Neutering age & growth plate development?

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Farlekiin the- Dragonborn

Barked: Mon Apr 30, '12 3:48pm PST


	He was neutered at 4 months old, by advice of the vet and the rescue we went through. Is that considered fairly young to neuter? I was 16 then and didn't know anything

Lad about town

Barked: Fri May 4, '12 4:20am PST


	Ah, don't worry about it. It might have had an effect but most people neuter young and Farley seems pretty well balanced so no harm done. My mum got my childhood cat done really young like three months, he became a big sooky ball of flab lol but never acted kittenish. It's only the really hard core working dogs that can suffer because of muscle development, personality changes and so on.

OBEY ME!

Barked: Fri May 4, '12 12:53pm PST


	Farley - Conker was neutered at about 2 1/2 months by the shelter I got him at. That's pretty danged early, and yes, it did have effects on him. He's super tall for a Shiba Inu and very girly looking (not masculine, but thanks to a good diet and exercise, he is muscular). He's not quite two yet, but I can easily see the difference between him and a similarly aged Shiba that's intact, or even neutered at a later age than he. If it had been up to me, he'd still have his balls and would for the rest of his life. But when I got him the deed had already been done, and I don't see the point in denying a dog a good life because of that.

Spooky Mulder

Barked: Fri May 4, '12 1:24pm PST


	I am certainly of the opinion that one should wait until physical AND mental maturity to have their animals altered, ESPECIALLY if one is wanting to compete in any sort of sport venue. But I've also come to believe that after the dog is fully matured, it doesn't really matter much if you alter them, at least in regards to drive/ability/etc. Maybe there's an edge maybe there isn't, but from personal experience just because a dog is neutered doesn't mean he can't "bring it" (so to speak ) to the field.

1247867

Barked: Sun May 6, '12 10:20am PST


	I have a rescued pyr and wanted to wait until he was fully grown to neuter him. He played in daycare every day. By the time he was 8 months old, he was getting into fights all the time. Some weren’t his fault. The other dominate dogs in the “pack” started to single him out. He never got injured or injured anyone else, but when he turned on his brother and put his teeth on me --we went straight to the vet to get neutered. It was very traumatic. So much swelling, the stitches came out a couple times, and it took weeks to recover. He does okay with other dogs now, but still has issues with dominate dogs. When I got a GSP puppy a few years later, I got him neutered at 16 weeks. The surgery went great and the recovery time seemed like a matter of hours. By the next day he didn’t even notice. He does great with all dogs because they view him as more of a puppy so less of a threat.

Member Since
01/04/2009

Barked: Mon May 7, '12 10:56am PST


	I don't think neutering has a direct effect on dog aggression...the reason I say that is that I've been around plenty of neutered dobermans who still can't be around dogs of the same sex with out a serious fight breaking out. And the OP's question was about growth plate closure, not necessarily about aggression. 16 weeks is WAY too early to spay or neuter a pet, IMHO. Neutering that early makes a dog or bitch very tall and lanky looking. Not my cup of tea, personally. I know that especially if you have large breeds of dog that take a long time to become fully grown and you have the option, I would say to hold back on neutering if you can. I don't know if it makes them less physically stable, but as other have mentioned it thins the bone and often makes male dogs look very feminine.