Spay and Neuter - Articles and Evidence

Valuable training articles posted by Victoria and other Positively members.

Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost

Post Reply
User avatar
minkee
Posts: 2034
Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2011 7:58 am
Location: Yorkshire
Contact:

Spay and Neuter - Articles and Evidence

Post by minkee »

I keep seeing more and more articles and studies on the impact and potential side-effects of spaying & neutering, and it's something we often discuss, so I thought I would post them all under one thread, to keep it neat and tidy in one place :) I won't post them all at once as it would be far too much reading! But here's a couple to get the ball rolling.

I thought a good one to start us off would be Dr. Becker's information packed, and quite emotional, video on her views on the subject. I think we've probably all seen this one before but it seems quite comprehensive, and so a good baseline for people seeking knowledge on this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enPCZA1WFKY
User avatar
minkee
Posts: 2034
Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2011 7:58 am
Location: Yorkshire
Contact:

Re: Spay and Neuter - Articles and Evidence

Post by minkee »

This study is what prompted me to start this thread, it's an "Evaluation of the risk and age of onset of cancer and behavioral disorders in gonadectomized Vizslas"

http://www.caninesports.com/uploads/1/5 ... _study.pdf

This is a snippet of the results:
Dogs gonadectomized at ≤ 6 months, between 7 and 12 months, or at > 12 months of age had significantly increased odds of developing mast cell cancer, lymphoma, all other cancers, all cancers combined, and fear of storms, compared with the odds for sexually intact dogs
I haven't read the whole study - I shall leave that to the more academically minded! But it flies in the face of the oft touted 'It will stop them getting cancer' reasoning that vets use to persuade people to neuter (as I know from personal experience :( )

Asides from that, the 'fear of storms' seems a strange result - how did that even enter the study? Why that specific fear?? I would assume that it really just means they are less prone to being confident young dogs, but that is just my assumption :)
User avatar
minkee
Posts: 2034
Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2011 7:58 am
Location: Yorkshire
Contact:

Re: Spay and Neuter - Articles and Evidence

Post by minkee »

And one last study for now, in which researchers analyzed medical records for 759 Golden Retrievers finding that early spay-neuter doubled the chance of hip dysplasia among other things:

https://www.avma.org/news/javmanews/pages/131101a.aspx
Of males castrated early—defined in this study as before 1 year of age—10 percent had hip dysplasia, double the occurrence among sexually intact males. Cranial cruciate ligament tears were not diagnosed in any of the sexually intact males or females, but in the early age–neutered males and females, prevalences were 5 percent and 8 percent, respectively. Lymphosarcoma was diagnosed in almost 10 percent of males castrated early, three times the rate in sexually intact males.
ClareMarsh
Posts: 2008
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2011 5:11 am
Location: London, UK

Re: Spay and Neuter - Articles and Evidence

Post by ClareMarsh »

Precis
At some point, most of us with an interest in dogs will have to consider whether or not to spay / neuter our
pet. Tradition holds that the benefits of doing so at an early age outweigh the risks. Often, tradition holds
sway in the decision-making process even after countervailing evidence has accumulated.
Ms Sanborn has reviewed the veterinary medical literature in an exhaustive and scholarly treatise,
attempting to unravel the complexities of the subject. More than 50 peer-reviewed papers were examined to
assess the health impacts of spay / neuter in female and male dogs, respectively. One cannot ignore the
findings of increased risk from osteosarcoma, hemangiosarcoma, hypothyroidism, and other less frequently
occurring diseases associated with neutering male dogs. It would be irresponsible of the veterinary
profession and the pet owning community to fail to weigh the relative costs and benefits of neutering on the
animal’s health and well-being. The decision for females may be more complex, further emphasizing the
need for individualized veterinary medical decisions, not standard operating procedures for all patients.
No sweeping generalizations are implied in this review. Rather, the author asks us to consider all the health
and disease information available as individual animals are evaluated. Then, the best decisions should be
made accounting for gender, age, breed, and even the specific conditions under which the long-term care,
housing and training of the animal will occur.

http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTerm ... InDogs.pdf
Proud owner of Ted and baby Ella
My blog about Ted http://tinkerwolf.com/
Ted's Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/Tinkerwolf
Ted's You Tube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/TheTedVids
User avatar
minkee
Posts: 2034
Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2011 7:58 am
Location: Yorkshire
Contact:

Re: Spay and Neuter - Articles and Evidence

Post by minkee »

I wanted to add this link from another thread a while back:

Early Spay-Neuter Considerations for the Canine Athlete: One Veterinarian’s Opinion
http://www.caninesports.com/uploads/1/5 ... s_2013.pdf

and I also wanted to add this one, which is far too dense for me to sink my teeth into, but it referenced up to the eyeballs, and may be of use to some of the more scientifically minded amongst us :)
EVIDENCE-BASED APPROACH TO NEUTER SURGERY AND INTRODUCTION TO EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICAL PRACTICE
http://www.medhelp.org/user_journals/sh ... L-PRACTICE
User avatar
minkee
Posts: 2034
Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2011 7:58 am
Location: Yorkshire
Contact:

Re: Spay and Neuter - Articles and Evidence

Post by minkee »

And here's two more links, both by Caroline Warnes for the APBC. They're just simple lists, and they're not referenced as to where her information comes from, but interesting non-the-less. They seem to hold a considered middle ground.

Castration Risks and Benefits: Dogs
Neutering Risks and benefits: Bitches
User avatar
Nettle
Posts: 10753
Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2008 1:40 pm

Re: Spay and Neuter - Articles and Evidence

Post by Nettle »

Thank you for finding all this, Minkee - dog owners need all the information they can get to make the best decisions.
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog

SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS
ClareMarsh
Posts: 2008
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2011 5:11 am
Location: London, UK

Re: Spay and Neuter - Articles and Evidence

Post by ClareMarsh »

I don't think we have this one do we? It's from July '06 but I've not read this one before. Interesting.

Effects of ovariohysterectomy on reactivity in German Shepherd dogs
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 330500064X
Proud owner of Ted and baby Ella
My blog about Ted http://tinkerwolf.com/
Ted's Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/Tinkerwolf
Ted's You Tube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/TheTedVids
Post Reply