Tuesday, April 6, 2010

The unspoken truth about spaying and neutering our pets

By Christie Keith, Special to SF Gate

of spaying and neutering pets?

The health implications of sterilizing dogs and cats are complex and
highly individualized. Pet owners, animal advocates and veterinarians
should be able to talk about them openly and honestly.

of a medical downside to sterilization is met with an avalanche of

research about increased health risks in sterilized dogs or cats, I've
hopelessly naive about people's ability to analyze the risks and benefits
of medical procedures.

Promoting spay/neuter has evidently become so important that it trumps
everything else, including the truth.

make your pets healthier and better behaved.

out and get spayed or neutered yourself.

there is an increased incidence of mammary cancer in unspayed female dogs
and a pretty high rate of uterine infection as well.

But there are also notable health risks associated with having your dogs
and cats spayed or neutered.

These include an increased incidence of some cancers, including

Neutered males also have a greater chance of getting prostate cancer and
transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder.

Spayed females have a greater incidence of urinary incontinence. They may
also have a higher risk of bladder infections.

Meanwhile, spayed female and neutered male dogs have a significantly
greater incidence of anterior cruciate ligament injuries than intact dogs.

Recent research by Purdue University suggests that female dogs (and,

without gaining weight is reduced.

other adverse effects?

for most pets, the health benefits will outweigh the risks.

Furthermore, most people will choose to sterilize their family pets

Most importantly, the benefit to society of preventing unwanted litters of
a shelter or live homeless on the streets.

spreading of false and misleading information? Does it justify the anger
and opposition that meets me and anyone else who openly discusses the
medical risks to spaying and neutering?

unwanted litters.

cancer. I read it on the Internet!"

information on which to base their health care decisions.

truth and reacting angrily when we hear it.

If we can't have honest conversations about the health consequences of
"spaying and neutering won't make your pet fat."

They won't take precautions to protect their spayed or neutered pets from
avoidable risks such as cruciate ligament injuries.

person adopts in the first place.

stop believing what you tell them.

shouldn't squander that in order to manipulate people into doing what we
it as an excuse not to spay or neuter his pets.

by facts and a rational decision-making process.

Cheating caring dog and cat owners out of truthful medical information

For update for 2011 see:

Copyright 2010 SF Gate


Lindsay said...

Hi! I found your blog by chance, in looking for Vizsla pups. We are hoping to add one to our family very soon and was wondering where your darlings came from!

BTW, your photos are great! Such cuties!

Rod Michaelson said...

Hello. Both Chloe and Bailey are from small family breeders here in the Bay Area. Both are from great Vizsla backgrounds with long AKC lineage. E-mail me directly and let me know more and I should be able to put you in touch with some good breeders. Thanks for visiting and I hope you take the time to scam the 150 posts. The earlier ones had a lot of basic Vizsla facts and even some videos.

Radar Red Dog said...

I am a firm believer that a dog's natural state (intact) is the most conducive to health and longevity (because it stands to reason that we've evolved to survive and Mother Nature wouldn't have produced something so faulty that long and healthy life depended upon human surgical intervention!). However in the ever popular world of spay and neuter we are being led to believe that certain body parts are superfluous and that their absence makes not one iota of difference to overall health. This study, www.gpmcf.org/respectovaries.html, for I think the very first time, highlights the fact that this is not right. It's really interesting! And the questions and comments towards the end, after the nuts and bolts of the study have been covered, ask very good questions.

Another excellent article that looks at the pros and cons of castration/spaying is Karyn Orzeszko's (fellow Vizslaphile from Australia with qualifications in this area) website "V-Source" which gives you everything you need to know:


PS I've never spayed or neutered any of my dogs...my last lab died, intact, at the ripe old age of 18!!

Cindy Mommsen said...

Good article and definitely a tough decision to make. I remember being out on the beach when Remo was 6 months old and some dog walker was yelling at me to get my dog fixed. Geez, he was only 6 months old and I told her to mind her own business...it's a free world.

Ruth Andre said...

Excellent article. Thank-you.

Anonymous said...

i had a vizsla pointer mix and he was never neutered