Shmoopie
06-12-2007, 06:27 PM
Hi all. I hope everyone is well.
I'm going through a bit of a situation right now that's really bothering me. I'm wondering what kind of information you folks here might have.
My dog is a 7 year old poodle/bichon mix. To get the facts out of the way, he's very sweet, very loving, can be very timid, and has never hurt a soul - animal or human. The most he'll do is eat a fly if he can catch one. He's not neutered. He does not "mark". He has not even an ounce of aggression in him. He's the type that...when small kids who don't know better get a little too rough with him, or otherwise freak him out, he cowers down and waits until he can get away...and then he does. He's been attacked by a big dog before and he didn't even really fight back...just cried and tried to get away. He's an indoor dog. When he goes outside, he's on a leash as we live in an apartment and don't have a fenced yard. He's our only dog and will continue to be our only dog as we can only have one pet in the place that we live, and the boyfriend has an allergy...so two dogs would be too many. He's not got the opportunity to impregnate anyone. So that's my dog.
As I said, we live in an apartment. The people that work in the office here at our complex have called and said that, per the lease, they need a piece of paper stating one of two things: that my dog is neutered, or a letter from his vet saying that there's reason for him NOT to be neutered.
My vet refused to write the letter. I took him to another vet today, and he told me that he is in favor of neutering for health (preventative) things. I realize this is common in the vet world, but the conversation I had with this man really blew my mind and is precisely why I don't want to have it done.
I told the vet that I don't want my dog to go through the hormonal changes (and whatever long term consequences that may bring...which of course, his field does not acknowledge) that he would experience after being neutered. I pointed out that he (the vet) likely has all of his anatomy that he was born with, and that I'd like the same to be true for my dog. His argument to me?...
Well, for one, he mentioned that testicles and hormones are "problems". He said, "if every (human) girl got her ovaries removed at say...age 13, there'd be no breast cancer." Isn't that the most brilliant thing you've ever heard? It was really hard to bite my tongue on that one lol.
He also pointed out that if he didn't have his testicles, he'd likely not have a bald spot on his head. If his grandfather didn't have his testicles, he'd not have gotten testicular cancer, and he'd certainly not be going through the treatments he's going through now. He said that if having testicles removed wasn't such a PSYCHO-SOCIAL thing, then men WOULD have it done so to avoid things like prostate cancer and testicular cancer. Raise your hand if you believe this to be true.
The guy could only talk about the "benefits". He went on and on about how he would rather see it done now while my dog is still relatively young and in good health, than to see it done when my dog is ten years old and suffering from some sort of prostate/testosterone related condition.
My feeling overall is this: it might help to prevent problems in those areas if I have my dog neutered. I'd be extremely sad if my dog got prostate cancer and it could've been prevented by neutering. But if I absolutely had to choose, I'd rather take that chance and know that part of his much-needed anatomy was not removed out of fear of some sort of risk, than to know for a fact that I'm putting him at risk by removing said anatomy. I don't want to change his body and it's normal processes. He has the body parts he has for a reason, and I don't want to mess with that. Am I being ridiculous and/or fanatical? Is it ok to have him neutered? I really feel very strongly about this and don't want to do it. Am I mistaken about the possible risks I believe exist by having him neutered?
I'm going through a bit of a situation right now that's really bothering me. I'm wondering what kind of information you folks here might have.
My dog is a 7 year old poodle/bichon mix. To get the facts out of the way, he's very sweet, very loving, can be very timid, and has never hurt a soul - animal or human. The most he'll do is eat a fly if he can catch one. He's not neutered. He does not "mark". He has not even an ounce of aggression in him. He's the type that...when small kids who don't know better get a little too rough with him, or otherwise freak him out, he cowers down and waits until he can get away...and then he does. He's been attacked by a big dog before and he didn't even really fight back...just cried and tried to get away. He's an indoor dog. When he goes outside, he's on a leash as we live in an apartment and don't have a fenced yard. He's our only dog and will continue to be our only dog as we can only have one pet in the place that we live, and the boyfriend has an allergy...so two dogs would be too many. He's not got the opportunity to impregnate anyone. So that's my dog.
As I said, we live in an apartment. The people that work in the office here at our complex have called and said that, per the lease, they need a piece of paper stating one of two things: that my dog is neutered, or a letter from his vet saying that there's reason for him NOT to be neutered.
My vet refused to write the letter. I took him to another vet today, and he told me that he is in favor of neutering for health (preventative) things. I realize this is common in the vet world, but the conversation I had with this man really blew my mind and is precisely why I don't want to have it done.
I told the vet that I don't want my dog to go through the hormonal changes (and whatever long term consequences that may bring...which of course, his field does not acknowledge) that he would experience after being neutered. I pointed out that he (the vet) likely has all of his anatomy that he was born with, and that I'd like the same to be true for my dog. His argument to me?...
Well, for one, he mentioned that testicles and hormones are "problems". He said, "if every (human) girl got her ovaries removed at say...age 13, there'd be no breast cancer." Isn't that the most brilliant thing you've ever heard? It was really hard to bite my tongue on that one lol.
He also pointed out that if he didn't have his testicles, he'd likely not have a bald spot on his head. If his grandfather didn't have his testicles, he'd not have gotten testicular cancer, and he'd certainly not be going through the treatments he's going through now. He said that if having testicles removed wasn't such a PSYCHO-SOCIAL thing, then men WOULD have it done so to avoid things like prostate cancer and testicular cancer. Raise your hand if you believe this to be true.
The guy could only talk about the "benefits". He went on and on about how he would rather see it done now while my dog is still relatively young and in good health, than to see it done when my dog is ten years old and suffering from some sort of prostate/testosterone related condition.
My feeling overall is this: it might help to prevent problems in those areas if I have my dog neutered. I'd be extremely sad if my dog got prostate cancer and it could've been prevented by neutering. But if I absolutely had to choose, I'd rather take that chance and know that part of his much-needed anatomy was not removed out of fear of some sort of risk, than to know for a fact that I'm putting him at risk by removing said anatomy. I don't want to change his body and it's normal processes. He has the body parts he has for a reason, and I don't want to mess with that. Am I being ridiculous and/or fanatical? Is it ok to have him neutered? I really feel very strongly about this and don't want to do it. Am I mistaken about the possible risks I believe exist by having him neutered?