007. Facts and Opinions about Neutering
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This article is from the rec.pets.dogs: Assorted Topics, posted to rec.pets.dogs newsgroup. Maintained by Cindy Tittle Moore with numerous contributions by others.
007. Facts and Opinions about Neutering
Remember, "neutering" can refer both to spaying bitches or castrating dogs. An "intact" bitch or dog is one that has not been neutered.
Practical reasons for keeping your dog intact
* Conformation showing requires dogs and bitches to be intact.
* Breeding stock (obviously) must remain intact
Practical reasons for neutering your dog
* Not a show-quality or breeding-quality dog.
* It is a working dog (such as Seeing Eye or Guide dog) and must not be distracted by the opposite sex.
* Medical and health benefits.
* Its breeding days are over.
Definite myths about neutering
"My bitch will become fat and lazy if I spay her." Not true. If you hold to the same exercise and feeding schedule after surgery that you did before surgery, her weight and activity will not change except as a normal function of aging. Bitches that become lazy after spaying do so because of YOUR expectations: you take her out less because you think she's lazier, and so around and around it goes. Remember, too, that the age at which many bitches are spayed (6-8 months) is also the age at which they begin to settle down from puppyhood into adulthood. Studies done on early neutering (at 8-10 weeks) show that such puppies remain on par behaviorally with their unneutered counterparts. If anything, they are often _more_ active than their unneutered counterparts.
"I want her to have one litter before spaying because that will improve her personality." This is not true. Clinical studies show no permanent changes occur as a result of pregnancy. Behavioral changes that do occur are an effect of hormonal levels and lactation and are strictly temporary. If your behavior toward her does not change from before her pregnancy, her behavior will not change, either.
Ethical considerations over neutering
What is your goal with neutering your dog or leaving it intact?
Unless you know what you want to do with your dog, it may be difficult to make the decision to neuter. You must take into account how you will prevent unwanted breeding so long as your animal is intact. For example, you must not let it roam. You must have it under control at all times.
Neutering your dog will not solve behavioral problems. Solving behavioral problems is a matter of training. Both intact and neutered animals, properly trained, make fine housepets.
Neutering your dog does guarantee that you will have no unwanted puppies. It does guarantee that _certain behaviors_ related to reproduction will be eliminated. This includes dog interest in the heat-scent, and bitch agitation during heat. It eliminates certain physical manifestations in the bitch, such as discharge from the vulva.
It _may_ reduce the incidence of urine marking, mounting, and intermale aggression in male dogs. Interestingly enough, the _age_ at which an animal is neutered does not affect the likelihood that neutering will have an impact on a particular behaviors. _Experience_ seems to play more of a role in determining which behaviors are retained. That is, if habits have been established, neutering is not likely to alter them.
Behavior patterns common to both males and females, such as protective barking, playfulness, and attention-seeking are not affected by neutering. No basic personality or behavior changes occur as a result of neutering, except that undesirable male behaviors may be reduced or eliminated.
It is possible to sterilize dogs without neutering. This means severing the vas deferens in the dog and the fallopian tubes in the bitch. You eliminate the possiblity of puppies, and there is _no_ change in behavior because the hormones have not been altered: the dogs are still interested in bitches and the bitches will still go through heat. However, they will be sterile. You may have to look hard to find a vet that will do this, as it is uncommon.
If you intend to breed, the decision is easy. If you are putting your dog to other work, you may be worried about negative or positive behavioral changes from neutering in your dog affecting its work. If you simply have a pet you do not wish to breed, neutering is entirely appropriate.
What are the medical advantages of spaying? The medical advantages of neutering? How about the disadvantages?
Medical advantages:
Your bitch is no longer subject to reproductive cancers, such as mammary cancer (the most common tumor of the sexually intact bitch). Bitches spayed prior to their first estrus have about 0.5 percent risk of developing mammary cancer. If spaying is delayed after the second heat period, the chance of developing a tumor jumps 8-26 percent. Bitches spayed later than this remain at the same level of risk, 8-26 percent. The incidence of pyometra is eliminated in spayed bitches. Pyometra is a common disease of intact bitches, particularly in bitches over 6 years of age, although it can occur at any age. It is a potentially fatal disease.
Your dog is less at risk from prostate disease and testicular cancer, both of which can be life-threatening. Even non-malignant growths are a threat because the growth can cause infection that can eventually kill your dog.
Medical disadvantages:
General anesthesia is a risk to any dog. A small percentage of spayed bitches may develop estrogen imbalances in later life that causes incontinence (or rather, "leaking"), which is easily controlled with dosages of estrogen. There are no medical disadvantages (other than anesthetic risk) to male dogs. However in most cases, neutering a dog does not involve anesthesia. The exception is when an undescended testicle must be removed.
What are the psychological effects on your dog?
There is wide disagreement over this, but there are various relevant facts to note.
First, neutered dogs are no longer concerned with reproduction. This is a psychological effect, but the extent of it is confined to its behavior with respect to heat.
The argument is often over whether or not neutered dogs remain "aggressive." In particular, guard dogs and working dogs are often thought to lose something by neutering. This is counterable with specific examples: e.g., Seeing Eye dogs are always neutered and they are fine, working dogs. There are many neutered animals that are dominant over intact animals. For each claim made about the effect of neutering an animal, a counter-example can be cited. This means that the effect of neutering is largely dependent on the individual dog. And, most likely, because dogs are so attuned to their owners, dependent on the owner. Dogs are very good at picking up expectations: if you _expect_ your dog to mellow after neutering, it probably will, whether or not the neutering was actually responsible for it. The question also arises over whether dogs "miss" sex or not. Insofar as neutered animals never display interest in sex afterwards, the argument is fairly strong that dogs do not miss their sexual capability. "Mounting" or "humping" is a dominance related behavior that any alpha dog, of either sex, intact or neutered, will engage in.
What are the ethical issues?
There is a good deal of controversy over the practice of neutering animals. Please note that some viewpoints are culturally determined: for example, many countries in Europe, especially Scandinavian ones, do not have any sort of pet population problem; whereas in the US, millions of dogs are put to sleep annually because of uncontrolled and thoughtless reproduction. Thus, any debate over the relative ethics of neutering dogs must be careful to keep the background of the debate participants in mind. Your personal decision should also take this factor, as well as others, in making that decisions. In brief, here is a summary, pro and con, of the various opinions and points that proponents of either side make.
PRO CONNeutering prevents unwanted You can control your own dog's puppies. reproduction.
It prevents certain behaviors You can control your dog; again, such as roaming, being in heat why should we take something away going after bitches in heat. from the dog?
There are medical benefits to There are valid moral objections neutering. to "tampering" with your dog.
Neutered dogs are content with Who wants to have neutering possibly established pack orders. affect your dog's abilities.
Dominance is unrelated to intact- But there are also cases where the ness; many neutered animals are dog lost some edge. just as, if not more so, energetic determined and aggressive as their intact counterparts.
Many bitches perform the same But why take the chance on an duties as well as dogs; individual dog's temperament testosterone is not the magic changing? ingredient, training and individual temperament is.
References
Hart BL. "Effects of neutering and spaying on the behavior of dogs and cats: Questions and answers about practical concerns," in JAVMA 1991;198:1204-1205.
Houpt KA, Coren B, Hintz et al. "Effects of sex and reproductive status on sucrose preference, food intake, and body weight of dogs," in JAVMA 1979; 174:1083-1085.
Johnson SD. "Questions and answers on the effects of surgically neutering dogs and cats," in JAVMA 1991;198:1206-1213.
LeRoux PH. "Thyroid status, oestradiol level, work performance and body mass of ovariectomised bitches and bitches bearing ovarian autotransplants in the stomach wall," in J S Afr Vet Assoc 1977;48:115-117.
Marrion, Ruth, DMV. "New Views on Neutering," in _Purebred Dogs/American Kennel Gazette_, April 1992 (pp50-54).
Salmeri KR, Bloomberg MS, Scruggs SL, Shille V. "Gonadectomy in immature dogs: Effects on skeletal, physical, and behavioral development," in JAVMA 1991;198:1193-1203.
Salmeri KR, Olson PN, Bloomberg MS. "Elective gonadectomy in dogs: A review," in JAVMA 1991;198:1183-1191.
Thrusfield MV. "Association between urinary incontinence and spaying bitches," in Vet Rec. 1985;116:695.
Weiss, Seymour N. "Dog Breeding: It's Not for Everyone," in DogsUSA, 1992 Annual, p 121. Vol 7, no 1.
Wilcox, Bonnie, DVM, "Tell Me Why" in Dog Fancy, March 1992 (v23n3), discusses neutering of the male dog.
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