Spay and Neutering

BulliesofNC

There will always be controversy on the pro and cons of spaying and neutering. Unfortunately most Vets try and encourage desexing all dogs and cats with claims of health benefits and pregnancy prevention. To date I have not read any authentic literature that provides merit behind the health benefits of desexing a dog unless problematic health circumstances warrant it. As far as preventing unwanted breedings, that would fall into the court of the responsible owner and I feel decisions of surgically desexing a dog for the mere sake of preventing a "mistake" is unfair to the dog who's health may be jeopardized from the surgery conducted. Call me crazy but I have many Bull Terriers and I have yet to have an "accidental" breeding.

The following article provides some good knowledge on the subject of spaying and neutering:

http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/spay-neuter-and-joint-disease/

philsergeant

Or try my favourite video on the subject:

LokiLostCoast

Our vet actually discouraged us to fix Loki. And said if we were thinking about it to wait until he was at least a year and a half. He said if we waited there would be less of a chance he could end up with joint problems etc.. I am still not sure if I will breed Loki it all depends on how his health is at two years old.

BulliesofNC

Sounds like you have a very good Vet who really cares about the health and welfare of the animals they treat. I sure the all Vets were this way instead of pushing prescription drugs, guessing on every symptom, eager to conduct surgery, and thrilled to perform neutering and spaying at the earliest opportunity.

Djammy

It's probably just a personal opinion, but I feel like back in Germany spaying and neutering is not such a "common" practice as it is, for example,  here in Florida.

I really don't know, if this is related to both countries having different levels of "accidental" offspring or not. Actually I do not believe that is a reason, but I don’t know the numbers.

It is not like back in Germany the shelters would be empty. They are struggling with the very same problems.

Only conclusions and measures seem to be a little different.

I know that there are a lot of “accidents” ending up in shelters here in Florida.

We often meet other dog owners who have adopted such a shelter dog - which really is a wonderful thing.

I guess part of the entire spaying and neutering topic is the desperate try to get a hold of this situation - a general overpopulation of dogs in shelters.

Even the government in Florida supports spaying and neutering by waiving half of the yearly registration fees for owners when they have their dogs fixed.

Part of me can understand these efforts. The less dogs end up in shelters the better - for the dogs' sake!

And there seems to be not much more that can be done other than appealing to dog owners to live and practice responsibility - or encourage spaying and neutering.

I have the same experience that spaying and neutering at a certain age of the dog is a commonly vet recommended procedure here, just as vaccinations are.

Maybe for some vets it is also one of the few higher priced “standard” procedures that are good money makers and easily justified by a large amount of pro-spaying opinions out there.

But I believe that there are also a lot of vets out there that honestly believe they are recommending something beneficial for the dog when they suggest spaying and neutering.

It is such a controversial topic that to my mind, there is just no clear “YES” or “NO” on that.

Yet, from a personal standpoint as a - in my opinion - responsible owner I feel uncomfortable with interfering with my dog's biochemistry for other reasons than her health.

For example, I would never consider having my dog fixed, because it gets less messy then.

As for health benefits, so far I was not able not find any supporting evidence/ studies/ anything that convinced me of spaying and neutering as being the BEST way for my dog to live a healthy life.

Prevention of uterus cancer many times is one of the major arguments for spaying females.

Of course, I would be more than happy to spare my dog such terrible diseases - who wouldn’t.

Yet, so far my own research could not bring up convincing evidence that spaying my female and thus the reduced risk of uterus cancer would outweigh other health risks resulting from “unnaturally” taking away part of her hormonal regulation mechanisms.

Fancy had to undergo a complicated surgery at the age of three when she came down with a serious uterus infection. Until that day she was not spayed.

With the surgery pretty much everything she would be able to become pregnant got removed - including her womb. In this case it was the only choice I had to save her life.

Yet, this did not lead me to get Djamila fixed right away.

She is still "intact" and probably will be.

When weighing pros and cons I just think there must be a reason why nature did not only give females a reproductive system to give birth with.

The production of hormones in that area does steer a whole lot of processes within our body, not necessarily solely our sexuality. That counts for humans AND animals.

Admittedly “leaving nature her will” it is not always the easiest solution. It is messy, Djamila’s due dates vary and so do the signs of her getting into a heat cycle. But it is manageable and I am very confident that I will be able to prevent Djamila from becoming pregnant without the use of scissors.

If - which I hope will never happen - Djamila would get into a life threatening situation as Fancy did - I would not hesitate for a minute to save her life by letting these parts be removed.

Other than that I think my decision NOT to interfere with nature will probably remain the same unless someone can PROVE to me that messing with nature brings unbeatable health benefits.

BulliesofNC

More very good studies and research pertaining to the negative affects of Spay/Neutering:

http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/three-reasons-to-reconsider-spayneuter/