Awww, Nuts

The title is tacky, but I couldn't resist. Let's talk about neutering.

If you have a prostate, and you have testicles, you WILL have a problem with the afore mentioned prostate. This happens routinely in human males and is why all men over the age of 40 should have PSAs run and digital prostate exams.


The SAME problem happens in dogs. Testosterone causes the prostate to continue developing and enlarging. At some point this may cause the urethra to become pinched off or may get so huge that you can't pass a stool either. Intact male dogs should have a prostate exam completed yearly. There is not a PSA test available for dogs yet.


Neutering removes testosterone and pretty much makes the prostate a non-issue.


Here's a news flash: Testosterone makes you do stupid stuff. Dogs with extra testosterone are more likely to show behaviors like urine marking, dominance, aggression, territorialism, and overactive libido. That's not to say that an intact dog is a "bad" dog and a neutered dog is a "good" dog. No, no. Neutered dogs can still be all of those things. But in so much as testosterone can make bad behaviors worse - it's not worth having it around if you don't need it.


It doesn't make you less of a man to have a dog without testicles. Honestly. Nobody cares if your dog is well-endowed. Nobody. However, if it's really that important to you that something hang down between the legs, then there are implants available called neuticals.



AMH