# Altering males vs. problems



## Tracy S. (Jul 2, 2009)

Was your dog neutered at or near 6 months?
Problems - and if so, how long after?


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## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

We had all of our dogs neutered between 6-8 months...we have had no issues with any of them.


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## Muddypaws (Apr 20, 2009)

Darby neutered at 1 yr - no problems
Kirby neutered at 7.5 mo. - no problems


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## GoldenJoyx'stwo (Feb 25, 2007)

I don't know what category to choose. Shadow was breed by someone who was clueless and a few of the pups had hip problems.

He was neutered at 6 months old. Had an FHO at 7 months old. Had a THR at 11 months old. He is now 7 and has NO other problems at this point in time...other than allergies that is.


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## Tracy S. (Jul 2, 2009)

Kimm said:


> I don't know what category to choose. Shadow was breed by someone who was clueless and a few of the pups had hip problems.
> 
> He was neutered at 6 months old. Had an FHO at 7 months old. Had a THR at 11 months old. He is now 7 and has NO other problems at this point in time...other than allergies that is.


So in your case, I guess you won't know what caused hip problems if he has/gets them. It could've been the neutering, or it could've been predisposition. I got my baby from a backyard breeder --- I didn't care if I ended up having to take care of him - someone would have to regardless --- but he's 10 months, beautiful, and super healthy. I don't see any problems yet. I haven't had a hip xray. The vet said "Would it matter? You are pretty invested in this pup now." And NO it wouldn't matter......so I didn't get the xray. If I notice problems later I will.


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## CarolinaCasey (Jun 1, 2007)

Casey was neutered at 7 months. He was already identified with HD prior to surgery. We waited until 9 months to have HD surgery. He is almost 12 and has no other problems despite hypothyroidism diagnosed at age 3 ish.


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## AmbikaGR (Dec 31, 2007)

CarolinaCasey said:


> Casey was neutered at 7 months. He was already identified with HD prior to surgery. We waited until 9 months to have HD surgery. He is almost 12 and has no other problems despite hypothyroidism diagnosed at age 3 ish.



According to this report hypothyroidism occurence triples in dogs that are neutered vs intact males.

http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf

This report states "Two studies have demonstrated increased incidence of hypothyroidism in female and male dogs after gonadectomy. Genetic factors also are involved (Table 1). Cause-and-effect has not been described, nor has a specific numerical factor for increased incidence been reported."

http://www.akcchf.org/pdfs/whitepapers/3-23-08DiscoveriesArticle.pdf

This report cites two studies (one being by the GRCA) that state spay/neuter "was determined to be the most significant gender-associated risk factor for development of hypothyroidism."

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

This article acknowledges the likelihood that neuter/spay does increase the occurence of hypothyroidism, the actual number of cases is so small and it responds well to treatment that it is not a reason to consider not do so.
http://www.sheltermedicine.vet.cornell.edu/spayNeuter/young.htm

http://www.sheltermedicine.vet.cornell.edu/spayNeuter/young.htm


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## GoldenJoyx'stwo (Feb 25, 2007)

Tracy S. said:


> So in your case, I guess you won't know what caused hip problems if he has/gets them. It could've been the neutering, or it could've been predisposition. I got my baby from a backyard breeder --- I didn't care if I ended up having to take care of him - someone would have to regardless --- but he's 10 months, beautiful, and super healthy. I don't see any problems yet. I haven't had a hip xray. The vet said "Would it matter? You are pretty invested in this pup now." And NO it wouldn't matter......so I didn't get the xray. If I notice problems later I will.


Shadow had an emergency FHO at 7 months old. It was about one month after neutering. Other puppies in his litter also had hip issues. I'm not sure when the other owners had their dogs spayed or neutered. I don't believe his hip issues were due to the neutering.  He showed signs of HD before he was neutered. Just when I thought I may have been imagining things, the hip popped out while he was running. He had his THR at 11 months old when his growth plates had matured. 

Shadow is 7 years old. So far he has no thyroid issues (he's been tested) and no other joint problems. 

Tucker was neutered at 11 months old, before he came to live with us, and so far, so good.


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## CarolinaCasey (Jun 1, 2007)

^ Yes, I have heard that this can be a result of castration and have read some literature regarding the issue. It is hard to say in a specific dog whether it is genetics or neutering. We can't go back to look at his lineage or siblings and their history of hypo. because we never registered him and was from a pet store.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Conner was neutered at nine months. He is very tall, has severe allergies, and hypothyroidism. But I have no way of knowing for sure if any of that is related to neutering or not.


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## Charlie06 (Feb 10, 2007)

My guys were neutered at 6 and 9 mths. Charlie will be 4 this year and Howie is 1 1/2. No problems yet but the other thread has me worrying about all the things that could happen because I "mutilated" my dogs...lol


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## Tracy S. (Jul 2, 2009)

Yes, apparently I too am a serial mutilator - as I have done this in the past and all with the same M.O. hahaha

On the thyroid issue - that's really hard to determine. I myself have thyroid issues - I was never altered. 

I live about 25 miles away from a power plant. We also live in an old coal mining town. The number of thyroid problems amongst humans, dogs, and even cats in our area is ASTRONOMICAL and probably has something to do with geographics.


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## Charlie06 (Feb 10, 2007)

Tracy S. said:


> *On the thyroid issue - that's really hard to determine. I myself have thyroid issues - I was never altered.*
> 
> .


:bowrofl::bowrofl:


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## Doodle (Apr 6, 2009)

Both of our goldens were neutered at 6-7 months. Chip (who lived to 11 years) had no problems. Brady is now almost 2 years and is hypothyroid (but as others have said, there is no way to know if this was because of the neuter or not).


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

Jasmine was spayed at 5 months old. She had already been diagnosed with hip displaysia and ended up having two FHOs. She has hypothyroidism, was diagnosed at 5 years old. She came from an ooops litter. No background on the mom or dad were provided.

Jasper was neutered at 6 1/2 months or so, had demodex mange right after that, has mild hip displaysia and has hypothyroidism. Ummm, I guess I should mention that his byb dumped the entire litter at the shelter. So I am pretty sure that there were no clearances and absolutely no worry about genetics when it came to hypothyroidism or breeding a female who carried demodex.

Danny was neutered at 7+ months old. He already had a PDA and SAS. Not a dog you want to have bred, though he is an absolutely gorgeous boy! He has no other health issues other than the heart issues. Thank goodness my mutilating him didn't cause other problems!

So all of my dogs came from a poor genetic background. I don't think any issues that they may have might have come from when they were spayed/neutered.


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

Something that I think needs to be made clear.... neutering will not 'cause' these health issues. There -may- be a correlation between early neutering (or late or never) and incidences of health problems...but that's a big big big big distinction. With hip displaysia especially, there are so many factors and interactions of the factors that we really can't be pointing to one sole cause. 

I do think this post is fabulous and I love it when people are doing 'research' of their own and really looking into something like this! (...the teacher-ness in me says "Yay for thinking! Yay for wanting to know more!)


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## IowaGold (Nov 3, 2009)

Sage is 12 1/2, neutered at 4 or 5 months. Some allergies, but no hip issues. Thyroid is fine (he has been tested). He does have a crippled leg but that started LONG before he was neutered. He is pretty tall and not to standard, but I imagine that has a whole lot to do with him being a puppy mill dog and not much with being neutered "too young".

It always drives me nuts when people say that X *caused* Y problem in their dog (ie too tall, skinny head, etc.). How do you know that X was the only factor? I'm sure that there could be *some* effect, but to say everything would be different if you had only done or not done X is naive. Genetics, environment, etc. play huge roles in a lot those things. Sage is not too tall because he was neutered. Most likely he is too tall because his parents were outsized. My brother's dog is not overweight because she's spayed. She's overweight because my brother gives her too much food. My aunt's dog got cancer. Is this BECAUSE he was neutered? No. Genetics and environment are probably the biggest factors in developing cancer. Would he have developed cancer at the exact age that he did if he were not neutered? Maybe not. But I would suspect that he would have still gotten cancer at some point.


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

IowaGold said:


> Sage is 12 1/2, neutered at 4 or 5 months. Some allergies, but no hip issues. Thyroid is fine (he has been tested). He does have a crippled leg but that started LONG before he was neutered. He is pretty tall and not to standard, but I imagine that has a whole lot to do with him being a puppy mill dog and not much with being neutered "too young".
> 
> It always drives me nuts when people say that X *caused* Y problem in their dog (ie too tall, skinny head, etc.). How do you know that X was the only factor? I'm sure that there could be *some* effect, but to say everything would be different if you had only done or not done X is naive. Genetics, environment, etc. play huge roles in a lot those things. Sage is not too tall because he was neutered. Most likely he is too tall because his parents were outsized. My brother's dog is not overweight because she's spayed. She's overweight because my brother gives her too much food. My aunt's dog got cancer. Is this BECAUSE he was neutered? No. Genetics and environment are probably the biggest factors in developing cancer. Would he have developed cancer at the exact age that he did if he were not neutered? Maybe not. But I would suspect that he would have still gotten cancer at some point.


I agree. I have said that several times here. Just because a dog is tall and lanky doesn't mean it's because he was neutered before 24 months old. A lot of it depends on the breeder (lots of byb puppies, both of my boys came from shelters as puppies) and the lines. My Danny is a field line golden and is outside of breed standards. He is tall and weighs just shy of 80 lbs. Jasper on the other hand is totally within breed standards, but is not the picture of a well bred golden. I don't believe that either is the way they are because they were neutered somewhere between 6 and 8 months old.


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## GoldenJoyx'stwo (Feb 25, 2007)

Shadow is the spitting image of his mother. She was still having puppies at the age of 5 or 6, so she was obviously not spayed. She was tall and lanky (sp) when I saw her. So is Shadow!


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## ilovemydogs (Jan 22, 2009)

Duke was actually neutered a little before he was six months old because he had a cyst that ruptured on his neck. Since he was close to six months we were given the option to have him neutered at the same time and not have him put under twice. Duke was about 18 months when we discovered he has hip dysplasia. He is also hypothyroid, but I don't remember how old he was. However I would not necessarily attribute these things to early neutering. Duke is a mix and is a result of an accidental breeding. He is also inbred he and his mother have the same father. So his problems may just be his very poor breeding. Regardless we love him anyway.


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