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Neutering and Old Dog

Hi.  Recently, my 14 year old terrier has been diagnosed with a very large prostate.  The vet doesn't know if it's a tumor or just BPH.  Anyway, he wants to neuter my dog to see if the swelling goes down.  He said if it's prostate cancer, there is nothing we can do anyway.  I have read the advantages and disadvantages of neutering and the disadvantages at his age seem to far outweight the advantages.  I'm seeing increased risk of things like hypothyroidism, urethral incontinence, and some places even say prostate cancer by being neutered.  I'm wondering if I'm trading one problem for a worse one.  I found this product on the net called Prospet that supposedly can help to shrink the prostate.  I was going to try that route instead of the neutering.  Any opinions?
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675347 tn?1365460645
COMMUNITY LEADER
If your dog is neutered, it will stop the levels of testosterone, which could cause prostate swelling and prostate cancer too. It would take a while to max. effect because he'd still have SOME testosterone in his system for a bit. But it would be a quicker option than medication. But it would be a good option only if he's generally in good fitness and condition for his age. The anaesthetic might stress him if he has heart or lung problems, or some other health problem.There is another alternative. Maybe the vet could give him a female hormone shot? Ask about it. This could shrink the prostate quite quickly. It wouldn't change his character. Neutering doesn't cause prostate cancer.
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o control the prostrate
how  often would he have to have the female hormone shot to control swelling
I am not sure, whizmomp. That would be something to ask the vet.
I had a dog who got that shot, but he only had it once (that was at the end of his life.) It didn't seem to cause him any problems but we didn't get long enough to gauge any results.
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