What age to get puppy fixed?

I'm just curious to see, how old was everyones pup when you got them spayed or nuetured?

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Permalink Reply by Tiana & Ein on December 30, 2010 at 4:41pm

Well i got my corgi Einstein fixed when he was 6 months but i just got a new puppy and she went and got her shots so i asked how old can a puppy be to get fixed they said you can start at the age of 7weeks and you want to get it done before their 6 months so they dont get their hormones.

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Permalink Reply by Aber, Ragnar and Kelso on December 30, 2010 at 5:51pm

And that's what bothers me about early spay/neutering. They develop hormones for a reason and those hormones do effect structural development of the dog (as well as bringing along some potentially unpleasant behavioral developments). At the risk of opening a large can of worms and bringing down wrath upon my poor head, it was explained to me by some folks and it made sense, that early neutering is like when they used to make castratas out of young boys--they never grow or develop fully, their voices didn't change, etc. And with girls--imagine what it might do to a young girl if she had a full hysterectomy at, say, 8 (or earlier, since all the hormones in the milk we drink are bringing about younger and younger puberty, but that's another debate for somewhere else entirely). I know dogs aren't people, so I hope nobody just bites my head off. But it bears thought and I wonder if there could ever be studies about this subject--it seems fairly impossible with people. I know there have been some done on rotties--females who were spayed before 2 years demonstrated a lowered incidence of cancer than their counterparts who were spayed early.

Again, please nobody rip my head off. :)

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Permalink Reply by Wendt Worth Corgi's on December 30, 2010 at 5:58pm

Hats off to you!!! I 100% agree with you!!! Most of your agility people will not ulter a dog til 12 months or after. They need those hormones and early spay/neuter has led to UTI's. Here are a couple of links for your reading.

http://www.acc-d.org/2006%20Symposium%20Docs/Session%20I.pdf

http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInD...

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Permalink Reply by Aber, Ragnar and Kelso on December 30, 2010 at 6:41pm

Thanks so much---I've got the links pulled up and I'm excited to read them.

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Permalink Reply by Beth on December 30, 2010 at 6:50pm

Knowing what I know now, I might consider delaying neutering til 10 or 12 months of age with my next male dog.

The thing is, I've never really heard of neutering being promoted as a health benefit for males; more as a birth-control thing. The fact remains that for the average pet owner, having an intact male means condemning it to a life in a fenced yard or on a leash. Most dog parks don't allow intact males, and doing things like hiking can be risky as they will run off if they smell a bitch in heat. Moreover, some intact males can be fairly dog-aggressive, and while many are not, it is impossible to predict who will be and once behaviors are learned, neutering does not always fix the problem.

Horses don't reach full maturity until they are 4 or 5 years old, and virtually all male horses have been gelded going back a very long time, with most being done before they reach a year old. Keep in mind a horse can live 30 years, so a yearling colt is roughly equivalent to a six-month-old puppy.

Horses are expected to bear significantly more weight than dogs, and I am not aware of research that indicates poor health outcomes from gelding. Horses are not dogs, but again it is routine and has been for a very long time to geld most male horses, with little ill effect seen.

I DO wish they would stop telling people that spaying/neutering does not make dogs fat; the caloric requirement drops significantly when you alter a dog, and food needs to be reduced accordingly.