'fixing' at 4 months or 1 year?

[toby's tracy]

Hello! Our Toby is about to turn 4 months old and I would like some opinions...

a friend of ours has convinced my boyfriend that we should have Toby fixed at 4 months - before he starts to lift his leg and mark the couch, the walls, the doorways, etc...I'm assuming he learned this from his vet as he had his male dog neutered at 4 months.

Our vet told me last week that he likes to wait until a male dog is a year old before the operation.

What do people think about these 2 options?

[Lucky Rescue]

It's best to get him neutered before he is sexually mature. This will probably prevent any problem with him marking territory in the house.

Small breeds usually mature faster, so if your dog is small you should do it sooner - maybe at 6 months although you can certainly do it at 4 months.

IF your vet doesn't want to do it, find one who will.

[toby's tracy]

thanks for the quick reply!

Toby is a lab rottweiller mix...so not a small breed! He was 23 pounds 2 weeks ago, at just under 3.5 months.

[aussiemedogs]

I have 3 males...............and 4 months was just great for me, one marked all my furniture, table, chairs, couch, carpet and even the damn walls! My vet told me do it know before it becomes a habit or he ruins my house. I did and within 6 weeks the problems were resolved!

I say do it now!!!!!

[Prin]

I have always done them at 6 months, but then I have never had the option to do it younger because the doggies I adopt are always older...

I'd say the younger the better.

[toby's tracy]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. It looks like Toby's going to pee like a girl forever.... we definitely do not want him to begin marking our house so he'll be going under in the next little while.

When I mentioned it to my vet, he seemed pretty adamant about waiting until 1 year, I'm not sure if he will do it. I will ask him again next week, and if he refuses I may be asking for some advice as to where to go.

Just out of curiosity, it's interesting that each of the replies I recieved were for the 4 month fix. Does anyone know why some people like to wait until 1 year? My vet didn't really elaborate and we were there for something else so I wasn't really focused on it. But now that i am thinking about it...I am curious!

Have a fabulous holiday weekend everyone! We are going camping in New York State, so I'll check in on Sunday when we return. Toby's first camping trip - we are very excited!

[Eleni]

some people beleive that waiting till one year gives the dog a more mature look

but waiting till a year risks the dog mating, or marking or all that fun stuff

Sam was done at 6 months

Eleni

[Rottielover]

Marking the house is also a behaviour thing. I have a male rottie male that is 8 1/2 months, and has never tried to mark my house( I show him) . But on the other hand I know a person in his OB class that had their male fixed at 6 months that still marks their house. It def helps to have them neutered at a younger age. But it does not completely stop the possible marking. Only training and respect will do that

[Prin]

Originally Posted by toby's tracy

Just out of curiosity, it's interesting that each of the replies I recieved were for the 4 month fix. Does anyone know why some people like to wait until 1 year? My vet didn't really elaborate and we were there for something else so I wasn't really focused on it. But now that i am thinking about it...I am curious!

Old information. I think they're just not up to date with more recent studies. If you look back, there was another thread recently about fixing between 8 and 12 weeks. There are links in that thread about early spay/neuter.

[angie79]

my first vet told me 6 month earlist she would do it and i also heard that it could be done as young at 8 weeks with out causing any problems.

vet #1 said that before 9 months could stunt a males growth, and recommended 9 month

I listened to Amanda Glew who made mention about neutering younger not going to quote her since i can't remember

I knew i was going back to work and wanted it done before I returned to work therefore if it was safe I was getting him done at 4 cause 6mth would be back at work (would be now)

so I did research and took him to the clinic Amanda Glew works at (didn't have her) but they explained it to me and said as long as they are dropping normally no problem had him done there at 4 months and they do a great job and are wonderfull friendly and informative people...

thanks hudson vets....

btw... he healed in no time, didn't really notice and the insision and stiches were done great.... and he's big no stunted growth.

[Copper'sMom]

I got my male neutered at 6 months. He didn't start lifting his leg to pee until after his first birthday. Even now, he's 4 years old, he rarely lifts his leg on anything! He has never marked in the house as he rarely does it outdoors!

Don't quote me on this, but I think dominant males are more likely to mark inside their house as well as outside.

I wonder why your vet ould tell you to wait until he's a year old before neutering him?? That's odd. In that case, he'll be more mature. Then if he smells a bitch in heat, he might do anything he can to go find her. Then you have more to worry about!

If you want him neutered before 1 year, make it clear to your vet! Unless he has a perfectly good medical explanation that your dog's health might be in jeapardy if you fix him before 1 year, then I would get him done earlier! JMO!

[doggirl]

Originally Posted by toby's tracy

Thanks for the advice, everyone. It looks like Toby's going to pee like a girl forever.... we definitely do not want him to begin marking our house so he'll be going under in the next little while.

Just out of curiosity, it's interesting that each of the replies I recieved were for the 4 month fix. Does anyone know why some people like to wait until 1 year?

Neutering him young is not going to make him not mark...there are loads of neutered males and females even who'll mark every chance they can get. And full males who never do.

The reason many suggest waiting til a year is because when neutering early, you remove the primary source of testosterone, the hormone that signals the growth plates in the long bones to close (ie stop growing). So they don't get that testosterone burst at about 8 months which causes the growth plates to close and the long bones to stop getting longer. This has been hypothesized (not proven yet to my knowledge) to correspond with a higher risk of osteosarcoma, which only makes sense since this is a cancer generally found in big, tall dogs. The hormonal balance changes after spaying/neutering which can affect how they mature physiologically. It's preferable to give him til about a year of age when the growth plates have closed before you neuter him.

[doggirl]

Originally Posted by angie79

vet #1 said that before 9 months could stunt a males growth, and recommended 9 month

It's the other way around, they're longer in leg when done early.

[LavenderRott]

Most of the rottweiler owners I know advocate waiting a bit longer to neuter to allow a bit longer to fill out.

I must agree with the above poster that dogs marking in the house isn't guarenteed to stop if the dog is neutered. I have never had a male dog that was housebroken lift his leg in my house. Neither neutered or unneutered. Well, I take that back. I had one that I was sitting for do it once.

[mafiaprincess]

I was told that being longer in leg when spuetered early was old info and not true. My girl was done at 6 months. It is true that the growth plates closing works at a different rte, because at 10 months, I think Cider may always be very leggy and gangly.

I'm glad I didn't have to worry about heats.. and I'm glad to minimized health risks..

But I can understand now why there is a question on when people choose to spueter.

[SnowDancer]

Maybe your vet would split the difference - say 8 months or so. My Eskimo was neutered at 7 months. My vet's practice has 2 partners and 2 associates - the two partners are in their early 50s and associates about 30. All agreed that 7 months was perfect for my dog - one of the associates has a Spitz. I guess you will also have to consider your relationship wth your vet. I have gone to same vet for 25 years and if she told me one year I would go with it, because I value her opinion and could not imagine taking my dog anywhere else.

[toby's tracy]

Well...now I am really not sure what to do!



I just want to make sure I do what is best for little Toby (who turns 4 months tomorrow !)

Just out of curiosity...Who is Amanda Glew?

[sarahandelvis]

I wanted to get it over with at 4 months, so the procedure wouldn't interfere with obedience class, and help Elvis maybe settle down a bit. That was about three weeks ago, he recovered really quickly and I'm glad cause he was getting traumatized by our last few visits to the Vet's office.

He's still pretty hyper but he's a puppy and he's always a very good boy, but he stops to sniff and mark 10 times more than he did before!

[LavenderRott]

Purdue university did a study using Rottweilers and found that dogs that were neutered before one year of age ran a 1 in four chance of getting Osteosarcoma and a signifacantly higher rate of developing it compared to unneutered dogs.

I have included the link in case you would like to read further.

Purdue Study

[toby's tracy]

Thank you...this is something to think about, especially since Toby is part Rottweiller!