SPAYING/NEUTERING

If you are considering whether to spay/neuter your pet I would strongly encourage you to read this page first. There is a lot of very important information about spaying/neutering that most vets in the USA do not share with pet owners. If you were to go to Sweden or Europe for instance, and go to a vet to ask them to spay/neuter your dog, they would have a long conversation with you to determine why you are wanting to have this done. They would want to be sure you understand the damage it does to the dogs health. It is viewed as very in-humane. In fact, in Norway, it is illegal to neuter your dog unless it was deemed a medical necessity. Why? It's harmful! Here are some of the ways spaying/neutering effects our pets health.

Endocrine disease

A dogs ovaries or testes are a necessary organ. They produce hormones for the dogs body, which is how his organs communicate with one another. These hormones ensure the dog grows and functions properly. When they are removed it causes the dogs adrenal glades and other organs to work on overtime to attempt to replace those hormones, but they are not able to keep up.

This can have an effect on 8 major glands in the body, all of which can play a role in sodium conservation, potassium secretion, water retention, blood pressure, the immune system, and other essential functions.

improper growth

Another reason hormones are so important is for proper growth! Spaying/Neutering before a dog is fully grown will result in Narrow skulls and chest cavities, longer femur bones risking cruciate rupture and hip dysplasia, as well as improper muscle mass.

cancer

Yes, Cancer. Spaying/neutering leads to hormone imbalances which can then lead to cancer, particularly cardiac tumors and bone cancer.

But why then do they advertise spaying/neutering as being a cancer preventative? Well because they do completely get rid of the risk of ovarian cancer and testicular cancer. You can't get cancer on an organ you no longer have. But it will increase the risk of other cancers.

"The study, titled 'Evaluation of the risk and age of onset of cancer and behavioral disorders in gonadectomized Vizslas,'1 was conducted by a team of researchers with support from the Vizsla Club of America Welfare Foundation. It was published in the February 1, 2014 issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association." -Dr.Becker DVM

These are the study results from her website. I will also leave a link here to the video she made that is full of great information on the truth of spaying/neutering.

Vizsla Study Results

The Vizsla study involved 2,505 dogs, and reported these results:

Dogs neutered or spayed at any age were at significantly increased risk for developing mast cell cancer, lymphoma, all other cancers, all cancers combined, and fear of storms, compared with intact dogs.
Females spayed at 12 months or younger, and both genders neutered or spayed at over 12 months had significantly increased odds of developing hemangiosarcoma, compared with intact dogs.
Dogs of both genders neutered or spayed at 6 months or younger had significantly increased odds of developing a behavioral disorder, including separation anxiety, noise phobia, timidity, excitability, submissive urination, aggression, hyperactivity, and/or fear biting. When it came to thunderstorm phobia, all neutered or spayed Vizslas were at greater risk than intact Vizslas, regardless of age at neutering.
The younger the age at neutering, the earlier the age at diagnosis with mast cell cancer, cancers other than mast cell, hemangiosarcoma, lymphoma, all cancers combined, a behavioral disorder, or fear of storms.
Compared to intact dogs, neutered and spayed dogs had a 3.5 times higher risk of developing mast cell cancer, regardless of what age they were neutered.
Spayed females had nine times higher incidence of hemangiosarcoma compared to intact females, regardless of when spaying was performed, however, no difference in incidence of this type of cancer was found for neutered vs. intact males.
Neutered and spayed dogs had 4.3 times higher incidence of lymphoma (lymphosarcoma), regardless of age at time of neutering.
Neutered and spayed dogs had five times higher incidence of other types of cancer, regardless of age of neutering.
Spayed females had 6.5 times higher incidence of all cancers combined compared to intact females, and neutered males had 3.6 times higher incidence than intact males.

Click to view Dr.Becker's Truth on Spaying/neutering

Reduced life expectancy

A study by Water et al, in 2009 showed spaying female rotwweilers before the age of 4 reduced life expectancy by 30%.

Increased risk of disease

A study by the College of Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M concluded that infectious disease was more common in dogs that were sterilized before 24 weeks of age.

Weight gain

A common side effect from the hormone imbalance is weight gain. THis hormone imbalance changes the way they digest their food, slowing down their metabolism.

So What To Do?

We recommend keeping your doggo the way God made them! Dr.Becker does go over in her video some tips for how to do this and the responsible way to prevent unwanted puppies. For boys, simply keeping them on a leash when going for walks and not allowing them to run the neighborhood freely should do the trick. For girls, isolating them from any intact males during their two heat cycles a year will do. Females come into heat about once every 6 months. You will notice their vulvas swell and for the first one to two weeks they bleed. Most of the time this is very light and they do a good job of keeping themselves clean. They can be diapered at this time or gated in a room without carpet. After the two weeks passes is when they would be suceptible for breeding, So it is important that for the week after they are no longer bleeding, they are kept away from intact males. We recommend to count 30 days from the first day you notice their heat just to be safe, however usually 21 days will suffice.