neutering funding help/options?

First topic message reminder :

Hi all been away of late around the forums but would like some help or advice. We are looking at getting Milo neutered and wondered if there were any schemes/reductions that were available to help with the finances. I can remember a thread here some weeks ago re vouchers but can't remember the details-sorry. I have called round several vets in our area including our own and the prices of course vary. I am pleased our actual small family run practice are the cheapest at £128 (Milo is a big boy and comes under the larger category!) We have alot of respect for this practice as they are very respectfull of you and your animals too. We have lots of friends and family use them even though they are quite out of area but only a 15 minute drive still. Anyway I am asking about funding as we have had a bad year and have been left in a very bad position financially and just can't do it with everything else but do wish to get our boy neutered before reaching full maturity. I wont go into details but my husband lost his business=mounting debts.....blahh blahh. Our other option we though of was to ask the practice if we could do installments is this possible do you think? I feel really embarrassed asking here let alone speaking to our vet who knows us and our animals fairly well, I don't really want to divulge our situation tbh Of course it's not essential and we could do nothing! x

Like everyone says its a personal choice and everyone has thier own opinions on it I wouldnt and didnt think twice about neutering espeacially as i own staffs.
I appreaciate everyone here is quite capable of keeping thier dogs under control but sorry its impossible to say "my dog will never escape" or "my dog will never get to a in season bitch" u cant predict the future lol - again just an opinion. Again i really think its working in rescue that puts it into purspective. We once had a kc reg staff come into our rescue. this was going back a few years now who was from an extremley reputable kennel, we obviously contacted them and the breeder was absolutley mortified and made a 300 mile trip to come and pick her up. She couldnt believe one of her dogs ended up in rescue.....the moral of the story is.......*hit happens sometimes, and it can happen to anyone! Go into rescue and see the amount of staff crosses in there under 6 months old, ask how many pregnant staff/staff cross they have in foster etc etc its terrifying and utterly heartbreaking.

blaze wrote:its impossible to say "my dog will never escape" or "my dog will never get to a in season bitch"

I agree. But, it's also impossible to say that your dog/bitch won't react badly to the anaesthetic or won't get urinary incontinence, urinary burn or nervous aggression. But it happens, quite frequently, far more frequently than an unplanned mating! Vets don't tell you about the failures, I'm afraid - the ones that have problems. They only tell you about the ones that go well.

I've nothing against neutering, if that's what the individual wants, but neutering at the right time, to avoid the possibility of certain things going wrong. An extra 18 months isn't long to wait & keep your dog away from in season bitches or your in season bitch away from dogs.

Caryll wrote:

blaze wrote:its impossible to say "my dog will never escape" or "my dog will never get to a in season bitch"

I agree. But, it's also impossible to say that your dog/bitch won't react badly to the anaesthetic or won't get urinary incontinence, urinary burn or nervous aggression. But it happens, quite frequently, far more frequently than an unplanned mating! Vets don't tell you about the failures, I'm afraid - the ones that have problems. They only tell you about the ones that go well.

I've nothing against neutering, if that's what the individual wants, but neutering at the right time, to avoid the possibility of certain things going wrong. An extra 18 months isn't long to wait & keep your dog away from in season bitches or your in season bitch away from dogs.

Totally agree with you,
I am aware of how bad the rescue situation is,but again the majority of the crisis we are seeing is down to irresponsible "pet breeding".
The amount of litters I have seen for sale, unreg sbt's is not funny,likewise breeding for the colour blue and there is one breeder who I am aware of that will let his dog mate any bitch regardless of whether or not they have papers,why because of the colour of it,it doesn't even look like a good quality SBT.
It's these sort of people that we should be educating on why it is not a good idea to breed especially at the current time.

It's a tough call a very personal one,but I have heard of horror stories of neutering too,like a lovely well bred bitch dying on the table whilst having a routine spay,it happens.

Me personally would rather not take the chance of putting mine under an unnecessary GA,I have entire bitches and dogs together,never had an accidental mating,don't ever intend to have one,so I am damn sure after keeping entire dogs together I am quite capable of not allowing him to sire any pups.

I would love a pup from him,but can't justify using him at stud because of the rescue situation,but at the same time can't justify having him castrated either,also I wouldn't be able to have another dog here whilst I still have Meg mardy pants as she will not tolerate another dog in her home.

This post has turned out to be very interesting. I had Tyson 'done' at 7 months. I looked at all the pros and cons in conjuction with my vet (as I knew them to be at the time - have since been enlightened by some of the views expressed here). My main reasons where that I was not going to show him or use him for stud, I simply could not risk him escaping into the very busy streets around me and I doubted my ability to control a testosterone filled male staffie. I suppose I opted to remove any hormone issues before they even began. What you dont know etc.

I have to be honest & say that although I may have been lucky, I've never had an uncontrollable entire dog. I've had entire GSDs, BSDs, a Staff & now an EBT and all of them were/are under control at all times, and not difficult to control around a female in season. It's all a matter of common sense & training.

BTW Caryll your boy Dempsey is simply stunning. I love the videos you have posted. He is a joy to watch and I am in awe of that muscular build in fluid motion. Pure poetry. (NB not a suk up attempt

Ty wrote:BTW Caryll your boy Dempsey is simply stunning. I love the videos you have posted. He is a joy to watch and I am in awe of that muscular build in fluid motion. Pure poetry. (NB not a suk up attempt

Suck up as much as you like, Dempsey's so thick it won't make any difference to him!

He's isn't that good at the moment, I'm having real problems getting some weight off him. He's a really lazy dog!

For me personally the health benefits of leaving a dog entire FAR outweigh the health benefits of neutering, so unless Harvey medically needs it i will not be neutering him.

It is however a personal choice though.

Still struggling so sitting tight just now. The health benefits are a tiny proportion/reason to neuter from what I have read and are in my thoughts virtually irrelevant to my decision.

I cannot help feeling a bit worried about the what ifs (if we keep them on!) I simply can't help it! Then there's the what if's if we go ahead too. The main thing fueling the contemplation in fact is the what if's...it's just not clear cut. I am confident we can control him but maybe my confidence in this matter is not 100% of the time as I don't manage that now although we're almost there-hopefully...?!

I am talking about it with people who are experienced with dogs out and about too and they have all said do it. I ask them their reasoning and they say the health benefits, no one cany deny there are some although largely insignificant to me as a reason to do it as I've said already, the other is the unwanted interest in females, it definitely calms them (but I question is that the age as most are neutered young) I would however love to calm his energy levels he is a dog with bounless energy! He is very well exercised and I would say super fit, which is in no way a bad thing!

One thing's for sure, if he has loads of energy now, he'll have loads of energy sfter neutering - it doesn't affect that at all.

To be honest, we could go round in circles on here for 10 years & we wouldn't all agree! I think the best thing you can do now is to give yourself a little time to think about it calmly, without anyone else giving their opinions. Read all you can & then just consider it. Give it a month or so (that won't make any difference) and then make your decision.

The only thing I will add is that if you decide not to neuter, then you can always change your mind at a later date. If you decide to neuter, well, it's done & no going back.

fab advice, it's exactly what's happening here lol! Going the other way now though....indeed I am going round in circles! Milo on our orchard walk today played fab with a new friend who we walked the whole way with but he just kept getting fruity and the bitch didn't mind so much lol!! He was easy to stop mind you and thankfully her owner never minded but he's defo. turning into a teenager lol! I will leave this post well alone now and ponder some more!

neutering your dog isn't going stop him getting ill.

Caryll wrote:One thing's for sure, if he has loads of energy now, he'll have loads of energy sfter neutering - it doesn't affect that at all.

Agree,after Meg was spayed,she was done at 20 months,(so mature or nearly there)she resorted back to been a playful puppy.She had endless amounts of energy.

Agree with take some time and think about it,make an informed decision,read all you can,consider all the options and weigh up the pros and cons.

If you still not sure wait till he's mature and try the chemical castration before making it permanent.

Just a point to remember is that there is a risk with the GA and also infection,post neutering,as there is with any surgical procedure.

Steve wrote:neutering your dog isn't going stop him getting ill.

thanks Steve I think you've mis read my posts as at no point did I say neutering would stop him getting ill with the exception of testicular cancer, I even wrote about some internet information saying that neutering actually increases some risks to their health.

Tyler&megsmum wrote:

Caryll wrote:One thing's for sure, if he has loads of energy now, he'll have loads of energy sfter neutering - it doesn't affect that at all.

Agree,after Meg was spayed,she was done at 20 months,(so mature or nearly there)she resorted back to been a playful puppy.She had endless amounts of energy.

Agree with take some time and think about it,make an informed decision,read all you can,consider all the options and weigh up the pros and cons.

If you still not sure wait till he's mature and try the chemical castration before making it permanent.

Just a point to remember is that there is a risk with the GA and also infection,post neutering,as there is with any surgical procedure.

thanks Sal, so much to consider.......

don,t know if you live near stoke on trent but the city dogs home here do it for males around £75 last time i checked

Iam the type who will NOT have these type of things done unless absolutely necessary. My vet and other dog owners have asked if i have or will be having Sapphire spayed, but i really don't want to. thonly time i will do this is if we ever have any accidents OR if i choose to get a male dog later on as a companion for her.

My mum has a jack russel (lucky) anhe is about 8 or 9 now but she decided to go back to having Staffs and had a male Staff (Rocky) from my sisters dogs litter. Lucky was a very tempramental dog, he didn;t like anyone fussing him, he chose when he had fuss and if he had a spot on the sofa he was keeping that spot no matter what. He even nipped at my daughter when she sat next to him. She had a horrible scrap on her finger where he took some skin away but she was fine. But since my mom has had Rocky he has clamed RIGHT down. He does lay down the law with Rocky even though he is twice as small as him lol. but he is sooo calm now, he LOVES the fuss, a few weeks ago i actually got to stroke him for the first time since he was a puppy. I was shocked when he came over and sat next to me and let me stroke him, i almost cried lol.

I think lucky thinks he is Rocky's dad since Lucky has known him since he was about 7 weeks old, my sisters dog had 4 pups (5 but one didn't make it ) so Lucky had no choice but to get used to it.

Anyways im straying off mark (i blame this yummy glass of wine im drinking ) Maybe it would be a good idea to maybe have some doggy playdates at home? and if you can maybe adopt another dog so he has a playmate?

See while I'm in the if it ain't broke don't fix it camp,I would always have a bitch spayed if I wasn't planning on showing with a view to breeding.

I have always kept my bitches entire,but 3 years ago my current bitch Meg became very very ill,she was fine on the friday morning,by evening she was extremely poorly,wouldn't eat,drink,was very depressed and lethargic.I rang my vets for advice,she was admitted at 8.30am the next morning with suspected Pyometra,by 11.30 it had been confirmed and she was extremely ill and hours away from death,thankfully she was stable enough to be operated on and made it through the surgery.
She was only 20 months old,I always thought it was older bitches that developed Pyo.
Since then I am of the opinion to spay any bitch I were to own in the future,if I had no plans to breed.

Tyler&megsmum wrote:See while I'm in the if it ain't broke don't fix it camp,I would always have a bitch spayed if I wasn't planning on showing with a view to breeding.

I have always kept my bitches entire,but 3 years ago my current bitch Meg became very very ill,she was fine on the friday morning,by evening she was extremely poorly,wouldn't eat,drink,was very depressed and lethargic.I rang my vets for advice,she was admitted at 8.30am the next morning with suspected Pyometra,by 11.30 it had been confirmed and she was extremely ill and hours away from death,thankfully she was stable enough to be operated on and made it through the surgery.
She was only 20 months old,I always thought it was older bitches that developed Pyo.
Since then I am of the opinion to spay any bitch I were to own in the future,if I had no plans to breed.

I have to agree with your comment and me too wanted to keep my girl entire but I just knew that she was unhappy and had no desire to have puppies never had a phantom just was very depressed before and during her season.
But I have reservations when it comes to a dog I think if you are a responsible owner then why change nature and put your dog through major surgery. Personally I dont think its fair to let a male mature then have him castrated I think you only have a short time for a male were they are fully mature but lack male instinct that for me would be the right time If I was castrating a male.

Hi Gem, I'm probably being really stupid but do you mean re instinct in males, what instinct would you be keen to keep? x

A lot of people think its best to let a dog mature before being castrated but for me you only have a small time from the dog maturing to having a natural urge to mate after that time would be unfair in my book and you cant always determin when that time is because it can differ from dog to dog.
I mean when the point in maturity tells the dog its time to find a mate and breed its a natural instinct to the dog testosterone is at a high level and the need to reproduce becomes important. Take away the testosterone and you have a different dog but having a dog with testosterone doesnt mean he will be aggresive or trying to escape

A proven stud dog is special in that he knows exactly the job in hand knows how to seduce a lady that is special:D

gem wrote:
A proven stud dog is special in that he knows exactly the job in hand knows how to seduce a lady that is special:D

I don't think it matters too much when a dog is castrated as long as he's mature. Once the testosterone level drops after castration he'll lose the urge to mate, so it won't make him frustrated.

Having said that, I've never had a male castrated!

We have finally come to a decision and after all the talk on this thread I thought I'd let you know! We have decided for a few reasons to have Milo neutered. He will be having surgery this coming weds. at our family vet practice, which I'm pleased about as they know us and him and vice versa However they would not consider even a split payment of 2 equal payments it was all or nothing!

Good luck for wednesday, all will be fine Xx

Good luck Milo