My senior unneutered dog has prostate tumors. Should he be castrated?

Question

Hi. I have a Lhasa Apso that is 11 years old that has never been castrated. Recently, my vet found a couple of tumors that appears to be benign on his prostate. Because he is entire, my vet advises me to castrate him in order to lower his testosterone levels, hormones that could grow those tumors and potentially turn them into cancer. I started doing some research on this subject, but found nothing on retaining tumor development through castration. Can you give me any advice on this matter? Pet's info: Dog | Lhasa Apso | Male | unneutered | 12 lbs

Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA · Accepted Answer

Poor Alf! Studies have shown that neutering does not provide any protective effects against prostate cancer in dogs - in fact, neutered males have a slightly higher incidence of this disease than intact males. So I'm not quite sure about the reasoning for having him castrated, unless what your veterinarian meant was that Alf has prostatic cysts or benign prostatic enlargement - both of these things would be expected to improve with neutering. It would help to know exactly what diagnostics have been done and what the results were in order to give more specific advice - feel free to request a consultation with one of us if you want to upload copies of his lab reports and medical records for us to look at. Otherwise, if you're unsure about your current vet's recommendations, I would suggest going to another local vet for a second opinion, or requesting referral to a specialist for further evaluation.

My senior unneutered dog has prostate tumors. Should he be castrated?

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