Castrating an older dog- advice please.

Tiddlypom

Tiddlypom

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Firstly, I will say that I am planning to discuss this with my vets shortly so this thread is not a substitute for a veterinary consultation, but any comments are very welcome.

I have a 9 year entire JRT dog. He sired a litter of puppies when he was much younger, and we kept him entire as he was no problem with our speyed JRT bitch. She had to be PTS a few months ago, and we are thinking of getting another dog. Recently, he has been getting a bit fruity at times when he can smell some nearby females in season.

If castration will settle him I would like him done. Also as we are looking to get another dog I think that it would be best all round. He's a healthy, fit dog. Anyone with any experiences good or bad please?
 
We had an older JRT castrated - pretty much similar story. He had sired a few litters, and was well behaved so we never had any need to have him done.

But then I found a lump in his testicle when he was around 9, and vet recommended castration which was done within days. Lab report confirmed it was cancerous, so it was just as well. He lived for another 4 years so the cancer hadn't spread, and the op didn't affect him in any way.

We did have another dog castrated later in life (he was a rescue dog) and he did seem different after - more lethargic, but then he was getting older so hard to tell if it was the late in life change of hormones or just old age.
 
Tiddlypom said:
Firstly, I will say that I am planning to discuss this with my vets shortly so this thread is not a substitute for a veterinary consultation, but any comments are very welcome.

I have a 9 year entire JRT dog. He sired a litter of puppies when he was much younger, and we kept him entire as he was no problem with our speyed JRT bitch. She had to be PTS a few months ago, and we are thinking of getting another dog. Recently, he has been getting a bit fruity at times when he can smell some nearby females in season.

If castration will settle him I would like him done. Also as we are looking to get another dog I think that it would be best all round. He's a healthy, fit dog. Anyone with any experiences good or bad please?
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I would absolutely recomend this.
I also had a male dog castrated at 9 years and it settled him and made life easier for us all. My situation was that my dog did have a habit of starting fights with other dogs on walk, it wasn't a problem for a long time as I used to walk my dogs over vast army land. Here I didn't meet many other dogs and I had time to recall him and put him on a lead. But I had to walk more in local parks for a while and the dog was a nightmare, runnimng off and starting fights. I had him castrated and it made an immediate difference, stopped the fights and made him much more amiable.
Good luck.
 
Quick update. I took my JRT to the vets today to discuss castration. It was a vet I know well, and he has recommended an implant that effectively chemically castrates the dog for 6 months, so we can monitor its effects on him. If it works well, we'll get him him surgically castrated once the implant has worn off, but if it affects him adversely behaviour wise, or indeed makes no difference, we'll know not to give him the snip.

Seems like a good idea, so the implant is in!
 
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