Intact Males and Vets (What do you do?)

[~Tucker&Me~]

Heh, the intact dogs thread got me thinking...

Does anyone else feel like their vet is trying to pressure them into neutering?

I know I want to leave Spy intact. I already explained why in the other thread. When I go into the vets I always am asked why I am leaving him intact, and they go on to explain to me about how it can cause aggression etc. .

What do you say? Or do you just smile politely, nod and than never book an appointment?

~Tucker

 

[noludoru]

Your vets are imbeciles.

Mine wanted me to neuter him (and I did, too!) but they weren't unreasonable about it and didn't lie. And there was no pressure about it. If that was the case I would have smiled, nodded, and gone somewhere else.

 

[JennSLK]

my first vet was all for me keeping my petstore puppy intact and posibly breeding her. I would find a new vet.

 

[bubbatd]

I think it depends on the vets . I would think that a clinic ( say at Petsmart ) would want to $$$ wise . A private Clinic knows their clients better and would discuss if you ask questions .

 

[Danegirl2208]

When Malakai was intact our old vet would pester us every time he was in for a check up...he even jumped at my throat about it when we first brought him in at about 8 weeks. Why he was so obsessed with my dogs balls, I will never know. I hated it...and I now have a new vet. lmao.

I'd say just smile politely ... If you don't want to, you don't want to. They may not like it, but it is not their decision.

 

[Squishy22]

A lot of vets try to pressure you into neutering at only 8 weeks old. Thats what happened with my parents chow mix, and they did it. That dog acted like a puppy its entire life. So weird how it affected him.

 

[ACooper]

Our old vet (same office, he just retired) mentioned neutering Orson when he was a baby. I told him I was going to, but not right now. And that was the end of it.

Now the lady vet who took over the office never wanted me to neuter Orson. She asked several times to be SURE I wanted to do it. Said he was "a good looking male"

I love my boy dearly, but I am not blinded by that love I just wanted him mature as much as possible FIRST.

 

[corgipower]

My vet never pressures me into neutering. Maybe it's because she knows I'm active in the competition stuff, so it puts it in a different perspective, but she's also not the type to pressure anyone into neutering.

The only dog she repeatedly suggested spaying was Morgan, and that was for medical reasons (a hormone imbalance that made her heat cycles increasingly difficult).

There would have to be no alternative within a reasonable distance for me to go to a vet that pressured me into anything.

 

[Laurelin]

I've had both... one vet kept asking when we were going to breed Beau and the new vet keeps asking/hinting every time we bring in a dog if we want Beau to be neutered yet or if he's been neutered.

Yeah.... not happening.

The look he gave us when we were describing having an intact male and then a female that lost pups a while back was er.... interesting?

 

[Sweet72947]

The vet I go to will give you information on the subject, and leave it at that. They don't pressure you to do any procedures or anything, they just give you info and let you make the decision. I like them for many reasons, and that's one of them.

 

[zoran]

I've never heard of a vet that would pressure you to alter any dog. sounds like you should tell your vet that you are not considering it and the subject is closed.

 

[MericoX]

I have told my vet I am waiting.. and everytime they ask I just tell them I'm still waiting. Though our old vet (same office) everytime Stryder would be in there it was a full out ball-check examination. LOL. Poor boy.. That vet creeped me out.

 

[drmom777]

My vet is not at all anxious to neuter Uncle Fred. He continues to be concerned about his bone density. I agreed to neuter him when I got him, though, as he is a rescue, so I don't want to violate the spirit of the adoption. I'm sort of taking it month to month.

 

[Paige]

My vet is a wonderful woman who doesn't pressure either way. She prefers to leave them intact actually if the owner feels comfortable owning an intact dog.

 

[vanillasugar]

Not about a male dog, but I think my vet would be this way. She's a wonderful vet! Don't get me wrong, but we had a miscommunication when I first brought Sierra in after her adoption. She was already spayed, but I asked how much her spay would have cost, so I could set that amount aside as the start of an emergency fund. The vet thought that meant I wasn't planning on spaying her, and got a bit snarky about it, until I reminded her that Sierra came from the rescue spayed!

 

[ihartgonzo]

For real... I'm sure it can get annoying, but I am all for Vets who encourage spaying/neutering. Way too many Vets bite their lip about irresponsible breeding, either because they don't want to lose the clients, or because those badly bred puppies are going to bring in MAD SKRILLA.

I do think that if you have explained your reasoning for keeping Spy intact, and make it clear that you are in fact responsible about keeping him from impregnating random females and will only breed reputably, your Vet should respect you for it. If not, they are either very pushy or very impersonal... and maybe you should look into another Vet, if it really bothers you. D=

 

[Tankstar]

My vet tries and always asks when. Said agression ect to me. But at 5 (on may 1st) with no agression to female/male dogs or humans, no marking, no health reasons. Plus he has a heart issues and I dont want to risk surgery unless I NEED to. Dont want to lose my aby on the table just so his balls can be removed. But when they ask I just say no thanks.

 

[mrose_s]

Our last vet asked us about spaying Sophie everytime we went in, constantly mentioning pyro, we said we knew the risks, but at this point in her life we wern;t going to put her through surgery if she didn't need it. I understand her concerns but we said no, we didn't say we were going to breed her or anything. These are the same people that wanted to opertate on Harry's hips right away, thats why we went looking for someone new

The one we have now I really like, he is a chiropractic vet and very into telling us what excercises etc we can do with him to strengthen his legs instead of going straight in to cut muscles.
We're also very watchy with Sophie, she's a big old white dog, so we constantly watch out for lumps or bumps or other things. We took her in because of a lump on her eyelid she had and her back boobie area had gotten a bit saggier on one side. He said it was a slight infection in her uterus and to keep a close eye on it, but (I'm pretty sure) he just gave her some antibiotics and checked her every week for the next few weeks.

I do understand some vets concerns, but once we explain things, can they just drop it. I do like our current vet though, a lot of his values fall in line with ours.

 

[GlassOnion]

Eh we always mention it if we see their dog is intact. If they say they want to keep it intact we put an asterisk by the dogs sex so we know not to ask again.

We're not going to ask just because it offends some people. The vet is about the welfare of the animals first off and that means neutering/spaying as much as possible to prevent possible 'accidents'. We see a lot of 'accidents' and that's just more puppies in the pound.

 

[RD]

My vet encourages neutering, but not urgently. He does, however, strongly suggest that females be spayed before their first heat cycle.