More info on spay/neuter ages

[waffles]

Maybe it's not that the vets don't know but that they are making a judgement call when they're looking at a person in front of them and their dog. Maybe the person has little to no knowledge on dogs, has an out of control, untrained dog in the room with them and are asking about whether to spay/neuter now or wait. And that vet is thinking about how many litters this dog will potentially accidentally create or maybe the person decides to breed for extra cash and how many will end up in shelter/rescues, euthanized, etc. maybe that vet has been in shelters, works with X amount of local rescues and thinks what is the greater evil. Not saying what's right or wrong just offering a different perspective the vet may have.

 

My husband's friend just bought a pup from a breeder and the pup died of parvo. The litter was not vaccinated at all, the breeder had strangers and their dogs coming over to socialize the litter when they were young. Said friend is happy the lady will breed again (because now she knows puppies need vaccinations!) and can't wait to get another pup from her. (!!!!?). I feel this is the stuff vets see everyday... People who have no business creating animals, puppy buyers who have no clue what questions to ask/red flags to look for, and the vets clean up the mess from everyone's carelessness.

[mum24dog]

Up to my latest one all my dogs have been neutered between 6 and 12 months without ill effects and I would have no hesitation in dong so again if required by a rescue or I felt the dog's behaviour warranted it.

 

I have read the same studies as the rest but my conclusion is that for most dogs it's really no big deal.

 

My current youngster was bought and the decision is entirely mine. He is perfectly amiable, doesn't hanker after bitches, scent mark or attract aggressive behaviour from other entire dogs and if that continues he will probably get to keep his nuts.

He's a very slightly built dog and needs to muscle up considerably so I don't want to mess with his hormones at this stage although our hose collie was the same and muscled up fine after being neutered at 8 months so whether it will help I don't know.

[Mark Billadeau]

An epidemiological study would likely find that dogs that were altered upon an owner's request were at less risk of being malnourished than dogs not altered. These altered dogs would likely be at lower risk of getting communicable viral diseases.

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Epidemiological studies do not demonstrate cause and effect; all they do is measure correlation. Dogs in one group (male, female, white, black, alerted, rough coated, etc) were also found in another group (got cancer, got hit by a car, had puppies, etc) X% of the time.

 

"Based upon past data, we can predict that a male is X% likely to be hit by a car while a female is Y% likely; if X>Y then males are more likely to be hit by a car."

 

These studies provide interesting correlations that can be the basis for further studies on cause and effect. The risk with epidemiological studies is that the causal factor was not part of the study and some other factor that was part of the study and has some correlation to the health issue is then assumed to be causal.

[GentleLake]

I'm going to try this again (didn't go thru the first time).

 

I forgot to add the link to the article that prompted my reviving this thread. Here it is: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/04/10/early-spaying.aspx

 

ETA: Gaaa. Just noticed that I did post the link on 7/11.

 

Sorry for the duplication.

[GentleLake]

Maybe it's not that the vets don't know but that they are making a judgement call when they're looking at a person in front of them and their dog. Maybe the person has little to no knowledge on dogs, has an out of control, untrained dog in the room with them and are asking about whether to spay/neuter now or wait. And that vet is thinking about how many litters this dog will potentially accidentally create or maybe the person decides to breed for extra cash and how many will end up in shelter/rescues, euthanized, etc. maybe that vet has been in shelters, works with X amount of local rescues and thinks what is the greater evil. Not saying what's right or wrong just offering a different perspective the vet may have.

 

I can understand that rationalization . . . but not perpetuating misinformation about the risks involved in leaving them intact.

 

To my mind, that's 2 separate issues. And, yeah, I get the push to prevent pet overpopulation. I really do.

 

It's a conundrum.

[waffles]

I remember an episode of Dr Pol where a customer came in with their pregnant dog who was having trouble giving birth. They said she needed a c section....it was her third troubled pregnancy and third c section! Who keeps breeding that dog!? Sometimes it isn't just overpopulation but the long term health and wellbeing of the animal at risk.

 

I think most vets want what is best for their customers, but just like a police officer they may use discretion with how to handle a situation with each individual client. I'm not saying I agree with giving false information but maybe leaving some info out for the sake of getting a dog fixed that you think will otherwise end up in a worse state in the future, is the better situation.

 

I also know my vet will say things like, this new product (say flea/tick preventative) just came out and the research behind it is looking good but I don't recommend or am willing to sell it until I do further reading on it. Or something similar. So maybe a lot of these vets do know about these issues but aren't yet ready to pass that info on to their clients unless they feel more confident in the science behind it. Again, who knows I am not a vet but just trying to show another perspective.