Hi, I've not been on for a while.  Took Floyd to the vets for his booster and an overall check over.  Saw a different vet, as my usual vet was in an emergency operation. 
All she kept going on about was the fact that I should seriously consider bringing Floyd in so that he can be castrated.  He is  2 years and 4 months old, I told her that I had no reason for him to be castrated, I am not going to breed him, he is not left to his own devices if I let him off the lead or anything, he is not dominant or certainly not when he is in the home, he tries it on with other dogs, quite dog obsessed, he has never humped anything.
The vet said he could suffer with prostate cancer when he is older, my OH stated he could suffer with a few things when he is older but not necessarily because he hasn't been castrated.
Any advice or opinions greatfully received.
Jane

Why would anyone want to put their loved pet through unecessary surgery....?  There is a risk element to every surgical action.

If there are no problems, behavioural issues or any other reason to neuter other than the vet making money then I'd be telling the vet to 'bog orf'!!!

An abuse of power on her behalf and one which makes me really angry.

He could suffer from prostate cancer even if he is castrated, so that's no reason to put hm through surgery.

I thought the risk of prostate cancer was increased in castrated dogs.

Both can get prostate tumours. Prostate tumours are more likely in entire dogs, but the tumours are more likely to be malignant and harder to treat in castrated dogs.

IMO i wouldn't put any of my dogs through an unneccesary operation.  Why fix something that isn't broken?  (so to speak).  Unfortunately, this may seem cynical but i believe that it seems the standard vets speak is to automatically presume that all animals are neutered, nothing to do with them making money of course!!!!

I thought vets normally quoted the possibility of testicular cancer in entire males. Have never heard them mention prostate cancer before.

I have to say im no expert on castration so im only going by my own experience and that is that i was what id call hounded by a vets to get my boy done and he wernt even a year old at the time,
i had them phoning me up and even offering to collect him and return him after the op, it all got me very annoyed at the vets i felt they were realy trying to push me into doing something i really hadnt thought about and felt their was no need to do it at all,
they almost made me feel guilty and like i was some kind of awful dog owner who didnt care about my dogs for not getting it done,
i came on here for advice and the CD'S (thank you all again) put me right gave me great advice and made me feel better about not having it done,

like someone else has said If IT Aint BROKE dont FIX IT,

i now notice that alot of vets are trying to force this down owners throats and where i can understand they may be doing it to cut down the numbers of unwanted litters in a certin area , they must understand that some of us out here are not all about making money from our pets we are not all backstreet breeders and why should we get our dogs done if we dont have a real valid reason to do so, i do think its forced on people and that to me is not right ,
i dont agree with all the silly breeding going on like the mixing of some breeds but getting my boy done will not stop this in anyway as i have NO intention of breeding from him to any old dog , if at all,

you must do what you thinks right but  i dont see the point of putting a dog thu this unless for health reasons,

Jane
I think it's pretty unanimous!  :-)

I do agree with your OH, he is spot on.  While I understand that vets want to stop irresponsible breeding, I expect my vet to do me the courtesy of recognising that it's my decision.  I think you sound responsible enough to say no! 

Admit I would be cross if I had my vet keep pushing it.  And wouldn't blame you if you told them it was not their decision. 

Thank you all for your replies.
We will not be getting him castrated, though other people do comment "Oohh youv'e not had him done yet then".
We have spoken about it this evening and as I originally said there is no reason to get him castrated, I just needed confirmation that I wasn't being irresponsible and wanted to make sure I was doing the best thing by my dog.
We think he is perfectly fine as he is, he has already been through enough prodding and poking and biopsy surgery in his young life and I will not put him through any more unnecessary surgery.
Many thanks to you all
Jane
Floyd says thanks to x lol

Just  a thought in defense of vets maybe as there are so many dogs being bred irresponsibly they feel that the best way to prevent this is to encourage everyone to castrate. They are probably being somewhat judgemental in assuming everyone is an idiot and are not like yourself and others who clearly know their dog and his behaviour and can make good descions without the aid of sugery. 
I think there may also be a bit of steropyping going on it would be intersting to know if pushing castration/.spaying his higher in breeds like staffs rottie gsd etc and also more likely to be if you live in certain areas where dogs being bred or used irisponsible is more prevalent -does that make sense

I've had a few male dogs castrated over the years, mainly because as a breeder, I have bitches in season regularly and it is very difficult to have SEVERAL entire males when you have in season bitches. (Two's enough for me!) However I have also over the years had many male dogs NOT castrated, and I've never had a single one get any health problems as a result of being entire. For instance I lost an entire male Golden back in May, he was 13 and he never had testicular cancer or prostate cancer or anything related to his gender and entire status.

i would say no. castrations something you do if there is a reason to and you have no reason to. surgery is always such a risk plus post op infection etc. why risk it for no reason.

> i had them phoning me up and even offering to collect him and return him after the op, it all got me very annoyed at the vets i felt they were realy trying to push me into doing something i really hadnt thought about and felt their was no need to do it at all,
> they almost made me feel guilty and like i was some kind of awful dog owner who didnt care about my dogs for not getting it done,
>

ohh, that would have really annoyed me. thankfully my vets, who include the behaviourist we were seeing, said not to consider it because it would probably make his behaviour worse and there is no point. bless vets with understanding :)

bless vets with understanding

to true , and bless the CD'er who posted an artical and told me what to tell them, not sure who it was now but they told me to tell the vet that i didnt want him done as he was to young and that i wanted to insure his growthplates  closed timelessly, was something along those lines i wrote it down at the time and it worked a treat they shut up after that :-)

Bless the CD'ers xxx

not to consider it because it would probably make his behaviour worse

i did have one vet tell me this also , i know my young Bully is a bit of a Bully himself i do think he feels he is the leader of the pack but thankfully my Rottie is a baby he dont seem to give a hoot and lets the little one get away with most things , to a point that is but if bully goes to far Rottie will tell him off and bully has to execpt that even if he grumbles about it which he does, anyway my dogs are never alone im always here or bullys normaly with me he is my baby and i dont want to lose anypart of him i love him All even the hanging bits :-)lol

tio's fear aggressive at times so he would probably have gotten worse without a good strong feed of testosterone and castration would have stopped that. its why dogs should not always be done right off the bat for behavioural issues, it very much depends on the source of the aggression.

ok i get you, see my Tai (Bully boy) only gets boomy to my other dogs around ME!
He's good as gold when OH is  in kitchen and dogs are roaming in and out from garden, seems that theirs only issues when im down their with them all like Tai dont like other 2 dogs coming close by me he gets a little nippy at them more so if foods around or if we been all playing ball or toy games, after their moring walk they go into the garden and all 3 play like puppys so they do spend alot of time together playing , seems to be a jelousy issue for my attention with my Tai but then i have partly hand reared this boy and i am guilty of spending ALOT more time with him than the other 2 as OH mostly deals with them, so i do blame myself if he gets shirty with my Rottie,
when i was sitting in the garden a few week ago Tai went round barked at the other 2 dogs till they both walked indoors , almost like he's rounding up a heard of sheep , i find i really have to put my foot down with him and as im a bit of a soft touch its hard for me to do but i am trying,:-)

my cats are as bad we have 3 2 feral one very feral but when im in kitchen they will come in and sit by the door my OH goes nuts and says how can i have all these animals around while im cooking dinner but i cant help it i just say im a regular Snow White, they dont get under my feet i find it quite comforting when im pealing my spuds with my Tai sat leaning on my legs :-), OH cant stand it but it dont bother me guess im used to it,

Motto!! don't fix what isn't broken!!!!Money making venture by vets.
Negative side, neutering male dogs.
if done before 1year of age, significantly increases the risk of osteosarcoma (bone cancer)this is a common cancer in medium/large breeds with poor prognosis.
Increases the risk of cardiac hemangiosarcoma by a fact of 1.6
Triples the risk of hypothyroidism.
increases the risk of progessive geriatric cognitive impairment.
triples the risk of obesity, a common health problem in dogs with many associated health problems.
Quadruples the small risk (0.6%) of prostate cancer.
Doubles the small risk (1%) of urinary tract cancers.
increases the risk of orthopedic disorders.
increases the risk of adverse reations to vaccinations.
Was you told the down side? I bet not!!

Denese

Wow,very informative post.I have never had my dogs castrated (well only one due to undescended testicle)and certainly never will now.Thanks for the info.

Its appalling you should have to go through all that hassle from your vet,Chelzeagirl,good for you for not backing down.