Age to Neuter Dog?

[candyappy]

While my experience with male dogs is limited ( we prefer females)I have had 2 stray males that we have kept. 1 was neutered at just under a year and the other was closer to 2 years old ( due to when they showed up here).

What I found was the older male has kept his need to mark everything and anything and I find that absolutely infuriating when he pees on my hay bales or on my females as they try and do their " business".

We didn’t have that on our other male who was neutered younger. Both dogs are ( were) a large breed.

[Tucker5]

Would this be true in horses as well? Should all colts be left intact until their skeletons fully mature?

[jherold]

I have often wondered the same, especially with large, slow growing warm bloods. The geldings often do become abnormally tall. Unfortunately, due to the size of the animal, safety becomes a concern, when deciding when to geld. Most people and places are not equiped to handle stud colts.

[S1969]

Agreed. I’m sure it would be better to leave all colts ungelded until they are fully mature. But because of their size and the need for very careful living arrangements if you have mares and ungelded colts/stallions, it makes sense to geld them earlier.

[candyappy]

I usually had my boys gelded around 8 months but definitely under the 1 year old mark. They grew and developed very well and I don’t see where you have any benefits to leaving them intact longer.

My current gelding is the only one who was gelded as a mid yearling ( not mine then) and I definitely see more stud like tendencies in him. He is overly attentive to my 2 mares when in heat and I could really do without that.

[S1969]

@candyappy

They grew and developed very well and I don’t see where you have any benefits to leaving them intact longer.

This has actually been studied. It’s a real issue. It obviously isn’t a death sentence to spay/neuter before maturity, but there are detrimental effects that are statistically significant.

[idtogo]

You may still have to worry about a stump Pyometra unfortunately if ovaries are left

[Weezer]

Yes, you are correct that is a concern if not all the uterus is removed. So this type of spay requires really careful attention to detail on the side of the surgeon to ensure there’s no stump left behind.

[RacetrackReject]

My vet told me that they would not do a neuter before 12 months and prefer to wait a bit longer. They said that barring any unexpected vet visits, they would talk to me at his one year check up to see if we were planning to neuter him.

[candyappy]

@S1969

This has actually been studied. It’s a real issue. It obviously isn’t a death sentence to spay/neuter before maturity, but there are detrimental effects that are statistically significant.

Are you talking horses or dogs?

I know in females ( dogs) spaying too early can lead to bladder leaking issues when they get old( so my vet said).

[S1969]

@candyappy

Are you talking horses or dogs?

I know in females ( dogs) spaying too early can lead to bladder leaking issues when they get old( so my vet said).

Dogs. Sorry - I missed that you said gelded (or maybe I just translated that in my head to neutered).

My only gelding came to me that way, so I have no idea how old he was. He’s a misfit little Cushings pony who has all kinds of problems…I’m assuming they aren’t related to early gelding. LOL.