Why you shouldn’t neuter/spay your puppy yet
December 5, 2022
Time to talk about an outdated practice!
Today and for many, many years it has been commonplace to neuter (male and female term) young puppies. The earlier the better. It was said to prevent behavior issues and specific types of cancer like testicular and mammary cancers. While yes, neutering does lower/prevent those risks, the AGE of neuter is critical. Neuters prior to physical maturity cause more harm than good. There are healthier alternatives.
Before we get into the science of it, let’s think about common sense. All animals are born with sex organs. It’s natural and part of life. How can it possibly make sense that removing those organs from a developing puppy would be beneficial? How could that not lead to huge issues? Having testicles or ovaries are natural and not automatically a bad thing, even if the dog isn’t supposed to reproduce. If they were so bad, then how is any animal or human still alive? They are there for a reason.
I’m not writing this to convince you to never neuter your dog. My intention is solely to give you more information so you can make an INFORMED decision that is best for your situation and dog. I just had my 5-year-old female neutered so I’m not against it. There is a lot of pressure from Vets and sometimes it’s hard for owners to go against their Vets strong recommendations. On top of how frequently they will contact you to remind you about neutering your puppy. I have a 9 month old puppy and I have gotten texts and emails every month to remind me that they recommend neutering at 6 months old. They can be very pushy.
To be clear, I never recommend neutering a PUPPY. In any situation. I understand why shelters/rescues neuter puppies, but I still don’t agree with it. There are healthier options that I will talk about later. They currently aren’t offered by most Vets due to not knowing how to perform the surgery, but if more people start insisting on doing the alternatives, then more Vets will learn.
Overall, waiting until maturity to neuter will reduce/prevent the chance of many issues like joint disorders, soft tissues injuries, fearful or aggressive behavior, many types of cancer, hypothyroidism, obesity, recurring UTI’s, adverse reactions to vaccines, sound sensitivity and more.
My recommendation is to wait 1-1.5 years for small breeds, 2-2.5 for medium breeds, 2.5-3 for large breeds and 3-4 for giant breeds. The larger the dog, the longer it takes to reach physical maturity. I like to err on the side of caution.
I’m going to try to list the information and studies in a painless and easy to follow way, because I know these darn things can be annoying to read. I tried to only include studies that had a large amount of dog participants. Each section will have the link and title with a short conclusion or quote from the study. I encourage everyone to read all of the links if they’d like to learn more. I’m not writing this for English class, so I don’t care that it doesn’t follow x.y,z rules, ha-ha!
Looked at female Rottweilers who were neutered and intact to determine if there was a link between a longer life and remaining intact longer. Just like in humans, female dogs are more likely to live longer, but removing the ovaries before 4 took away that advantage. Females who were neutered after 5 years old lived 30% longer than the breeds life expectancy.
Showed dogs who were neutered earlier were more likely to display fearful and aggressive behaviors.
Microsoft Word – LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs May 14 2007.doc (naiaonline.org)
This study concluded that dogs neutered under 1 year old had a significant increase in bone cancer, cardiac hemangiosarcoma (cancer of blood vessels), progressive geriatric cognitive impairment, prostate cancer, urinary tract caners, orthopedic disorders, adverse reactions to vaccines, splenic hemangiosarcoma, spay incontinence, recessed vulva, vaginal dermatitis, vaginitis, UTI and triple the ricks of obesity and hypothyroidism.
SNBehaviorBoneDataSnapShot.doc (atftc.com) Behavioral and Physical Effects of
Spaying and Neutering Domestic Dogs
“Our data showed that the behavior of neutered dogs was
significantly different from that of intact dogs in ways that contradict the prevailing view. Among the findings, neutered dogs were more aggressive, fearful, excitable, and less trainable than intact dogs. In addition, we measured eight individual bone lengths plus the height of 202 agility competition dogs to determine whether gonadectomy affected bone lengths. Preliminary analysis revealed significant differences in bone growth between the intact and neutered groups. These findings strongly support the need for an immediate re-evaluation of the current recommendation to spay or neuter dogs to prevent or treat behavior problems, and an equally pressing need to more fully examine the wide range of physical effects of spaying and neutering pet
dogs.”
This is another study on Rottweilers. “Risk for bone sarcoma was significantly influenced by age at gonadectomy. Male and female dogs that underwent gonadectomy before 1 year of age had an approximate one in four lifetime risk for bone sarcoma and were significantly more likely to develop bone sarcoma than dogs that were sexually intact [RR ±95% CI = 3.8 (1.5–9.2) for males; RR ±95% CI = 3.1 (1.1–8.3) for females].”
Dogs neutered before 1 year old had a higher risk of one or more joint disorder. The top reported disorder was CCL (cranial cruciate ligament).
Demographic and aggressive characteristics of dogs in a general veterinary caseload – ScienceDirect
This looked at aggression towards people who live in the home. There were more incidents involving neutered males reported followed by neutered females. There were even more females than males included in the study.
Session I: Non-reproductive Effects of Spaying and Neutering (naiaonline.org)
“The results of the study suggest that spayed female dogs tend to be more aggressive toward their owners and to strangers than intact females, but that these effects of spaying on behavior appear to be highly breed-specific. Contrary to popular belief, the study found little evidence that castration was an effective treatment for aggressive behavior in male dogs and may exacerbate other behavioral problems.”
Neutering Dogs: Effects on Joint Disorders and Cancers in Golden Retrievers | PLOS ONE
This is specific to Golden Retrievers and showed an increased risk of hip dysplasia, CCL and lymphosarcoma.
pone.0102241 1..10 (nih.gov) Long-Term Health Effects of Neutering Dogs:
Comparison of Labrador Retrievers with Golden
Retrievers
This is comparing the above Golden Retriever study to Labrador Retrievers. It shows that Lab neutered prior to 6 months old doubled the risk of one or more joint disorders while it increased the risk to Goldens by 4-5 times.
Dogs neutered at any time had a significant increase in the likelihood of showing moderate to severe aggressive behaviors towards.
Specific to small breeds. Showed a 3.1-fold increase in neutered dogs who had patellar luxation.
Specific to Vizslas. Suggested that neutered dogs had an increased likelihood of mast cell cancer, lymphoma, all other cancers, hemangiosarcoma, behavior issues and fear of storms (sound sensitivity). The earlier a dog is neutered, the earlier the diagnosis.
Neutered males had a significantly increased risk of urinary bladder transitional cell carcinoma (TCC), prostate carcinoma, prostate TCC and prostate tumors.
Adverse events diagnosed within three days of vaccine administration in dogs – PubMed (nih.gov)
Having an adverse reaction to vaccines was 27%-38% greater in neutered dogs.
“Neutered dogs had a significantly greater risk of atopic dermatitis, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, hypoadrenocorticism, hypothyroidism, and inflammatory bowel disease than intact dogs with neutered females being at greater risk than neutered males for all but AIHA and ADD. Neutered females, but not males, had a significantly greater risk of lupus erythematosus than intact females.”
Canine ovariohysterectomy and orchiectomy increases the prevalence of ACL injury – PubMed (nih.gov)
“Sterilization of either gender increased the prevalence of anterior cruciate ligament injury, suggesting a potential effect of gonadal gender on prevalence of injury of this ligament.”
Specific to Dachshunds and showed neutered dogs had a higher risk of intervertebral disc herniation.
Are there alternatives to traditional neuters?
YES!!!!! These can be done at an earlier age due to the dog still producing hormones needed for growth. For males it is a Vasectomy. This is the same thing for human males. They will still have testicles and produce all those healthy hormones but cannot reproduce. In females, it’s typically called an Ovary Sparing Spay. The uterus is removed but the ovaries are left and will still produce hormones. They will likely continue to ovulate but cannot reproduce. Both sexes may still try to mate because they are still producing the hormones that drive the instinct. You will have to ensure neither are able to be mated or mate because it could cause some serious internal issues. Males may still try to roam if they smell a female. BE RESPONSIBLE and contain your dogs.
The downside to the alternative options is many Vets don’t know how to perform these surgeries or don’t offer it and they are typically more expensive. You may have to travel to find a Vet who offers these procedures. However, if more people start electing for these as opposed to the traditional methods, more Vets will learn and start offering it. Ideally, for a similar price.
What to know if you want to RESPONSIBLY keep your dog intact
Females have the most “issues” to worry about. They typically go into heat twice a year and it usually last about 3 weeks. Some less, some more. If your female is about to go into heat, is in heat and just coming out of heat DO NOT put her outside unattended. I don’t care if you have a 10 tall fence with 2 feet buried under ground. Males become very determined when they smell a female in heat. They will dig, jump, climb, tear apart or destroy anything they can to get to her. Be outside with your gal. Always. Some females can still be bred if they just stopped bleeding or even just before they start. It is your job to keep her from getting pregnant. If she does become pregnant, there are options to abort a litter at the vet. This will likely require a spay as well.
Females may also experience false pregnancies after a heat. They will produce milk, start making a nest, may eat or drink less, not want to do much, etc. DO NOT encourage these behaviors. Watch for Mastitis in her mammary glands. False pregnancies are why I had my Rottweiler neutered. She had one after each heat and each one had more/severe symptoms. She would still be intact if it weren’t for that.
Another thing to keep in mind with females in Pyometra, an infection in the uterus. If this isn’t caught and treated in time it often leads to death. It can happen up to 8 weeks after a heat cycle. There are different types. The first is open Pyo, which means the cervix is open and puss will drain out. This is the easiest to notice due to the discharge and there will likely be a strong smell. The other is closed and the cervix is not open. Puss will not be draining so no obvious discharge. You will have to rely on noticing changes in behavior. Not eating, drinking more water than normal, seem depressed, no energy, vomiting, diarrhea, etc. If you even suspect Pyometra, get to the Vet ASAP.
Males are a bit easier. To keep your male intact you need to ensure he is not able to roam for females. He needs to be properly secured and trained to listen. It is solely your responsibility to prevent him from reproducing. As he ages, you’ll want to watch for testicular cancer.
Overall, it is not hard to be responsible and have intact dogs.
Like I said my goal for this topic is to educate owners and give some information to show Vets if an owner decides they want to wait for physical maturity to neuter. Sometimes it’s easier to stand your ground with physical proof. I hope this helps!
