We’ve talked about the good and bad of having male or female Weimaraners, and a large part of those discussions were about hormonal stuff! Girls in heat, boys lifting legs…. Dealing with all this can be a pain, but there is more and more evidence that shows that keeping your Weimaraner intact longer may actually be healthier for your dog.
Spaying and neutering of course removes the hormones estrogen and progesterone in females and testosterone in males. And while the surgery itself is safe to do as early as 8 weeks old, recent studies have started to question if doing so early might adversely affect health since hormones aren’t just about reproduction. They give us those annoying boy behaviors and bitch behaviors, and they also do things like control the closing of growth plates (in neutered dogs the growth plates close more slowly). The lack of hormones also seems to play a role in some cancers.
In fact, a recent article by a team at UC Davis said that there is “rather strong evidence for neutering males and/or females as a risk factor for OSA (osteosarcoma), HSA (hemangiosarcoma), LSA (lymphosarcoma), MCT (mast cell tumor) and prostate cancer,” and that, “evidence for neutering as protection against a dog acquiring one or more cancers is weak.”
The team at UC Davis looked at health records of 759 Golden Retrievers with diagnosis of hip dysplasia (HD), cranial cruciate ligament tear (CCL), and three types of cancers. The records showed that of those five diseases, there was less likelihood of the disease if the dog was intact.
It’s important to note that the Davis study was done on Golden Retrievers and should not be extrapolated to Weimaraners because there may be breed specific issues at play. However this study does raise important questions.
So, if your Weim is around 5 or 6 months and you are starting to think about this topic, rather than the usual “my Weim is 6 months old, time for the neuter,” spaying and neutering should be a well thought out decision, not a given. While the most recent evidence and various studies are pointing towards leaving your Weim intact until they are over 12 months for growth and development benefits, this decision should be made on a case by case basis with your vet and breeder. Here are some points to consider:
Pros of early spay/neuter:
- Surgery is generally considered safe.
- No heat cycles in females.
- Usually a decrease in hormonally related sexual behaviors, such as mounting, flagging and marking etc.
- No risk of pyometra, a life threatening uterine infection.
- Reduces the risk of non-cancerous prostate problems.
- No risk of an unwanted litter of puppies! Cleaning up after a litter and trying to place them all in good homes can be a lot of thankless work! Believe me, the whole “miracle of life” thing wears off super fast once you have to clean up a dozen puppies’ poop!
Cons of early spay/neuter:
- Increased risk of these cancers: osteosarcoma, hemangiosarcoma, lymphoma, mast cell tumors, and prostate cancer.
- Increased risk of hip dysplasia and cruciate ligament tear.
- Increased risk of urinary incontinence in females.
- Increased risk of recessed vulva (a heat cycle usually corrects this).
Summarized from and full list here.
my male weim is 6 months old.. Should I get him neuted?
If you can keep him away from any accidental breedings, personally I would not neuter at 6 months. But as you can see from the article there are reasons you may want to now.
My Weimaraner was just fixed two days ago,is it normal for her to whine and when I sit down she sits on me and cuddles like a human and then sleeps?
Hi Jennifer, she might be in a little discomfort. It sounds like she’s looking for comfort. Has she stopped doing it now?
My weim is 2 years old and he is VERY hyper, nervous and deffensive with big males. We are thinking about neutering him but I’m not sure if that would help with these behaviours (he’s my first dog ever!). From your experience, does neutering make the animal more relaxed? We live in the countryside, so he has plenty of space to run twice a day, but he’s still very nervous at home. We will probably neuter him anyway, but I don’t know what results to expect!
It’s hard to say whether it would help or not. If you are in the countryside, perhaps the issue may be a socialization issue rather than hormones? Either way, at age 2, you can safely neuter, and it will help with roaming.
If a weimaraner has disraphism. what are the long term effects on the animal. I researched it and they said it will not get worse.
That is correct, the disease does not progress and does not affect the quality of life. There is now a genetic test available from UC Davis
https://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/services/Weimaraner.php
My Weim is marking a lot-not just outside but inside the house AND now on the humans. He’s 8 months old. Ideally we’d like to wait until he’s 18 months old but I don’t know if we can take another 10 months of this. Any suggestions?
It may help deter the marking if you neuter him, but there are no guarantees. If it were me personally I would wait as long as possible, even until 12 months, if you can deal with 4 more months. You can try a belly band when he’s in the house to see if that would help, and also keep him in a crate when you can’t supervise him. Good luck!