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question aobut neutering

Sullysmom

Well-known member
Hello! Sully is my first smaller dog. I have had lots of labradors, a Brittany Spaniel, English Springer Spaniel, etc. I know from those experiences that most people recommend to wait until the dogs is more fully developed (12-18 months) before neutering. I recently asked my vet about this with smaller breeds. She looked at me like I was nuts. She did not think that was necessary, even for larger breed dogs. What are your thoughts? What age did you neuter your Cavalier??? =) I'm not in any hurry, just wondering what the thoughts out there are. Sully is 4 months old now.
 
The most prevalent opinion I saw before having Skippy neutered was to wait till at least he was 6 months old. We had his done at about 7 months of age.

 
Ideally you want a dog to be fully mature before he is neutered, so that you do not risk problems with physical development - but before unwanted behaviour patterns associated with the sex hormones develop {humping, scent marking etc}

I think 9 - 10 months is a good age for Cavaliers, they are fully grown at that age, but generally only just starting to show sexual behaviour.

Obviously bigger dogs take longer to mature, which would explain the older age range given.


HOWEVER A LOT DEPENDS ON YOUR HOME SITUATION - you need to be able to keep your dog secure, not able to run off {he will go in search of bitches even as young as 5 months of age, and it is incredible the fence height even a Cavalier can clear - or the gaps they can squeeze through!}

Also obviously if you have entire bitches in the house, you need to be able to board your dog somewhere else throughout their seasons - dogs can be fertile as young as 5 months, and bitches can be fertile anything from as early as day 5 to as late as about day 26 of a season :eek:
 
Thanks! No worries about other dogs or the fence. That's not an issue around here. I think I will wait a few more months then get him in. Winter might be slightly easier to slow him down??? Hee Hee! Not counting on it. =)
 
I had Sparky neutered at 7.5 months & Lucy was spayed 2 weeks ago, she is aprox 6-7 months & had had her first season already!
 
Jake and Shelby were both "altered" at six months. I am going to wait until closer to a year for Micah to give him time to fully develop. There aren't any issues with keepin him intact here, so unspayed females and a secure environment. I think it's very much a matter of preference and ability. Hoping his hormones will stay in check until then :rolleyes:
 
Oliver was neutered at 7 months, Oz was neutered at 10 months. We had to wait with Oz because they discovered a heart murmur and wanted to wait until he was done with all of his testing (ultrasound, Holter monitor, etc) before they would give him the O.K. for surgery. Riley was spayed at 13 months - had had one season already and Maddie was spayed at 9 months. I have had no problems with any of them and they all recovered easily and beautifully.
 
Miles was neutered at 3 years old and Truman was neutered at 1.5 years old. They both got kind of sick afterwards (nauseous)...the vets think they didn't do well with the Metacam injections; they used the "good" anesthesia, so we assumed it was the Metacam that caused it...I guess we'll never know for sure though.

Miles actually became quite sick 2 days after his surgery, and had to go to the ER. He had gastroenteritis and was at the vets office for 2 days, very dehydrated and sick. After he came home he recovered quite quickly. Also, after Miles was neutered, all humping stopped immediately (he was starting to hump Truman ALL the time, which was one of the reasons we had it done).
 
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