I don't claim to be cosmopolitan, so maybe vasectomies are done, but I've never seen a neutered male left with the testicles intact. The advantages of removing them are at least twofold. One that it's a relatively simple procedure since they are external to the body cavity and two.......it prevents testicular cancer, a disease to which I lost a sweet little dog. You would not receive all the same benefits from just a vas ligation and in cases of ligations, the testicles still produce testosterone and there'd be no lessening of male hormone driven traits like aggression or marking.

Some dog fanciers I read have had cosmetic 'neuticles' implanted after their male dog has been neutered (testicles removed)!! As if that dog would really 'feel more masculine' then !! If only a vasectomy was done how would someone (a Vet?) later know if the dog had the procedure? I always wondered how one could tell if a female dog had been neutered except to wait to see if she ever went into heat, but our local shelter tattoos their belly after the procedure, so easy to tell!

I don't think these dogs are actually getting vasectomies. The scrotal sac tends to keep sagging in older dogs even when there are no testes. In younger dogs, the sac shrinks a bit. Same as when a younger person loses weight the skin snaps back where an older person is left with sagging skin. I've never seen nor performed a vasectomy. In older dogs that I am neutering I usually do a scrotal ablation to eliminate the saggy sac, unless the dog is sufficiently fuzzy. It's just for cosmetic purposes.

As far as disadvantages to neutering, I can only think of one: intact males are less likely to develop prostate cancer than neutered males, but this is a rare cancer either way. However intact males are more likely to get testicular cancer (obviously, since you can't get cancer in a body part you don't have) and benign prostatic hyperplasia. The treatment to both diseases is neutering.

Just asking because several decades ago, I got an older Shepard mix at the pound in Chicago. We had him neutered within a month as was in the contract and I was surprised to see that he still had testicles! Unfortunately, we spent additional $$$ because the operation got infected.

After he healed, he ate a small child (well, not completely but enough to have him put down immediately)and I was totally off older shelter dogs for a long time. I was younger and inexperienced with dogs at that time and didn't see the aggression signs completely. The dog was very sweet --- with us.

I now think there are dogs that need to be put down immediately instead of languishing in shelters for another person to have a bad experience. I feel 'no kill' shelters are a complete waste of money.

Here we go again...........

I now think there are dogs that need to be put down immediately instead of languishing in shelters for another person to have a bad experience. I feel 'no kill' shelters are a complete waste of money.

You and your statements...make me sick at times. That is true, Annz, here we go again

Alright, OP. What do you know about NO KILL shelters?
My guess is, when you were younger and adopted this dog..that was a LONG time ago, when "no kill" shelters did not even exist.

So, tell me, what do you know about No Kill shelters?
Their testing of dogs' personality?
Their acceptance into the program policy?
The behavioral and heath guidelines for the dogs to be accepted into a no kill shelter - are you familiar with them?
The save rate of no kill shelters - because they are not saving 100% of the animals, despite the name - are you in any way aware of the numbers?

Do you even know to distinguish between open intake shelter and a no-kill shelter?

And while you are at, give me ONE recorded example - one factual statement- where a dog adopted from a no-kill shelter mauled or seriously injured someone.

Also,why do you care, in your statement, about "waste of money"?
Is this your money being wasted?
Taxpayer money?
Again, do you have a clear understanding of how rescues and shelters operate?
Who funds an open intake shelter , or a county animal control facility, versus, a no kill shelter?

I hope you have some answers to these questions...and not just spewing ignorance.

I am going to try to go back to the original question... there are several ways to sterilize a dog. 99.9% of veterinarians remove the testicles. There was a push for chemical sterilization for a while there, but I have not been hearing about it much lately. There was a product that could be injected into the testicles, supposedly relatively painlessly (ouch) and it caused the testicles to shrink up and turn to scar tissue. Advantages was ease of treatment, no anesthesia and decreased cost... but still... injection into the testicles (ouch). And lastly, of course, there is vasectomy, a moderately complicated procedure compared to neutering for most veterinarians who are not trained in that procedure. And the usefullness of sterilization is fairly minimal to the usefulness of decreasing the hormonal changes that are the big benefit from neutering. Still, it is an option.

Often after a routine neuter, scar tissue will form in the scrotum from some minimal bleeding post surgery, which can sometimes make it look like the testicles are still there (common occurence).

I had not heard or read (and I just reread my texts to be sure) that there was an increased risk of prostate cancer with neutering... but there isn't a decreased risk of it, either. However, there is a huge decrease in risk of prostatitis with neutering, a debilitating, painful and occasionally fatal infection of the prostate. Prostate enlagement is also very unlikely if neutered (common human problem in older men).

my bichon was neutered six years ago..only one testicle was removed.the other disappeared. he has never lost the urge to hump objects. why

I wonder if the other testicle just went back up through the inguinal canal, and your bichon has one undescended testicle. The canal through which the testicles descend is not closed at birth and through their early youth.....and they can move up or down into the scrotal sac. Are you sure your vet did not discuss with you that possibility? There are medical implications to leaving an undescended testicle intact and this is a discussion you should have with a vet.

One of my collies was a monorchid, ie he had one undescended testicle. His castration operation included surgical removal of the undescended testicle. I am surprised that a vet would just remove the visible testicle and leave the other one MIA.

A dog with one or two retained testicles will display the sexual behavior of an intact dog, because he is an intact dog despite his external physical appearance. A dog with one testicle removed and the other undescended, and/or a cryptorchid (dog with both testicles retained) will be sterile.