Hi
i would like some advice on castration for the future
I have a 4 yr old bitch and a 11 week old dog and obviously at the moment there is no problem but my bitch is not spayed and would prefer to get him castrated. At what age is best for this operation to be performed.

The honest truth is that the minute the males balls drop he is fertile and can mate with your bitch and this can happen from 4 months of age.  Most of us would tell you to castrate a male after maturity depending on the breed 12 months - 3 years.

I would have the bitch spayed and leave your dog for a while yet as it is going to drive him crazy everytime your bitch comes into season.

So my personal advice would be spay the bitch.

Hi the bitch isnt due into season until february and had plans to mate her, as didnt work this time so not intending to spay her.
so i suppose some time before then. He will be approx 6 or 7 months, will the testicles have dropped by that age? He is a weimaraner.

Ok change of action then, if you are breeding the bitch. I personally know of a 4-5 month pup who did mate with a bitch the owner thinking he was safe, he isn't safe, far from it, so come Feb you will need to keep your male pup away from your bitch.

Either pop him with a family member for 3 weeks, find a way to seperate them in the home, though that will be extremely tough, your male may not eat and he may whine.

Or he can be castrated at 6 months the earliest, not ideal and I don't really recommend it, but your vet will do it.

But if it does not fall before Feb, you will definitely need to seperate them. :-)

he can be castrated at 6 months the earliest, not ideal and I don't really recommend it, but your vet will do it.

However this will not mean that he will be infertile by the time she comes in season as there is no actual timescale for a dog becoming infertile after castration & of course he would still be able to mate even if he is infertile

I would send him away until her season is over & if she has her puppies then spay her after the litter is born. Castrating him too early can affect his growth plates which are hormonally affected I understand

Very good point Moonmaiden re: the sperm still staying active after castration, very silly of me to ommit that point.:rolleyes:

;)

Where there's a willy, there's a way... ;)

Obviously there are lots of people who manage an entire dog and a bitch in season but for sure, careful management is essential since very many accidental matings have occurred as a result of a moment's inattention. Most people I know in this situation either send the male away (probably the easiest solution) or divide their houses into various barrier zones and rotate the dogs around them. Thus all get use of the house but never the same part of the house at the same time.

So far as castration is concerned, I'm not in favour of too early an intervention and it always strikes me as very unfair (and undesirable) for an otherwise healthy young pup to be neutered simply because there is a bitch in the house and it'd be more convenient if he lost his nads. Apart from anything else, he won't be firing blanks for some time to come so it's by no means an immediate solution. I'm not suggesting that neutering should never be an option but, in the short term, you could be creating a whole new set of problems if this pup is castrated too young.