Hi all

My male GSD Warro is almost 5 1/2 now and is intact, just because I've never seen any reason to have him neutered (Sasha and Jack are both done).  I happened to come across a post on another forum which mentions someone getting their 5 year old male castrated for health reasons, which has set me thinking.

So, has anyone any experience of having an older male done?  What were the benefits, if any? Were there any down sides?  Did their personality change?  How was the recovery? I know he'll probably get a bitch stripe, which would be a shame as he has a beautiful dark saddle, but obviously his health comes first. 

Thanks in advance for any replies.

I  have had an older male neutered with no problems whatsoever, no change to his personality, or shape. but then all dogs are didd, some (in fact most) owners dont adjust feeding ect and end up with overweight males and females that have been neutered.  dont know what a bitch stripe is?

Those males in my breed that I have know neutered at full maturity (3 +) have had little or no change in their looks behaviour etc.  Though food does need to be cut down, though the one who tended to be too lean became a nice weight after castration.

Hamish (GR) was castrated at 4ish, simply because I got a bitch puppy and didn't want any accidents. It didn't alter his personality and he recovered quickly. His coat has now changed slightly, but for a number of years post-castration it was fine. He is 11 now.

I also had Charlie (GR) done late, whilst he was having an unrelated op, basically so that he was only under anaesthetic once rather than having it done separately. I think he was around 6 or 7. He went on to live until he was 17+, so it certainly didn't do him any harm.

> So, has anyone any experience of having an older male done?  What were the benefits, if any? Were there any down sides?  Did their personality change?  How was the recovery?

I had my last dog castrated at approx 6 years old.

We got him when he was 4yrs from a shelter and came with a very ingrained habbit of actively trying to escape whenever he smelt a bitch on heat, he would also pace around the hosue & garden crying and being a general pain in the bum.
He managed to escape and got runover by a car after he recovered from that we got him castrated!
The only reason we had him castrated was to try to stop his wanderlust for bitches.

Benefits - it did stop him being a pain around the house over inseason bitches and did stop him trying to escape. There were no other behaviour/personality changes.

Recovery - I felt so sorry for him when he came home from the vets, he was not a stoic dog atall and was pottering around looking very sorry for himself and crying a bit, but the next day he was back to his usual self. He also had his rear dewclaws removed at the same time and recovered fantastic with them too.

We did have to adjust his feeding slightly, he was a pig anyway but after the op had an increased tendancy to put on weight, this is easily managed with portion control though :)

Hi Paula.  If you don't have any problems why would you want to castrate him?  If you trawl the internet enough, you will find enough info to scare you to death.  I would leave well alone.  Just MHO :-)

tadog, a bitch stripe on a GSD is a stripe of light coloured hair mixed in with the usual black hair down the spine area which is usual in bitches, and often comes through after a male has been castrated.

The weight issue would be no problem as he tends to be slightly lean anyway but I feed raw, which I've found seems to keep them all at a steady weight anyway. 

Jacksgirl, I am generally of the opinion with my dogs that less is more, I feed raw,  don't vaccinate any more and have mostly very healthy dogs (except for Jack's epilepsy).  The only problem I have with him is that he can be confrontational with other males, but we manage that.  The main reason I was considering it was that I read that older males can suffer health problems if they're left intact.  I'd also have his claws done if he was having a GA - he is such a wuss when I try to do them!

Hi Paula.  I've always had males living with the girls and it is hard work when the girls are in season but nothing that I can't handle. I have no qualms with speying bitches that have had pups (apart from the inevitable incontinence problems - maybe just my lot but after 30 years I'm beginning to think not) but if testicles are a 'health issue' why don't we castrate all men beyond a certain age? (PS I'd be up for that BTW :-))

Haven't bred so far, circumstances not right, never had the right bitch, want to learn much more before breed, if I ever do.  Luckily, I've never had a problem with incontinence in my bitches, so that's never been an issue.

Now men, I live with my husband, my two teenage sons and his 3 teenage sons, so there's only me and Sasha who are female in the whole house, even the cat's a boy!!  I'm thinking of passing on your suggestion, I'm sure you'll hear the howls wherever you live lol!!

Till my present females I have only ever had males as a child/adult, none of them were neutered and lived between 13 + 16.5yrs and didn't die of anything related to being intact males.

My females will be spayed after they have stopped having pups as coming into season twice a year for 14+yrs is just too much for their bodies to go through, pity they don't have a menapause like us.

The only problem I have with him is that he can be confrontational with other males, but we manage that.  The main reason I was considering it was that I read that older males can suffer health problems if they're left intact.

The only reason I neuter male dogs for is for pure convenience as I have so many bitches, and it makes life a lot easier to only have two entire boys, one of each size. I have however had dogs stay entire all their lives until 13, no problem at all. I've also never noticed any change in behaviour and for instance my neutered dogs will all still mate and tie, and hence act the same towards other males also. I THOUGHT I had one that had stopped doing it, turned out it was his epilepsy medication that took away the urge! He got better and the vet suggested taking him off his meds (after having taken blood tests etc) and the next time I had a bitch in season, all of a sudden he was interested. This particular dog was neutered when 3.

It sounds like we're better off leaving him alone then :-).  I have to admit, the thought of putting him under a GA worries me, I'm not a fan of anything medical, either for me or any of my family,

He never wanders, or tries to mount any of the others (Sasha would certainly give him what for if he tried it on with her!), in fact other than being overbearing with other males, he's a real sweetheart.  So it's no inconvenience to keep him intact.

I got Sasha spayed after her hipscore came back higher than I would like and showed that she had the beginning of arthritis and she's very nervy so I'd never breed from her and obviously it's much more convenient to have no seasons. Jack is my hubby's dog and was neutered before we got together.

Thanks for all your answers, it's really interesting to hear everyone's experiences.