Our 9 month male GR has just been neutered (feeling sorry for himself with Elizabethan collar on at the moment).  He is currently being fed Royal Canin Junior for a large breed and is on approx 530 gm per day (I do feed slightly under the recommended amount).  He is a large dog (38kg) but still has his "tuck" and you can feel his ribs.  The vet says he is "perfect" and his growth chart is straight line over the last seven months.  I am just now wondering how much to actually feed him as I keep reading that dogs can put on weight once they've been neutered or is this if they are neutered when they are much older?  As he is a big GR I don't want him surrepticiously putting on weight and then we have a prob on our hands (although he does get weighed every two months at the vets for his flea drops).  I suppose I'm asking should I feed the recommended amount on the Royal Canin packet or should I reduce it a bit - it doesn't mention on the packet whether the dog is intact or not.  Many thanks.

The vets I work with advise cutting the quantity of food by about a quarter a week after neutering - the metabolism slows very quickly after the surgery, and it's better to prevent them putting on weight in the first place, rather than having to lose it later.

I'd continue as you are and see how he gets on -cut down if he starts to look and feel too fat. The trouble is, you've neutered rather early so he will now continue to grow for longer than he would otherwise have done and as he will continue to grow for a while now you need to make sure he doesn't get too little either. Beware though that RC tends to put weight on more easily than many other foods -well with both my breeds anyway. :)

Thanks for the advice.  I didn't realise we had neutered early .. our vets said it could be done at 6 months and we waited until he was 9 and virtually fully grown - how come he'll grow for longer, I don't fully understand that?

The lack of hormones means that the growth plates at the ends of his bones will be slower to close, so he's likely to be a bit taller than he would have been otherwise.

Goldens normally grow until 12-18 months or so, then continue to fill out in body until almost 3 in many cases. (Can vary a lot between different bloodlines though, but all mine have been like this.) If neutered early the growth plates will close later than otherwise and so growth will continue for longer. I have one dog that was neutered young and he's a good four inches taller than his brothers. Vets tend not to tell you his sadly, but the best age to neuter is 18 months to 2 years. But I'm sure he'll be fine, perhaps a bit bigger than he'd have been otherwise -but presumably he's not a show dog so it won't matter. :)

Oh heck, I'm feeling awful now.  None of the books I read mentioned this, but nothing i can do now.

You might like to read this article, http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf
apart from the greater height he is likely to stay narrow and have less bone substance.

Unfortunately many welfare agencies and vets are more interested in trying to limit the number of potential animals that could reproduce than consequences to the individual.  A bit strange really as those most likely to neuter are the more responsible owners who would not be letting their dogs reproduce Willy nilly.

Vets will never tell you about the downside of early spaying or castration for the obvious reason that it would put people off having the operations done & be a loss of their income.

Testosterone is required in both males & females to act with the growth hormones to ensure that the growth plates on the long bones close, remove the reproductive organs & gone is the testosterone(& yes females do have testosterone)

This article explains it in more depth

Goldenz,

Keep in mind that many thousands of dogs each year are neutered much earlier than your boy and the vast majority have no problems as a result.

On the food, I would keep him where he is unless he shows signs of gaining weight.  His body is still changing and growing - and especially if he's active - you might not need to cut him back at all.  

>not sure what GB stands for

It's GR - Golden Retriever. ;-)

Arggghhhh.  Gotta start wearing my glasses!