Week 18 

I have recently had to make a very difficult decision about Lewi. It took a lot of soul searching, researching and worry. I have had him neutered.

There had been a few issues that led to my decision. Firstly, the continual inappropriate sexual behaviour with his bedding, or mats or toys. He seemed to be oozing testosterone. But most importantly, he was having a lot of problems with other dogs. In one day alone he had two unpleasant scrapes which seemed to be unprovoked. All the adolescent type behaviour is of course only temporary, but the fights really did have me concerned.

The first place for advice on such things, is the vet. They produce a leaflet which explains that neutering prevents testicular cancer. I then looked for the leaflet that explained how decapitation prevents toothache.

Unbiased advice is very difficult to find. However, I did need to get the information and to do something to stop the fights.

There is a lot of confusing information about neutering around. I was able to determine  that it is important to delay any consideration until after puberty. Too early and a number of other risks are introduced, it seems that an optimum time is at least a couple of weeks after the dog starts to cock his leg. I was quite a bit later than that with Lewi. One useful site is this.

That site does argue quite strongly against neutering. Others suggest it may be helpful, for example this

As with all decisions, it’s a question of gathering as much information and advice as possible and then weighing the pros and cons.

There were two appointments with the vet. The first was for tentative enquiries. The second was once I had made up my mind. He was given a thorough medical and blood test to check on overall health and fitness. He came through A1 in all respects. I felt quite proud, it certainly proves something about his diet! She also found a baby tooth, a premolar which was still in his jaw being pushed aside by the adult tooth replacing it.

The operation went well. Though I did sleep that night on the settee so that I could keep an eye on him. He was OK but I had to keep reminding not to lick the wound. Within a day he seemed fully recovered, and still loves going to the vets! His 4 day check showed the wound healing well. We still have to take it easy on walks and he’s not supposed to do off lead work, so it’s too early to say much about the effectiveness of the operation. He does leave his bedding alone though and we have had no incidents on walks, so it looks promising.