Hello,
Forgive me for posting with regards to an all too common topic. In some ways that is the problem, that there is so much information out there that I am very confused with regards to desexing. I have read pretty as much information as I can source on the internet, but as with so many things, it contradicts itself the more you read.
I have a chocolate male Labrador, Rooke. He is currently 5 months old. From the moment I got him - at puppy/obedience school, the vets, brochures etc everything was stating to desex him at 5-6 months. In a way i didn't really delve too much further into it until now since he is at that point. Through reading up recently it seems there is so much information and misinformation that I don't really know what is best for the dog, and that is all I really care about. I have no problem with him being desexed now or at 12-18 months but I want him to have the best life possible.
Some sources say that the illnesses that desexing promotes itself on preventing, are minimal in many instances to begin with. And in fact that it can raise the chances of others such as bone cancer? The biggest issue I have though is regarding the growth plates. Rooke, is a pretty big dog at about 20kgs already, not fat just pretty chunky and obviously growing fairly quickly. We got him from a breeder and the dam/sire had great hip/elbow scores but does that have a big effect? If we were to desex him now I have read stories that his joints can suffer and so forth. The breeder did not make as sign a contract to say we would desex him so it is in our hands entirely.
What I was really hoping for was some advice from people who have been in similar situations, preferably with Labradors, but any advice appreciated. Did you have them desexed younger/older and do you believe things could have been done better.
Is it as simple as giving him as long as possible with desexing and then going for it when he begins to mark territory and such things, or by that point are a lot of the behaviors permanently in place with or without desexing?
I hope all of this makes sense - like I said, I do not personally have a massive preference wither way. I just want the dog to be healthy and happy but I think I am suffering information overload and am more confused than at the start. I spoke to the vet but he was somewhat ambiguous in saying that we could leave it but he has never seen issues in his time with early desexing. That didn't really answer the questions all that well.
Cheers,
Dean
