Chemical Castration

[sooty.pepper]

Hi there,

Apologies, as I know there should be a thread here somewhere that outlines the pro's and con's of chemical castration, but for the life of me I can't find it. I also did a quick search on Google which didn't bring up anything helpful.

We are having a few behavioural issues with our 2 year old male entire dog. I feel some of these could be due to his upbringing as a spoiled dog by my boyfriend for 1 of those years. I have for the past year been slowly 'de-ranking' him and using appropriate behavioural modification techniques. This has worked fairly well, and for the most part he's a happy well adjusted dog. However, recently his barking and howling has been non-stop, and we're worrying that it is going to cause conflict with the neighbours. Unfortunately increased exercise has not altered his current state, and his behaviour on walks has been erratic and as though he can smell a bitch in season nearby. Generally he has good recall and is quite pleasant to take for a walk (due to much much effort from me), but this has completely changed in a matter of a couple of weeks.

I was thinking of using the chemical castration to see if his behaviour improved before I committed to having him desexed. My partner has not been keen in the past when I've broached the subject of desexing, however he seems keen to try this out to see if it would make a difference. I feel this would give him the peace of mind to go ahead with the surgery.

Has anybody else tried this? Have they found any adverse effects, and if so, what were they (mild, severe, anything...)? Has anybody discussed this with their Vet previously and can shed some light on the subject? I'm booking a consult for this week anyway, but would be good to have a little background, especially if anyone had any concerns with it.

Thanks in advance.

[Staff'n'Toller]

There are threads if you google Suprelorin, one in particular has some good info.

I did 3 x 6mth implants with my boy but he was on a co-ownership contract. My personal view is that if you're not going to breed then desex but I of course don't have an OH right now so it's an easy decision for me.

I found it took a good 3-4 weeks to work, then basically at the end of 6mths I could tell it was wearing off- pretty much to the day. There were no side effects other than testicles shrinking down to puppy size, I am told once it wears off they return to almost full size but others may be able to tell you more about that.

I believe that there is fluctuations in the chemical release myself but that is only my speculation and personal opinion. My boy has had even better stable behaviour patterns since surgical desexing.

If it will convince your OH that surgical desexing won't change much then give the Suprelorin a go.

Mel.

[Tapferhund]

Due to slight prostate problems , one of my dogs has a "Supralorin" implant and it works really well. It takes about a month before you will notice an improvement and the only side effect is their testicles seem to shrink in size........but they go back to normal withing weeks of the implant wearing off.

Supralorin could help your dog but talk to your Vet about it. Also google for info on it.

[anthony mazzeri]

I was thinking of using the chemical castration to see if his behaviour improved before I committed to having him desexed. My partner has not been keen in the past when I've broached the subject of desexing, however he seems keen to try this out to see if it would make a difference. I feel this would give him the peace of mind to go ahead with the surgery.

My vet mentioned that your situation is exactly the major use for it at the moment, to see how the dog's behaviour changes when the owners (inevitably the man, go figure) are reluctant to agree to the permanent surgery.

He said most of them actually come back in well before the 6 month implant wears off for the full surgery when they see how much improved their dog is.

[sooty.pepper]

Thanks for your thoughts guys, I'm definitely convinced to give it a try but will most certainly discuss the specifics with our Vet and make a decision there.

If I had it my way Sooty would have been desexed already, however OH had plans of breeding from him (totally uninformed - as is the norm) but since losing our Husky pup he's settled on the idea. I think he's realised that we don't have to have Sooty's offspring to have a great dog that's worth loving.

I truly believe it will help Sooty a great deal especially after hearing your experiences - I just hope it's enough to prove to the OH that desexing is the way to go.