[C4D]

I’ve had a bit of experience with this very issue. Growing up, dogs and cats were not neutered. None of the family dogs had issues. With our own dogs if they were neutered, it was in adulthood, over 2 years old. We had no issues. About 18 years ago, we got a puppy from a local shelter who was neutered @ 8 weeks old. He was a large breed male(80 lbs). He tore his first cruciate @ 2 years old when he was in fantastic shape and very active. He tore the second one a year later. We have another rescue that we found in a kill shelter (stray with no known history) that was about 8 months old, female, large breed who had been spayed at some point in her life prior to being in the kill shelter. She tore her cruciate @ 5 years old and on the other knee there a partial tear at some point after this.
As a result I’m strongly against pediatric neutering. I have a current dog that I foster failed who was at least 3 years old (maybe 5) that was intact male until I got him. He has great muscle and really solid bone structure. The problem is I foster and the groups are now doing pediatric neutering. I understand that they don’t want more unwanted puppies, but I feel the dogs and the owners (financially) often end up suffering because of this. On the flip side, many large dog breeders are no longer guaranteeing sound dogs if you neuter before 18 months. The research is also pointing to less of the early benefits regarding cancers, etc. that were originally touted. If I had the choice today I would do a sterilization, like a vasectomy in humans. Here are some links:

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/09/30/neutering-health-risks.aspx

http://news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=10498

http://www.dogsports.com/rethinkingspayneuter.html

Good luck in your decision!

• This reply was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by C4D.