How Old Is To Old?

[piperspal]

Heres the background - took all my dogs to the vet a couple of weeks ago for a checkup and thier vaccs, and asked if there was anything that I would be able to give the oldest dog for his incontinence. He is not full blown leaving-a-trail-everywhere incontinent, but when he whines or sneezes yes there is a wet patch. The vet checked him over and aside from being able to lose a couple of kilos (and that is all it is) he is in good shape, teeth good, getting a bit worn, suffers from arthritis but otherwise fine. She checked his prostate (that got me a dirty look from the dog) and said it was enlarged and that I should consider desexing him. When I asked if that would stop the dribble, she stated 'probably not'.

My question is, he is a 9 year old large dog, would it 1 - be safe, and 2 worth it? My first reaction was 'lady get off the grass -are you trying to kill him?' but maybe it would be worth it. I still have to take in a urine sample to make sure that he doesnt have an infection, thats the next trick, getting him to go when I want him to....

[FHRP]

I wouldn't consider 9 too old for a healthy dog to be surgically desexed, however you could consider a Superlorin injection to chemically castrate him instead, avoiding surgery. It is a temporary desexing, lasting 6 or 12 months depending on what option you choose. It would therefore need to be done every 12 (or 6) months, but will show you whether castrating will make a difference to his incontinence. I recently had my 12 year old boy chemically castrated due to an enlarged prostate. It has helped his physical issues, which were not incontinence though.

Edited September 28, 2010 by FHRP

[poodlefan]

I wouldn't consider 9 too old for a healthy dog to be surgically desexed, however you could consider a Superlorin injection to chemically castrate him instead, avoiding surgery. It is a temporary desexing, lasting 6 or 12 months depneding on what you option you choose. It would therefor need to be done every 12 (or 6) months, but will also tell you whether castrating will make a difference to his incontinence. I recently had my 12 year old boy chemically castrated due to an enlarged prostate. It has helped his physical issues, which were not incontinence though.

Hasn't stopped his food stealing issues though.

[Sandra777]

To me 9 is not old, but I don't have a large breed. If there's good evidence it would improve his and your quality of life I'd consider it - there's plenty of tests that can be done prior to the GA to be as sure as you can be that he'll be OK (of course nothing is guaranteed no matter the age of the dog).

I've had a 13 year old under GA (emergency) and she lived another 3 years, so it very much depends on the dog IMO.

[FHRP]

I wouldn't consider 9 too old for a healthy dog to be surgically desexed, however you could consider a Superlorin injection to chemically castrate him instead, avoiding surgery. It is a temporary desexing, lasting 6 or 12 months depneding on what you option you choose. It would therefor need to be done every 12 (or 6) months, but will also tell you whether castrating will make a difference to his incontinence. I recently had my 12 year old boy chemically castrated due to an enlarged prostate. It has helped his physical issues, which were not incontinence though.

Hasn't stopped his food stealing issues though.

It shrunk his balls, not his stomach!!

[poodlefan]

I wouldn't consider 9 too old for a healthy dog to be surgically desexed, however you could consider a Superlorin injection to chemically castrate him instead, avoiding surgery. It is a temporary desexing, lasting 6 or 12 months depneding on what you option you choose. It would therefor need to be done every 12 (or 6) months, but will also tell you whether castrating will make a difference to his incontinence. I recently had my 12 year old boy chemically castrated due to an enlarged prostate. It has helped his physical issues, which were not incontinence though.

Hasn't stopped his food stealing issues though.

It shrunk his balls, not his stomach!!

[piperspal]

Thanks guys, I was not sure it would be worth it as he is an outside dog, so really can dribble where he wants, I was more worried about if he would survive a GA. He's pretty healthy, just the arthritis slows him down but he has tablets for that. All the other dogs are desexed, he has always been the odd one out....

[Tilly]

We had our elderly rottie chemically castrated due to a prostate issue (either enlarged prostate or a tumour) - but he was not well enough to under for the operation otherwise we have had him desexed. Last time he was under it too 3 days for the drugs to come out of his system so we decided he couldn't go under again.

It didn't make any difference to his dribbling but realistically we only had him another 4 weeks before he deteriorated.

Talk to your vet and see if they think he is well enough to go under the - they can do some tests etc.

[Miranda]

I had a 9 year old large breed male desexed this year, no problems whatsoever.

Edited September 28, 2010 by Miranda

[Teebs]

we had our 6 year old bulldog done a few years ago, he had no problems at all (passed away at the age of 8 )

[oakway]

I would have no hesitation on having him de sexed.

[GSD FAN]

Older dogs have a greater risk when under anaesthetic so having Pre GA bloods done prior is essentail, so if there are some issues the vet can choose the safest drugs to use. At the clinic I work at we have had a 1o year old malamute die after routine surgery. It doesnt happen often but it can happen.

[Christina]

I had a 9 year old done with no problems but toy breed.

If it will stop the prostate problem I would say yes, after pre op blood work.

If not why bother ? he will probably get fat unless his diet is drastically cut & then his arthritis will become a problem.

[piperspal]

Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated.

I am leaning towards not having him done unless they can prove to me that it will improve his quality of life. the dribbling isnt constant 'yet', and as he is an outside dog is not a problems to me. The enlarged prostate will be what decides it, once I get a urine sample off him. Thats going to be fun, wait until the neighbours see me chasing him with a saucepan up the street.....They already think i'm nuts!!!!! LOL

I also figure that it wont help his arthritis any, and he is the correct weight for his size now, so dont see the point of putting him through the stress.

[Everythings Shiny]

Piperspal

I got an older Kelpie desexed, I had a pre-anaesthetic profile done on him and he was fine. If you were to get him done, I would suggest getting the blood test to make sure there is nothing hiding there to cause any problems.

My boy isn't any different and his prostate was quite enlarged when it was removed, I think I made the right choice getting him done, now don't have to worry about much with him

[Tilly]

Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated.

I am leaning towards not having him done unless they can prove to me that it will improve his quality of life. the dribbling isnt constant 'yet', and as he is an outside dog is not a problems to me. The enlarged prostate will be what decides it, once I get a urine sample off him. Thats going to be fun, wait until the neighbours see me chasing him with a saucepan up the street.....They already think i'm nuts!!!!! LOL

I also figure that it wont help his arthritis any, and he is the correct weight for his size now, so dont see the point of putting him through the stress.

I am thankful my dogs pee on command. Made it easy when the vet wanted a sample ... I just borrowed a latex glove, the sample bottle and took him outside and told him to pee ... vet was not overly impressed he had a warm sample