Neuter 5 year old GSP?

[reba]

Are there any down sides in neutering a 5 year old dog?

[Vonzeppelinkennels]

Why are you thinking of doing it? No upsides I can see either!

[Cajun Casey]

Weight gain and possible thyroid issues.

[markj]

My brothers dog, a gsp is now 13. He was neutered at age 1.5 he is doing great. Just cause one dog out of a million got something a vet attributed to neutering doesnt mean yours will develop it too. Millions of dogs are neutered and spayed without any health issues.

[Del Lolo]

Weight gain and possible thyroid issues.

Neutering and thyroid -- I never heard of that one.

[shags]

Very intricate relationship among hormones. When various systems are meant to bathed in and affected by a particular hormone, and that hormone is removed, there are consequences within those systems.

[MonsterDad]

I can think of only three reasons to neuter a male at that age 1) Enlarged prostate 2) Testicular cancer and 3) Cystine stones.

Other than that why bother, there is all downside....

[Chaingang]

I neutered my GSP at 5 only because he had some nasty prostate infections. No weight gain at all when fed the same amount of food as before neutering. I can't say that will be the case for every dog, but that is what I experienced. The myth that neutering stops marking is bogus..... Manerisms/habits etc.. they had before, will still be there after neutering.

If there are no medical reasons for neutering, then it is just a personal decision IMO.