Vets pushing to breed

My vet hasn't asked me one way or the other. Maybe she talsk to her Joe Blow clients about spaying and neutering, but she knows I'm a breeder (and she knows she's gotten money from me in the past from puppy exams, c-section, x-rays, heath certifications, etc etc, and knows that will stop if my dogs are altered). I think though, that she'd be a bit of a hypocrite if she really pushed spaying/neutering. She bred her little mixed breed dog a few times, and she bred her IWS to a standard poodle twice now.
Any of my vets I don't go to regularily have never even asked me if my dogs are unaltered (other than the oens I go to for repro stuff obviously).
Around here (BC) I don't think it gets pushed one way or the other.

My vet doesn't push either way. They asked us if we were going to breed Violet, or spay her. I thought it was kind of funny that there wasn't an inbetween option. I told her that we were going to spay her, and she said we should do it right away because it'd be easier on her, and because it'd be cheaper for us if we spay her before she hits 40lbs. At the time I didn't know about the risks involved, or that it was a good idea generally to wait until they're done growing, so I told her I wasn't sure, and I'd get back to her. I haven't spoken with her since, but when I tell her that I plan to wait until she's matureo to spay her, I don't think she'll try to push anything on me. They're pretty respectful.

Depends where it is. If the testicle is abdominal and the inguinal ring is closed (by six months in most dogs), it's not coming down. If it's below the inguinal ring and just not in the scrotum, it may still come down.

Steve's wasn't coming down, period. When I had him neutered at 19 months, nobody could feel it.

We've done cryptorchid neuters on a couple older (>18 months) big dogs recently. Two GSDs and a Lab.

Um, and a surprise cryptorchid cat on Monday.

I ran into that a lot with Steve, too, especially from people I work with. It was very well known that he was not going to be bred, so why on EARTH would I not cut his balls off immediately? After all, he didn't "need" them. Uh, I beg to disagree on that count. Testicles do do more than just make puppies after all.

I'm waiting until Cricket is around 2 or so to spay her and her vet has been a bit pushy about it saying there's no reason for me to wait to spay. Some of my friends have been kind of nasty about it as well because they are so used to early spay and don't know the benefits of waiting. I have no plans to breed Cricket at all. I would be scum of the earth if I did so in my opinion. She will not be bred, but there's no reason for me to have to spay her right now. Bamm is neutered so I don't have to risk him getting her pregnant and I know how to manage a female dog in heat to keep them from getting around desexed males. There's just no reason for me to absolutely HAVE to spay her right now. I'm going to be shopping hard for a vet when I get back to VA too... the vet I used to use out there (same vet that FOHA uses for the dogs/cats that Cristy posts all the time) charges WAYYYY too much and they're very pushy about s/n and very anti raw feeding. I'd like to feed raw again at some point so I want to find a vet that isn't going to give me a hard time about that as well.

My vets haven't been too pushy. They would ask at sometimes at their annuals if we wanted to schedule a spay or neuter. I think with Beau it was a little more because he was our first dog to take there. But once we explained he was showing it wasn't really brought up but a few times just mostly to ask if we wanted to schedule it while we were there. I think that's pretty routine.

But by now I think my vet knows we're responsible. I had Nard in for an annual a couple months ago and he didn't ask at all.

I have been asked by some of the other vets when I've had to go to a different place if we breed or were planning on breeding them. One of my past vets had a papillon and she was really wanting us to breed Beau.

Oh GOSH, I get alot from my SIL who will be starting school to become a vet tech soon.

Right now she works at a petstore but I constatly hear her complain about un neautered dogs coming in and that they should be chopped off ect ect..

Yet she does not complain about the females who are still intact. Emme is still intact and I never hear a peep out of the SIL.

It will be intesting when i get my male mastiff and hoping I can keep his balls as long as possible. I am sure I will never hear the end of it

Seriously? You just rocked my world. I guess I should go read my book on where puppies come from because I was sure that's how it worked

The vet I went to with Traveler asked once and I said not going to happen and I haven't been asked again even though I've seen three different vets from that clinic. Which I appreciate. Though, it does say in his file "Is not going to castrate" so that helps

I honestly don't think I would go back to a vet that kept pushing to breed or to alter.

I'm curious, with a retained testicle can they just go in and push it down into the scrotum instead of castrating? Or take the retained testicle out while leaving the one that dropped alone?

Seems like that would be a good option rather than just castrating

:hail::hail::hail:

YES. I honestly almost wish I wasn't planning on breeding Traveler because people go "Oh ok, that's why he's not fixed"

Yeah, no. He's not fixed because he isn't broken and they are there for more than decoration

Sometimes the cord is too short, which is why it never descended.

Yeah, we made an appointment to investigate it again at 6.5 months, and that was when I made the decision to just neuter then instead of waiting. There was a decent chance it may have still dropped, but I went ahead with it anyway.

Our vet had just assumed we were going to breed Jack since we had gotten him from a "bench lab" breeder. She was kind of surprised that we weren't.

All I'm saying is that if I hear one more person say that Kiba needs his balls chopped off, I'm going to SCREAM. ROFL

Although, in all fairness, the vets aren't the ones telling me that, it is the techs/people who think they should be techs.

He doesn't mark indoors. He doesn't hump. His physical condition is great. He's getting training under his belt and it is doing loads for his manners. He's not dog aggressive/reactive and his attentiveness is great. I don't let him run loose, I won't ever plan on having him around any intact bitches, and I don't plan on breeding him. LEAVE HIS BALLS ALONE. When he is adopted out he'll be neutered for safety's sake - until then, back off people!

*had to get that off my chest after being told three times today he needed to be neutered along being told the same thing countless times every time he comes up in conversation*

Omigosh, maybe this is just prep work for when I get my next dog (planning on it being male and leaving it intact), but it is about ready to drive me nuts! They tend to shut up and go away when I say, "I'm still paying off a vet bill and have cats I have to spueter next, so he's not high on my priority list at the moment", but JEEZ!

My last vet was really obnoxious about being intact. But in terms of medical expertise they were solid so I just put up with it. They were just lovely with the properly "fixed" Kim and Web.

We moved and I switched vets (old one being two states away)...new vet asked if we plan to spay, I said not any time soon, she asked if we were going to be showing, I said yes, she asked if we knew what to watch for in an intact bitch, I said yes, and we were good. Now she just asks how things are going and what we've been doing in terms of competition lol.

'course she's been showing/breeding her breed for about two decades so that helps I think.

If your vet is being obnoxious about the s/n thing, why not just tell him? In a pleasant fashion, of course, but simply let him know that you do not like being badgered about it.

Btw, while I personally am still a big fan of speutering, I've come to appreciate the benefits of waiting until maturity to do so. Education, I haz it!

I have to say, every time at work when I hear someone preach altering at six months to Rottweiler people "so that they don't get cancer", a little part of me dies.

Her, and in my case I did. She just couldn't stomach the idea. It was most just little side comments throughout which I found distracting as I actually, you know, listen to the vet and want their input on real issues.

I don't mind well-behaved unaltered males... which to be honest, is a rare sight... but every time a pyometra case comes in, it irks me that they couldn't just get their dog spayed.


All my pets have been fixed by 6 months old so I have no clue if the vet would have been pushy or not. My aunt goes to the vet we used to go to, and I don't think they gave her any trouble when she said she wanted to wait to get her dogs spayed.

I know that, for example, when people decline vaccinations or whatnot, we will give them the reasons why we recommend it... and I suppose if you are opinionated or have knowledge in the subject, that might come across as being pushy. But we're just trying to educate because a lot of people just don't know the pros and cons to each option.

I agree with you on that one.

I think we are a rare breed. Most people are not willing to do the research in over vaccinating or know there is such think as a titer test. Which I plan on doing.

I also plan on waiting until my next dog which is going to be a male is going to be fully mature before I chop his balls off and if I can I might just leave them.

But I can see why vets push desexing and vaccinating because most of the populating is not educated on the issue and there are alot of irresponsible people out there. So its just much easier to get people to chop off the goods when they are six months old. And I am sure that vets see that more often than us responsible dog owners who do our reseach and know the pros and cons.

But I think if a vet pushes me to s/neauter after I explained to them why I am waiting. I will be finding another vet and possible be going to a holistic vet.

Our vet really pushed us to breed Kenai and when we got him neautered the vet said, "What a shame, he would have made beautiful puppies".