Question about neutering



On the Shikoku forum I was told not to neuter Hilo till he is at least a year old, this is what the user said:


"Whatever you do do not neuter (should you decide to go that route) until at least after one year old. Any sooner than that then you are really opening yourself up to future orthopedic issues."


I spoke to my vet about this and she didn't feel there is any issue with neutering Hilo early, and said she had heard/learned that it is quite the opposite with large breed dogs - the earlier the better as far as orthopedics go. She did, however, request that I try to get more information and was interested in hearing if anyone could point us to some published data on the subject.


So - does anyone know the details on neutering an Akita early. Can anyone point me to some documented info on the subject?


We are interested in neutering Hilo early so that he can go to day camp with Ahi, it is important to us to socialize him as much as possible and day camp is an excellent place for that - but he can't attend it if he is intact... And we are concerned that a year old is kinda missing the window of opportunity when it comes to socialization.


Any thoughts?


~Brad


 

Comments

  • edited November -1


     Getting the dog neutered will not have any effect whatsoever when it comes to the Akita's intolerance of the same sex. Also, most vets are 100% pro neuter, the sad thing is I would be a rich man everytime a vet was wrong I was paid a dollar. Most vets are ignorant, and that is really a shame. If you do not want the dog to be able to reproduce, get him a vasectomy, but as a general rule Japanese Akitas are not a good breed to have running free with other dogs.


    Cheers,


    Brad

  • edited November -1


    Brad -


    My choice to neuter Hilo has nothing to do with a neutered Akita being less aggressive then a non-neutered Akita - it does have everything to do with the fact that we are interested in getting Hilo in day camp, for socialization, and any of the day camps we would send him to require him to be neutered.


    As for my vet, she is a very good vet and I respect her opinion. She asked me to request some documentation regarding the neuter comment because she's interested in learning.


    Can you provide any documentation to back up your comment? It would be greatly appreciated.


    ~Brad


     

  • edited November -1


    Brad,


     I will do what I can to provide you documentation. I do know that when/if I ever have puppies to neuter the dog before a year old will make any health guarentee I provide null and void. I have seen early neuter ruin to many dogs for my taste.


     

  • edited November -1


    I didn't realize you where a breeder - are you?


    What has happened to the dogs that where neutered early?


     

  • edited November -1


    One buyers bad experiance with early castration.


     


    We have a great dog, who is a year old now. We want to let as many people as possible know about our experience with early neutering. Our puppy was 7 ½ weeks old when he was mandatory neutered by the shelter & had terrible results.

    Our puppy began getting infections. Upon having this checked at the vet, it was found that the infections were restricted to his penis. When trying to evaluate the infection, we found that his preputial bone was so underdeveloped, that it was unable to move the penis to the sheath’s end in order to urinate. He had been urinating in the sheath, causing infection & terribly painful urination. Being a smart puppy, he soon discovered that if he didn’t drink much water—he wouldn’t pee very much; so he dramatically reduced the amount of water that he would drink & would only urinate when his bladder reached the point when it would not hold any more & urine would spill out on it’s own. During which time, he would literally scream & howl with pain; sometimes falling to the ground. This started a whole new set of problems. These being psychological.

    After many bouts of antibiotics; our family, our vet & the surgical specialist decided that the only course of action would be a urethostromy. In this procedure, a hole is made in the abdomen & the urethra is then guided through it. The urethra is sliced & sewn down. It is an expensive, potentially dangerous & complicated surgery. Our puppy had it done at 9 months of age. Convalescence is very slow, very painful & very, very bloody.

    It is the opinion of everyone involved in our story, that our puppy’s problem could very well have been a direct result of being neutered too young (7 ½ weeks) & that he did not have his testicles long enough to acquire enough testosterone in his body to properly grow & form his reproductive system. His preputial bone was so underdeveloped that the vets could not even manually extract the penis from the sheath unless he was under full sedation.

    We sympathize with how daunting the problem of animal overpopulation is—especially for well meaning organizations that are trying their best to help. BUT we’ve personally experienced how equally detrimental it can be to neuter a puppy before puberty.

    We are definitely NOT opposed to spaying & neutering animals (we've altered all of our dogs), but we honestly believe that as yet, there is not enough information (pro & con) to safely warrant spaying & neutering puppies prior to pubescence. There could potentially be a huge number of puppies that are showing signs of infection, incontinence, and behavioral problems due to unexpected or painful elimination. These are all symptoms that our puppy had that could have easily had been misdiagnosed as something else. Many people may not even know that their puppy has this problem since its symptoms can mimic so many others.

    It is now 3 months since his surgery & he is doing great. I am so grateful that we got our puppy. Many families in our position would never know what was happening. Even knowing what was wrong; many either would not or could not do anything about it due to the major expense, time & danger of the surgery & convalescence. If we weren’t lucky enough to have gotten our puppy, he would have lived a short life (3-5 years) in pain (from scalding & infection) outside (because he often didn’t know he had to pee until it was too late). Until he would eventually die from either staff infection complications or euthanasia. All because the present statistics said it was ok to neuter him before his body was mature enough to develop properly.

    We're so lucky to have Angus

  • edited November -1


    This is a really great article concerning the issue:

    http://www.caninesports.com/SpayNeuter.html

  • edited November -1

    wow - that's a very interesting article... thanx for the link! I will share it with my vet.







    BTW: Nice to see you over on this forum too!
     







    ~Brad
  • edited November -1


    Brad,


    It's not just an Akita thing - there are a lot of breeder of large breed dogs that have in their contract that the dog should remain intact under a year of age, sometimes longer.


    Yeah, day care won't allow unaltered pets.

  • edited November -1


    Yea, looks like we are going to have to figure out another socialization route for Hilo...

  • edited November -1
     Where there is a will there is a way. IMHO, you have quite a few dogs, you relly don't have to have Hilo be the most popular dog with every other dog on the block. Socialzation with new people is more important IMHO. 
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