Male Whippet - To Castrate Or Not?

[Juley]

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Have to agree, if you do need to neuter him, then wait till he is mature at around 18 months.

 

[urchin]

Digit didn't grow up til he was around 2 - and I'm soooo glad i left him intact to mature......

I had an interesting convo with the new vet at my practice recently. Dij has one undescended plum which gives him an increased risk of various forms of cancer. In the past vets have said that they would not remove just the retained one; he would have to have the perfectly happy one off too

This I have not been willing to do - for a whole host of reasons. Anyway, new vet blokey said there's absolutely no reason to remove the good one, and to book him in for the undescended one next time he's at this surgery. Can't tell you what a relief it is finally to have a vet who can see sense :thumbsup:

Anyway, thats all a side issue- sorry I went off at a tangent!

Bloggs, was castrated quite young and never stops humping things (particularly cushions and his blankee) and even at 2 is very very puppyish. He had the op before he came to me and the results only confirm to me, that I would never ever just routinely have a dog castrated - no matter how much vets might nag!

 

[Jillb]

I've had Merlin castrated as he had 2 undescended testicles and I was told that dogs have a much greater chance of developing testicular cancer if they are not removed - however I did wait until he was 19 months old.

I'm not sure what I would of done if he hadn't had this problem. Some say that if you don't intend to breed from the dog why leave them with an urge they cannot fulfill. Also by removing the bits you remove any risk of testicular cancer. I really don't know what I would of done because I too have concerns over anasthetic & I wouldn't want a dog of mine to go through anything unnecessary.

By the way I haven't noticed any changes in Merlin since the op apart from he's put on a little bit of weight and he's stopped humping his snuggle bed!

 

[whippetsrus]

I have always been of the opinion not to castrate unless for health reasons and I myself would leave well alone in this situation. Whether you decide to castrate now or at a later date it does take approximately six months for hormones to settle down.

From personal experience, many years ago we adopted a rescue dog who would normally have been castrated before we got him but was too young. Part of the adoption procedure was that we would have hi castrated before he was 12 months old. At 12 months I felt that he was still to immature to be castrated and after discussing with our vet decided to leave him until 18 months. I don't regret that decision but would say that losing his plums made no difference to his character at all. Only for this agreement I would have left well alone. :thumbsup:

 

[lewington]

this is very interesting - What are your thoughts on neutering a female that you don't intend to breed with - vets say 8-9 months. What does the 'brains trust' on K9 reckon ?

 

[Judy]

Been and done it..... I told the receptionist that I wasn't totally happy with the idea and can I have a worm pill please... will send Ian to pick that up tomorrow  :lol:

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Had to smile when I read this - "can I cancel my castrationand have a worming pill instead please" :lol:

I think you did the right thing though :thumbsup: We have always left our dogs entire and never had a problem, or any trouble between them either.