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  1. #1
    House Broken sandyut's Avatar
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    Is Testicular Cancer really a threat?

    hi,

    I read many many posted on neutering and chose to keep Kona intact. Jack was neutered at 6 months per vet recommendation, he was my first and did as instructed by the vet...

    last time I was there they said Koan was looking good but to neuter to avoid testicular cancer. Is this really a threat to his health or are they just pushing the surgery... Curious for your thoughts.


    As always - many thanks for sharing!

  2. #2
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    What I've read, and I'd have to dig around for the source, is that testicular cancer can happen but it's more easily detected than other types and can usually be successfully treated with castration at the time of diagnosis. I'll look on our Neuter/Spay thread to see if I can find another source, here's just one found with a quick Google search. I neutered my last boy when he was 3 years old.

    Testicular Tumors in Dogs

    Here's another article:

    https://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongT...uterInDogs.pdf

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  4. #3
    Senior Dog Berna's Avatar
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    Well, yep, if you remove the testicles you can't get testicular cancer. However, neutering (especially early neutering) may increase the risk of some other diseases (including cancer). There are pros and cons and I suggest you read them (I think there was a thread here) before you make a decision. I wouldn't really worry about testicular cancer. It's one of the easiest cancers to treat (removing the testicles) and it's not aggressive. I have an intact male who turned 11, and apart from some arthritis he is fine.
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  6. #4
    House Broken sandyut's Avatar
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    yeah we are leaning towards a later castration if at all. the scare is cancer (tho a different kind) took jack from us quickly and just saying the C word makes me get twitched. I dont recall seeing anything about testicular cancer on the neutering thread I read a while ago. I know many here keep them intact. treatment and prevention are the same so...no hurry really.

  7. #5
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
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    I did lose a dog to testicular cancer and it can become malignant. Before we figured out what what going on, it had metastasized. Neutering at that point would have just added an extra bit of pain to the end of his 11 years. If I ever have a male again, I will neuter him as a young adult.

  8. #6
    Senior Dog Nancy0's Avatar
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    I wasn't going to neuter Niner, but his breeder highly suggested it as she said she did have a male that had testicular cancer so I neutered Niner. He was 3 1/2 when I did it.

    Nancy

  9. #7
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    Did you read here?

    Neuter/Spay - Pros, Cons, Risks, Benefits - Research Article Links

    The risk of both testicular and prostate cancers is fairly low but neutering quadruples the risk of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is much harder to discover early, and much harder to treat when it is found.

    On balance, it appears that no compelling case can be made for neutering most male dogs, especially immature male dogs, in order to prevent future health problems. The number of health problems associated with neutering may exceed the associated health benefits in most cases.

    On the positive side, neutering male dogs
    • eliminates the small risk (probably <1%) of dying from testicular cancer
    • reduces the risk of non-cancerous prostate disorders
    • reduces the risk of perianal fistulas
    • may possibly reduce the risk of diabetes (data inconclusive)

    On the negative side, neutering male dogs
    • if done before 1 year of age, significantly increases the risk of osteosarcoma (bone cancer); this is acommon cancer in medium/large and larger breeds with a poor prognosis.
    • increases the risk of cardiac hemangiosarcoma by a factor of 1.6
    • triples the risk of hypothyroidism
    • increases the risk of progressive geriatric cognitive impairment
    • triples the risk of obesity, a common health problem in dogs with many associated health problems
    • quadruples the small risk (<0.6%) of prostate cancer
    • doubles the small risk (<1%) of urinary tract cancers
    • increases the risk of orthopedic disorders
    • increases the risk of adverse reactions to vaccinations
    From the first link in the list at the link above.
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  10. #8
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    There are no guarantees, regardless of whether you neuter or not. From my own experience, every dog I've had that was spayed/neutered, except one, (Jake) got cancer, and only one of my intact dogs got cancer (brain tumor at 18 months).

    My dogs (S) (N) identifies spayed or neutered


    Ella (S) - Osteosarcoma
    Dusty - Brain Tumor
    Clancy - Congestive heart failure
    Elvis - Kidney failure complication of Lyme
    Fanny (S) - Mast Cell tumor
    Jake (N) - Put to sleep by his breeder due to repeated food aggression issues, I was his second owner
    Noah (N) - Osteosarcoma
    Bruce - Acute fatal arrhythmia (21 months old)

    My girl Sophie was spayed at 22 months. If I knew then what I know now, I have just had her tubes tied.
    Brooks is 15 months, still intact, most likely will stay that way.

    I've had several conversations with my vet regarding this in the past 3 years, and in the end, he could not make a compelling case that spay/neuter was better than leaving them intact. If you are a responsible owner, and train your dog, being intact should not be an issue.

    One other thing to consider, it's not just cancer, but spaying/neutering has shown higher incidences of ortho issues (cruciate tears, hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia and OCD).

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  12. #9
    Senior Dog Nancy0's Avatar
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    I think the ortho issues come about if you neuter too early. I will not neuter any future males before the age of 2. Charlie was neutered at 1 and I wish I had waited another year. I compensated for that by neutering Niner at 3 1/2 lol jk

  13. #10
    Chief Pooper Scooper JenC's Avatar
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    This is basically what I was told by my vet a number of years ago when we had to neuter our 8 y/o boy due to testicular cancer. How true? Don't know, it seems there is always conflicting info the more you look on line.

    Testicular cancer tends to be localized. Meaning, it tends not to spread to the whole body. You catch it, you remove it, the dog has a good chance of continuing a long healthy life. Neutered dogs, while having a 100% chance of NO TESTICULAR cancer, have a slightly higher rate of prostate cancer which is harder to treat and can spread.

    I've had my other two boys both done at 4. One due to seizures and I hoped it would help him and also remove the chance of him reproducing. The other because I was never going to breed him and he was getting into little snippy fits with our other intact boy. Our intact boy is 9 with no plans of fixing him.

 



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