I was talking to one of my puppy owners tonight who has decided to have her boy neutered. My males are both castrated - they both had their testicles removed - at two separate vets. However the puppy owners vet has recommended a vasectomy instead? Can anyone shed any light on why this would be preferred - what if any are the health benefits? This is not a show dog so having testicles or not doesn't really matter - in my opinion :) 

just read my post again... for clarification each boy went to a different vet.....I didn't have a different vet remove each testicle! :)   One of my males was very aggressive, I took him to a friends to be neutered so I could stay with him till he was under then be there when he woke.

I was talking about this with my own vet and if the dog is of a nervous/shy disposition or isn't that confident then they will sometimes perform a vasectomy so the dog does not lose its source of testosterone, it merely makes them unable to reproduce. He did say it was a slightly more complex procedure and thus a little more costly though.

HTH

Thanks very much Ice. Not sure I see the benfit then, they would still be upset around bitches in season and want to and be able to mate but not sire pups then? I think I'll try to persuade the puppy owner to go for a traditional castration if at all.

Yes, they would still have the urge to and be able to mate but they could not sire pups. If they lack confidence then castration can make them worse, which is why a vasectomy can be offered as an alternative.

But even castrated dogs often are upset around bitches in season and even castrated dogs can and do "mate" and even tie with bitches.

Yes, but vasectomised dogs will go bonkers. After all, vasectomised human men don't have reduced s*x drive, do they? The likelihood of a castrated dog being bothered by bitches is far less than that of a vasectomised dog.

Just to go off at a tangent, is a neutered dog less likely to be interested in bitches even if he isn't neutered until 3 1/2 years? I am thinking of having my Yankee done - it may or may not help the problem with the other male dog we have, but I am hoping it might reduce the soggy neck syndrome we have with my puppy bitch!!

Hi Lucy, it seems to depend on the individual dog. I have two borzoi litter brothers, both were neutered as adults. It certainly helped their temprements and they are very laid back with each other now. However when my bitch is in season one doesn't bother at all and the other stays glued to her shoulder for 3 weeks!

Oh well, I'll keep my fingers crossed. I've bought some more bitter spray in the hope he might not like it, but this is the dog who eats curries found in the park, so.....! :-D

yuck! Dogs can be quite disgusting can't they :) :)

To be honest no, unlike men they ae generally only disgusting when a bitch is in season :D

lol... I meant with the eating curries in the park... :)

I know, he leads a charmed life the amount of rubbish he eats in the park before I can grab him!!! The funniest was the monster pitta bread - I didn't even know they came so big, he's only a Yankee and this bread was so huge he couldn't lift it off the ground as it was taller than him!!! :-D

I have neutered male, he still wants to breed when a bicth is in heat..he is casterated.

that would be bitch...sorry

My male was castrated at 4 years old. He showed no interest in my young bitch on her first season just 2 months after the op. However, he still completely ignored my older bitch when she recently came into season, but after a bit of flirting by her...........i'm sure there was probably quite a lot, he mated her and tied when i wasn't looking. It does seem they can still perform the act but aren't fertile. I would say it probably depends also on the bitch in season as to whether they take much interest or not!

M.x

One of my males was castrated at 11 & 2 yrs later (whilst I was away) he couldn't resist a come-on from my young hussy & happily tied with her for 10 minutes

Hmm, so if he does still show interest after castration I guess he still shouldn't be left with her in case of tieing with her unsupervised? Blast!

Looking for a vet that does dog vasectomies ... can you assist?  thanks

Just to say even fully castrated males can, and often do, mount and even tie with a 'willing partners'.   The only certainty with either surgery is no puppies, assuming the surgery has been done properly.

Frankly if a dog is needing to be neutered, I'd opt for the full castration - it's non invasive (not like a spay at least) so why go for the 'half measure'?

> why go for the 'half measure'?

1), Because you'd like to continue showing but judges will not seriously consider a dog without testicles
2) the dog is still immature, and needs the hormones to develop in mind and body, and the owner needs to ensure sterility.
3) Vasectomy is less invasive than castration, as only the tubes are cut.

agree with Brainless. keeping hormones helps reduce some cancers. While castration obviously stops testicular cancer it increases the risk of others but some large amount. Also there is a lot of evidence that keeping hormones which lets face it arnt all to do with reproduction, that's actually a small part, helps prevent the chance of joint an ligament problems, especially  in  larger breeds

. Reseach is beginning to show that the high numbers of cruciate ligmant damage could be linked to neutering particularly if down before maturity
Its similar  to why somepeople are looking at  ovary sparing spays . There is ahwole fb grou with good info on this subject if anyone is on fb . Ovary sparing and vascetomies. imo certainly worth considering for these reasons

https://www.facebook.com/groups/alternativealteringinfo/?fref=ts   have a look here for more info and I think there is alist of vets that do the op

The only castrated male I ever had was done at 6 months (Long story) but he was always keen to give the girlies what they wanted when they were in season so had to be watched like a hawk !!

yep my castrated male is more than happy to try

"Frankly if a dog is needing to be neutered,"   ...... as was the beginning of my 'why go for the half measure comment.

B. this is the crux of the situation.    If somebody wants to keep showing (and yes, unfortunately once testicle-less most judges won't put him over an entire dog unless the rest of the class is rubbish!), if the dog is stilll immature etc., of course, I suppose, vasectomy could be 'better'.   But I'm assuming there is a need for neutering, so I would opt for the full castration.   However,  isn't the answer to 'ensuring no puppies' down to making sure the dog has no ability to be mating?   Hey ho.

Er, castrated dogs can and sometimes do still mate   (As per someone's above experience...)

> castrated dogs can and sometimes do still mate

Oh God!!!    Obviously I should have said 'to be SUCCESSFULLY mating' - not so.

Well surely a vasectomy achieves the absence of puppies as well as castration does, so not sure that's a factor...