Alan L.
Elite Member
We lost our beloved cocker Fudge a year ago to bone cancer. We decided we wanted to rescue a dog from a shelter, and my wife and 9-year old granddaughter found one today, an 8-week old rat terrior. My wife tells me we will get the dog in a few days AFTER it is neutered. I said "what???" thats too young. According to some forums I read most vets recommend one year old and many 18-24 months.
We waited until Fudge was 6 months old per the vet, and now read that we probably killed him because neutering prior to a year old makes dogs 4 times more likely to get bone cancer. It is a horrible death, trust me.
Now we are told this puppy is to be neutered at 8 weeks? We are just getting over the death of our dog, and we certainly do not wish shorten our new pet's life, it certainly would not be our judgment to neuter the dog this young, we would wait until a year old, as our vet says to do.
So, after this hard decision to adopt (the $100 fee has already been paid), we find that we as dog owners have no say in something as important as the timing of the neutering surgery. I will always wonder when its going to happen and what a bad decision it was to do premature surgery. I am still regretting not properly researching it before Fudge got fixed. The slight chance of getting testicular cancer pales in comparison to osteosarcoma.
I have done plenty of research over the last year and I am totally convinced that neutering a young dog is irresponsible, and we flat out aren't going to do it. Not only is there the risk of cancer, but also I am told the dog will never develop and mature properly, will stay a puppy forever.
Too, bad, because they said it would be a really nice dog.
We plan to call early Monday morning and tell them we aren't taking the dog if they are going to do the neutering this young. And 6 months old is also too young, because of the cancer risk.
I would gladly agree to get it done at one year, but that does not appear to be an option. Why do they want to get dogs adopted that have already been mishandled and mistreated from day one?
I posted this on another popular forum and quickly got 4 replies, all of which say I'm an idiot and that age of neutering is not connected to bone cancer. I know this to be false, I have found it all over the internet, various studies,etc. They can't all be wrong. And, if you have already experienced it, you don't want to go there again.
We' like to go ahead with it, but it seems unreasonable that the surgery has to be done this young.
We waited until Fudge was 6 months old per the vet, and now read that we probably killed him because neutering prior to a year old makes dogs 4 times more likely to get bone cancer. It is a horrible death, trust me.
Now we are told this puppy is to be neutered at 8 weeks? We are just getting over the death of our dog, and we certainly do not wish shorten our new pet's life, it certainly would not be our judgment to neuter the dog this young, we would wait until a year old, as our vet says to do.
So, after this hard decision to adopt (the $100 fee has already been paid), we find that we as dog owners have no say in something as important as the timing of the neutering surgery. I will always wonder when its going to happen and what a bad decision it was to do premature surgery. I am still regretting not properly researching it before Fudge got fixed. The slight chance of getting testicular cancer pales in comparison to osteosarcoma.
I have done plenty of research over the last year and I am totally convinced that neutering a young dog is irresponsible, and we flat out aren't going to do it. Not only is there the risk of cancer, but also I am told the dog will never develop and mature properly, will stay a puppy forever.
Too, bad, because they said it would be a really nice dog.
We plan to call early Monday morning and tell them we aren't taking the dog if they are going to do the neutering this young. And 6 months old is also too young, because of the cancer risk.
I would gladly agree to get it done at one year, but that does not appear to be an option. Why do they want to get dogs adopted that have already been mishandled and mistreated from day one?
I posted this on another popular forum and quickly got 4 replies, all of which say I'm an idiot and that age of neutering is not connected to bone cancer. I know this to be false, I have found it all over the internet, various studies,etc. They can't all be wrong. And, if you have already experienced it, you don't want to go there again.
We' like to go ahead with it, but it seems unreasonable that the surgery has to be done this young.