A while back, I wrote a post on reasons to spay your dog, so tonight it’s the boys’ turn! As with the girls, there are some pretty compelling reasons to fix the boys if they are mixed breeds or pure breeds that you don’t intend to purposely breed (and consider that carefully). As a veterinarian, I have heard lots of excuses why people don’t want to neuter their pets, and over the years I have discovered that many men, even some well educated ones, are attached to their dog’s testicles. I can honestly say, I have never heard a female pet owner tell me that fixing their female would “change her”, or cross her legs and say “Oh, I just could never do that to her!”

So here we go! The first reason to neuter your male dog relates to long term health. Just like older intact females are prone to ovarian and uterine cancers, older unneuteted male dogs are prone to prostate and testicular cancers. And even if it never becomes cancer, all older intact males developed enlarged prostates which can be uncomfortable and cause difficulties with urination. Luckily for those boys, neutering, even at an older age can decrease the prostate size and make them feel a lot better. If your male dog is unfortunate enough to have one or both testicles retained in the abdomen, that retained one will absolutely become cancerous in middle to old age. There are two main forms of testicular cancer, one of which does not quickly or easily spread (so is usually cured by neutering), and one that does tend to spread. Both are easily avoided by neutering.

The second reason to consider neutering your dog is to avoid contagious diseases. There are several diseases that breeding dogs can contract. Two of the most common ones are brucellosis and transmissible venereal tumors (TVTs). Brucellosis is a bacterial infection that is easily spread during mating. In females it causes abortions and sterility, and in males it causes sterility and testicular infections. TVTs are exactly what they sound like, tumors that occur in the genital area that can be spread from dog to dog during breeding. They are unpleasant to look at, and can be treated medically, but rarely completely gotten rid of.

A third reason to neuter male dogs is to reduce roaming. Intact male dogs are pretty much always on the lookout for females in heat. They can smell a female in heat for up to two miles, and will travel much further than that in their hunts. Wandering dogs are prone to having all sorts of accidents including, but definitely not limited to being hit by cars, being shot, being poisoned, and being attacked by other male dogs if there is a female around. So if you are having difficulty keeping your male dog at home, neutering may be a huge help.

Finally, some male dogs are prone to aggressive behavior either towards other intact males, towards people, or both. If you have two males that don’t get along, even sometimes, fixing them will frequently solve the problem (this doesn’t always work so well with the females, though!). Similarly, male dogs that tend to be overly aggressive towards people may be helped by neutering. But don’t worry. It won’t change his whole personality, or stop him from being protective of you or your property! So, if you don’t plan to breed, consider neutering. In the long run you will have a happier, healthier, and probably longer lived dog! What’s not to love about that?!? How many of you have had your male dog(s) fixed?