energy food relative to activity of the dog and lack of reasonable exercise.

JMHO
Lorraine

I strongly believe in altering your pet. You will hear horror stories from doing it and you will hear horror stories from not doing it. Every dog is different, every vet is different, and every experience is different. When you choose your vet for you dog, cat, rat, whatever, you should have done your research on his background and experience for all of that anyway. My mother has had numerous yorkies for as long as I can remember (she has one now and is looking for another one!). Every single one of them has been altered at 4 months of age with NO problems. So far as the peeing in the house, yes, dogs mark their territory, but after they are housebroken, it is usually either an infection of the urinary tract/bladder or a defiance issue, not a neuter issue. With an infection, the dog will usually pee all... day... long... With a defiance issue, they will use the bathroom at regular intervals, except instead of knowing that they should go to the door, or wherever you have them go in the house (mine go outside, even Matthias), they will deliberately go in the house and not even try to hide it. I had a dog like that a few years ago. Soon after, he became extremely aggressive. We altered him, the defiance continued, the aggression got worse, and eventually he had to be put down.

Matthias will be getting neutered this month (I'm trying to get him in next week). He is already housebroken, only having the occasional accident from asking to go out and me not getting to the door in time (I'm unable to move that fast). Those times are few and far between.

Also keep in mind - a dog does not obtain full bladder and bowel control until they are about 9 months old. They just can't always hold it that long. Best thing to do for your puppy is take him out every two hours.

As far as marking goes - make a spray bottle of 1/2 water and 1/2 vinegar. Spray the floors, furniture, whatever else with it - lightly so the smell isn't too strong for you. Believe me, the dog will smell it on his own just fine. 9 times out of 10 this will prevent a dog from marking that spot. I have never actually had to do this, but I was told about it by my vet. I recommended it to a friend of mine and she said it worked for her and her German Shephard.

So the right thing, it is said, is to keep animals from reproducing, and the easy solution to this is to surgically alter them so they can't reproduce.

This may be justified, but neutering is just one way of achieving this goal. Neutering is an invasive procedure that drastically affects an animal's biological processes. There are alternatives to this from as simple as proper containment to tubal ligation and vasectomy.

These are much less invasive and respectful, but the problem is that people are brainwashed into this "be a responsible pet owner, have you dog or cat spayed or neutered" paradigm... and because veterinarians make so much profit from these procedures, they rarely suggest the alternatives - or even explain the risks.

www.neutering.org

I do agree if there other alternatives to sterilize pets. They should be known. But the problem is that not many vets are aware or equipted to handle these new evasive procedures.

www.neutering.org
 

Oh please this website is owned and promoted by a person with a ax to grind. This is absolute proof one can find ANYTHING on the internet. He is heavily involved with Wolves! He promotes Wolf survivial. He promotes sex with Wolves..yes human sex with wolves. Sorry if that's offensive but it's true. I think this type of information is misleading to pet owners. Our dogs are not Wolves and haven't even been close to Wolves for eons. The above posting does not tell the whole picture in my opinion when it comes to our domestic pets and spay/neuter. Below is just a small bit of the information I found on Mr. James Greathouse who owns the www.neutering.org domain name.
Each person can make an honest assessment of the information both pro and con in reference to Mr. James Greathouse opinions and also in reference to spay/neutering your pet!
---------------------------------------------------
Domain Name:NEUTERING.ORG
Sponsoring Registrar:CSL Computer Service
Registrant Name:James Greathouse
Registrant Street1:10428 Highway 66
Registrant City:Klamath Falls
Registrant State/Province:Oregon
Registrant Postal Code:97601
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.5412732613
Registrant Email:ebon@wolfhowl.org
---------------------------------------
More websites
http://www.talkaboutpets.com/group/a...ges/55462.html
A forum letter written about Mr James Greathouse.
------------------------------------------------------
http://ebonlupus.org/ This is another website written and promoted by James Greathouse. I'm sure many will find this site disturbing. Below is a quote from his webpage. But one should read the whole webpage for themselves.
<Bestiality is the practice of sexual intercourse between a human and a non-human being. Some people who enjoy acts of, or thoughts of, bestiality call themselves zoophiles and their sexuality is often referred to as zoophilia. The word, however, is NOT the thing. >snip AND
<I advocate close, even sexual, relationships between human and non-human animals, so long as they are honest, mutually enjoyed acts of love.>snip
--------------------------------------------------
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takea...ltl=1136315148
We, the Undersigned, endorse the following petition:
Please Ask L. David Mech To Defend Wolves!
Target: David Mech, Department of the Interior and International Wolf Center, Department of the Interior and International Wolf
Sponsor: James Greathouse ebon@wolfrivals.org
------------------------------------------------------
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takea...ltl=1136315083
We, the Undersigned, endorse the following petition:
Please Complete the Wolves of Time
Target: William Horwood, Author, co/ HarperCollins Publishers
Sponsor: James Greathouse ebon@wolfhowl.org

Early spay/neuter
 

Irene~ (or anyone who knows)

What is involved in the Earky spay/neuter because this apparently what my Hefner had done.

I was not told when I adopted him that he was already neutered. She told me a conversation about a week later that I didn't to be concerned if his testicles didn't drop because they were already gone. This upset me a little, because, although I had no plans to breed him, I felt at the time that I was paying a LOT of money and I felt that I should be the one making those decisions for him...needless to say...my homeopathic vet was really upset by this because he keeps a record of "early traumas" in my pets and a complete health history bcause it is very important to know what the dog experienced and when in later life when "things" crop up.

Anyway, how do they do the surgery on such tiny babies? I hope they use anesthesia and puppy feels no pain during the sugery!! I cannot imagine how difficult that would be on a tiny yorkie. What age wre we talking and do they have to be a certain minimum weight before they will do this? I mean some yorkies are only a lb at 12 weeks????

Not to be overly critical, but I am just concerned.....How can anyone think it is worth the risk to do this type of major surgical procedure on a bby unless it is mandatory...not just elective???

[QUOTE=DevineMissM]
Each person can make an honest assessment of the information both pro and con in reference to Mr. James Greathouse opinions and also in reference to spay/neutering your pet!
---------------------------------------------------
I respect your opinion.

This is WHY I posted the citiation to the webste....to enable everyone to do their own research. I feel his points are more than valid and should at least be known.....I mean who wouldn't want to know that there are alternatives that may be better for our pets?

You may choose to put zero weight in his opinions but, while I certainly don't agree with having sex with wolves, I do feel that he has SOME valid points about routine and unnecessary neutering.

Lorraine
 

I had completely forgotten about Sevoflourane and yes I recall hearing of it, and yes I have heard it is much safer. I don't know if my Vets here in Canada have it or not. Thanks for reminding me of it.
Lorraine

Thank You! :thumbup: I have learned quite abit! and I will try the water & vinegar and spray everything for now, I would like to continue to follow this post and observe all the different opinons, advice. I find it quite interesting with so many different assessment's on the information on N & S

Right on! :thumbup:

James Greathouse sounds TRULY disturbed....I couldn't get thru the first few sentences before I clicked off that site....thanks for the real story behind the post .......brother - there are some KOOKS out there

I don't think that's Kim's intention. Although I disagree with her views on s/n and that James guy. Posting an opinion is all she was doing. Besides, it's nice to know there are other procedures, I'd like to also add, Laproscopy is a new way to spay now too. it's done by a 2 tiny slits in the abdomen, they do the procedure on a monitor. It's less extensive as the traditional, the only downfall is that toy breeds are limited to only having the ovaries removed because the tool used to remove the uterus is rather large.

I didn't even read the link. Reading about having sex with wolves is enough for me.

My 5 year old shihtzu was neutered at 9 months. He had already started marking and I have not been able to get him stop since. He has had all kinds of test and been on behavior modification medicine. Nothing. He always has a belly band on and soaks it. I would do anything for him to stop.

I would get him neutered as soon as possible. My vet says this is a learned behavior and hard to modify. Kobe knows he is not allowed, but he is very very sneaky and hard to catch. I have another male shihtzu who marked too. He as 2 1/2 when you was neuterd. He seemed to stop. I guess it depends on the dog, but neutering really does help.