Neutering Dogs Too Young?

I was went into the county shelter the other day (dangerous, I know), and noticed a 3month old male puppy that was neutered. Recently I've noted a lot of puppies being neutered earlier than 6 months. When I worked at the kennel I had started to notice it-a 3month old pup would come in, and would claim to have been fixed already.

I'm just curious if there's a new procedure out there, that you can get it done earlier than 6 months? Or is this dangerous? I'm just curious, to my own personal knowledge.

Around here its about 14 weeks or three months. I would never wait till 8 months with a dog or cat, by then they could have been through a heat cycle already. I say the sooner the better.

There is one place you can go to get the procedure done.
southern florida animal hospital.

:D Here it is 4 lbs or 4 months, I will have Yollie done as soon as I safely can..

absolutley as young as it is ok to put them under anethstisia they can be neutered. After 6 months is a dangerous myth. Dogs usually have their ears cropped at around 11-12 weeks so that is when it is safe. The ANTI CRUELTY SOCIETY will not let any dog go before being neutered and I know they let 12 week old male pups go.

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Originally Posted by Vette

I was wondering about that too. around here its 8 months.. or at least thats how long i had to wait before i could spay my two cats.

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The Iowa State Veterenary clinic said BEFORE the first heat, and my dad's cat Shelby had hers at 5 months so they had to wait through it to do her :( and they had her sister Maddie done right away. They were out of my step-aunt's 7 month old KITTEN who had escaped while still intact and gotten pregnant all because they belived the myth that you had to wait for a year. How does a year make sense to you? It doesn't to me if she could get pregnant and 7 months. :(

I think it's about 6 months here. Im nout really sure. :confused: x

Here the dog or cat can be spayed/neutered as early as 9 weeks (as long as the testicles have dropped). It's alot easier on the dog's body because puppies heal alot faster. There are quite a few other benefits as well.

My vet doesn't like to neuter/spay large breed dogs less than a year. She realises that this increases the chances of certain cancers, but neutering beforehand increases the risk of bone cancer by even more. Alot of giant breed owners are starting to realise this, so it is becoming more common to wait until your large or giant breed is a year before spaying and neutering.

lots of shelters and rescues spay/neuter puppies and kittens as earlier as 8 weeks, that way they know the dog/cat will never reproduce puppies, because even with the best screening a dog/cat can still wind up into the hands of a bad person who doesnt get the dog fixed at 6 months and that dog/cat ends up having puppies/kittens.

I do not believe in neutering before 6 months. Think of how important hormones are to a human's growth through puberty. Why would it be any different for a dog? I don't see what the major rush is, to do something that may be detrimental to my dog. I've waited to 6 months for all 4 of mine and it hasn't caused them any issue waiting and they've all had strong bones.

I talked with my vet on this subject and he has a policy of not neutering before 6 months for small to large dogs and 1 year for giant dogs, due to the need of hormones during growth.

Par...

We bought Senorita in Canada (im from Michigan) and the breeder would not send the pups to their new homes without being fixed first, Senorita was fixed at 6 weeks old!! Her ears were cropped the same day, i was expecting her to be in a lot of pain when we picked her up the next day but she was frollicking and happy as ever, so it seemed, anyway i dont agree with her being fixed so soon, we believe it has caused some problems with her genitilia being deformed & causing urinary incontinence which we had to have a major surgery for at one year, and now she is on meds to control it, i wasnt aware of fixing large/giant breed dogs too soon causing cancer. She is large/giant breed.
Thats horrible.
With Face our Rott we had the choice of doing it when we felt so we had him fixed at 2 years old.

and he is fine. i did it the day after the vet said he was old enough and he hasn't had any problems at all, and he's now nine years old; he's not a large breed, just 45# lab-terrier mystery mix.

i think the sooner the better. i Got Trudy Spayed last week and she's only about 10-12 weeks old.

Most shelters around here will have all dogs/puppies neutered before adopting them out. Some are only 10 weeks or so old. And the puppy my parents had adopted years ago never had ANY problems relating to it.

Most shelters around here will neuter as young as 8 weeks of age. NO dogs/cats get adopted out without being spayed/neutered.

Personally, I think you should wait until a dog if full grown. Females I will spay at 6 months of age, males I prefer to wait until they are 8-12 months of age. Thats just me but I swear it has to have some impact on them if they spayed/neutered too early. Thats a lot of months, important months where their bodies are still growing without the normal amount of hormones & the such in their system.

Now I DO NOT reccomend this for everyone. I believe that you only really need to wait until they are older if you show the dog. Any show or sport. I just honestly believe it helps them grow up properly which is needed for a show dog or a dog that is used for sport/exercise . I also believe that if you plan on exercising your dog a LOT, like (s)he will be your 3 mile jogging partner everyday etc.... that it will be benificial to wait until your dog is fully matured. AND since waiting to spay/neuter them may cause behavioral problems I also reccomend that those who wait until they are older to spay/neuter that you go through at least a few obedience classes.
But if you get a dog for companion & he's not getting a LOT of exercise every day than I think spaying/neutering at an early age is fine. And the size of the animal matters too. A smaller dog/cat I would get spayed/neutered at an earlier age than a larger dog/cat.
I'm sure it helps with a LOT with the overpopulation of animals!

I know I'll probably hear it from a lot of folks and I've kept it quiet so far. The day after I made Kaige's neuter appointment I spoke to his breeder and I couldn't of been happier, she's allowing me to neuter him by the age of 1 year instead of 6 months like on our original contract. Like I said above, I don't reccomend that every person waits until every dog is 6-12 months old to spay/neuter.

I hope your yard is REALLY secure!!

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Originally Posted by Suki Wingy

I hope your yard is REALLY secure!!

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Oh yeah thanks for mentioning that. I forgot to add that having excellent control over your dog is also very important!!!! If you can not keep your dog/cat confined you should spay/neuter earlier!

Kaige is NEVER out of my sight, neither would any unneutered or unspayed dog/cat.

Good! :)

Kodie was neutered at 5 months old.We had a contract with the rescue that he had to get fixed before i certain age..i dont remember the age though :o .
Lucy was spayed at 6 months

Roxy was spayed at 8 months or they said she was 8 months. Anyways, I've always heard 6 months. Our shelter doesnt do spay/neuter before the dog is adopted, so we had to get Roxy's done, but someone had donated money for her spay to be done, so we adopted her for $20.

I had my dogs spayed when they were about 3 1/2 months. My vet believes in early spaying/neutering because young puppies tend to heal faster than older ones. Both dogs stayed over night and were fine the next day. I definately think it's a good idea for them to be spayed before their first heat.

We didn't get Angus neutered until he was 10. Yep, I said it...10. We really didn't see the need (Keisha was spayed & we didn't know the harm of not neutering). The only reason he was neutered was that he had an enlarged prostate. He never tried to get out of the yard, he was a good boy:)
Bon was just neutered last month (he was 1 yr & 2 mo). This was also a recommended time by our vet (1-2 yrs since he is a giant breed).
Roxey was around 5 months when she was spayed.
Huney was spayed shortly after we rescued (approximately 1 yr).

I guess what it all comes down to is that it is a personal decision (or a decision made by your breeder) on when to spay/neuter.