Answer
Lakelady:
It makes them lose all interest in life at all. You won't get the same dog back and the one you DO get will be cancer-prone and lose all his muscle tone.
Also he'll have a shorter lifespan, be prone to obesity, brittle bones, behavior disorders, chronic UTIs and kidney failure. I suppose if you equate sick with 'calm' then, yes.
Edith:
An unfixed male or female dog is a problem that most people cannot
handle, and it is not just a one time thing. The problem repeats and
repeats and repeats until you do get the results of a bunch more dogs
that you don't know what to do with. Or making your dog live isolated
in a small pen to keep other dogs away.
The problem being that either
sex of the adult dog will try to mate and if that means leaving home to
do so, it will. So that means a lost dog and that means the dog being
killed by a car or being picked up by animal control and being destroyed
as a stray.
You do realize that wild coyotes patrol the highways
because any animal dumped is easy food for them? What do you think
happens to a dog that just "disappears"?
The chances of that happening
are far more likely than any negatives related to getting the dog fixed.
Charle:
Wow... ok, here goes -
Yes, there were changes in my dogs after snipping. They stopped jumping the fence. They stopped digging. They stopped humping my pillows.
Yes, there were changes in my dogs after snipping. They stopped jumping the fence. They stopped digging. They stopped humping my pillows.
They still played fetch, wrestled with each other (and me), and got
excited to go to the dog park. So, I guess if you feel that a dog's
life is best enjoyed humping pillows, then keep them intact.
Oh, and those cancers and infections that intact dogs can get, that are just rumors that vets make up, to drum up business? one of my best friends spent $3k on her intact dog because she got one of those, at the ripe old age of 3 years old.
I would suggest a low-cost spay/neuter clinic, though. My most recent dog, the vet quoted almost $400, but the local shelter was running a $60 special. Same procedure. The low-cost places are funded externally, by grants and fund raisers, where vets are 100% funded by... you.
Oh, and those cancers and infections that intact dogs can get, that are just rumors that vets make up, to drum up business? one of my best friends spent $3k on her intact dog because she got one of those, at the ripe old age of 3 years old.
I would suggest a low-cost spay/neuter clinic, though. My most recent dog, the vet quoted almost $400, but the local shelter was running a $60 special. Same procedure. The low-cost places are funded externally, by grants and fund raisers, where vets are 100% funded by... you.
Verulam:
Not
necessarily. Some say it does, and then suggest castration 'doesn't
alter the dog' - that I don't understand. The only certainty with
castration is no puppies which should never happen as long as the dog is
properly contained. The rest is usually down to training.
I'd never castrate other than for medical need (retained testicles) and even then, not before the dog is at least 1 year to give them a chance to mature, their growth plates to close and you to have more time to decide whether this is necessary.
I'd never castrate other than for medical need (retained testicles) and even then, not before the dog is at least 1 year to give them a chance to mature, their growth plates to close and you to have more time to decide whether this is necessary.
Jojo:
It may take the "Zest" out of a male puppy if it`s castrated too young but its not going to have much if any effect on a mature dog.
If a dog is of an exciteable nature or very energetic than more exercise and training is the answer, not castration.
Testicular malignant cancer is not very rife in dogs and in my opinion some vets will use this advice as an excuse to persuade the dogs owner to have the dog fixed and to scare them.
In 52 years of owning intact male dogs I have never had one with testicular cancer.
But its your choice.
Info: Taken from a vet website.
Virtually all malignant prostatic tumors in dogs occur in castrated dogs. Castrating your dog puts him at risk for one of the worst cancers he can get. While you remove the very slight risk of testicular cancer in castrated dogs, that's a small matter; the incidence of testicular cancer is so minimal.
Also, almost all testicular cancers in dogs are benign. If we find a testicular tumor, we normally remove the testicle with the mass and leave the remaining one intact. The relative incidence and severity of the tumors of the prostate relative to tumors of the testicle makes the decision to keep your dog intact a virtual no-brainer.
The information on the incidence prostatic malignancies was obtained through a very large study of the records at veterinary colleges. These findings have been published for several years.*
Infection or inflammation of the prostate may occur in intact male dogs that are chronically exposed to bitches in heat. These are often worrisome to owners who seem to confuse prostatitis with the more serious prostate cancer. Prostatic infections are easily treated, and not, per se, a reason for castration
