Neutering

[Marlene]

Hi, recently I have taken 8 month shepherd X husky to the vet as he was chasing his tail and whining whilst trying to reach his behind and biting on his leg.

The vet relieved his anal  glands but it still kept happening.

I took him back to the vet and he said he had a swollen prostate, and recommended I have him neutered.

He also has put him on hills zd food to see if he has an allergy to his food.

My concern is he too young to be desexed, originally I was told to wait roughly 12 months.

I'm thinking I was giving him to many different treats so maybe that caused an issue with the food. 

Just so unsure about the desexing issue.

[Adrienne]

Hi Marlene, 

So sorry to hear your shepherd mix is suffering from prostatitis? (I guess).I would wonder about getting a urinalysis done to look for signs of infection and consider treatment of that. Makes me wonder now whether he was feeling hot and asking to go out a lot altogether because of this? 

Pertaining neutering... as with everything, there are risks and benefits to each procedure - if he is having more issues secondary to testosterone, then the benefits of desexing at a younger age might be greater than the risks. So this is something to consider based on whether this will be an ongoing issue or just a one-time thing. I would inquire with the vet on this to determine the pros and cons. Sometimes it's best to get various opinions from different vets so to make an informed decision. 

Another thing that comes to mind would be a condition that German Shepherds are at high risk for ( is he a GSD mix?). This condition tends to cause irritation around their rectum and is called perianal fistulas - this can cause a lot of discomfort of their anus and some of the symptoms you have described. So if this issue presents again, it may be worthy of asking the vet if this could be a possibility. 

I hope he gets better soon!