Interesting article on Health Consequences of Spaying/Neutering or Not...

[Adina P]

This was posted on a different forum and it is an article I hadn't read before.  It does NOT cover the effect on population control, only health risks from the choice to spay/neuter or not.  I thought it brought up some interesting data:

http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInD...

What was most interesting was that, from how I read it, there was little positive health benefit from neutering males.  And for females the only real big plus was lower risk of mammary cancer.  Otherwise, from a health standpoint, there seemed little good data to promote spaying/neutering.  And there seemed to be more benefits to keeping dogs intact at least through puberty.

Now, of course there are other ramifications...but the health aspect was interesting.  IF anyone has newer data...feel free to share!

(I have categorized this in the Discussing Doodley Things category because it does affect doodles)

[Kathie and the gang]

Osteosarcoma is the #1 cancer in Rottweiler's. My Moe was neutered at 12months (we was a rescue) and diagnosed with osteosarcoma at 8 years of age. There is a huge study at the University of Pennsylvania looking at the DNA of newly diagnosed Rotties looking for genetic links.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I am glad to hear that research, which is clearly needed, is being done on this topic.

[Adina P]

As a point of interest, I have learned today from someone who used to work there until the last 2 years or so, that Guide Dogs for the Blind routinely keeps pups unneutered until about 15-18 months of age and they've finished time with their puppy raisers.  These dogs ARE taken to public areas frequently and don't routinely have problems.  

[F, Calla & Luca]

That is interesting. I used to think about puppy raising for the blind but I realized I would have a really hard time separating from the puppy.I wonder what the organization's thinking is about the spay/neuter age.

[Adina P]

It is in part for their view on health effects and in part to choose future breeding dogs.  The dogs aren't chosen until they've been further into the training program...at which point they are evaluated as breeding stock (based on, I suppose trainability/suitability for the job and temperament).

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Because of the lack of hormones at my age I may be oversensitive to this issue. My thoughts are that hormones are underrated when it comes to the health and growth of dogs although I am a strong believer in the spay and neuter philosophy. The scientific studies and the jury still seem out on this issue so we made our own decisions about our dogs based on growth and development and the research presented at this time.

We knew that we are responsible pet owners although anything can happen~~ my sons were not planned either Ha Ha So even the most responsible pet owners run a risk. We took the risk. Thank goodness we won the odds.

Spud was neutered at almost 9 months. When he began peeing on strangers in public it was time :) We would have liked to wait longer but we just couldn't stand his behavior.

Starlit made it until 7.5 months. I made the appointment 10 days before ( they only had an opening the next week ) but she went into heat two days before. This costs us 60..00 dollars extra .

Still in my mind hormones play a bigger part than we can possible discuss in this section and are vital to healthy growth and development.

In simple terms~ ladies, how would you feel if you had a total hysterectomy at age 8? We will never know!

[Lynda Kamrath]

Wow! Quite a discussion. I have also wondered about the influence of early neutering on the health of dogs. My friend who has agility dogs (both females) claims that early neutering/spaying is not good for the growth and development of the dogs. Of course show dogs cannot be altered and I always thought that was because show dogs should be the breeding dogs. If they can make it through showing, they should have some good qualities. But maybe that is a wrong assumption also.
Personally, I have never had a desire to breed dogs and so early neutering was a good option for me. My vet, however, did not recommend neutering until the dog was at least 3 months old. My first dog was neutering at the recommended age but has had some health problems (liver failure twice). My other dog was neutering before he left the breeder but has not had any health problems (yet). So, I don't know. Both dogs are large (over 100 pounds) so the stunted growth does not seem to apply. I really don't know, but it is a good argument (discussion) for all of us to consider.