Neutering Inquiry
Have any of you chosen not to neuter your Saint and experienced any issues? Our guy is purebred, 2.5, and our plan was to neuter around 3 years old; however, other than the occasional (but rare) intense bark at another male dog (which we control/train/etc.), our guy is pretty sweet and mellow, and we've found boarding facilities (the few times its ever needed) that will take him (and let him play with spayed high energy lady dogs). I am debating whether we really need to neuter him, and if it is better for his health overall to remain intact. I know there is some research that suggests at a certain point Saints are at a higher risk of certain cancers if they are kept in tact, but I haven't looked into this in enough detail to determine if it's a "will happen" vs. "might happen".
My only additional concern with not neutering is that we were going to also gastropexy when he got neutered to protect him from bloat. So far, we've had no issues in that regard and make sure before/after meals he chills out and fully digests.
The reason to not bother with either surgery would be (1) to not put our dog through surgery, and (2) minimize issues in connection with gastropexy, as our Saint definitely already has a sensitive belly so I wonder if tacking would make it worse?
Again, just open to hearing others' experiences--our boy is my first Saint.