The research I first wrote about in 2021 that offered recommendations on when to spay or neuter 35 dog breeds has expanded to include recommendations for 5 more breeds — German Short/Wirehaired Pointer, Mastiff, Newfoundland, Rhodesian Ridgeback, and Siberian Husky. Let’s take a look at the details for these new breeds.
With increasing interest in the benefits of dogs’ longer exposure to gonadal hormones and demand for options other than traditional spay/neuter, a study published in early 2023 caught my attention. It compares health and behavior outcomes for dog vasectomy and ovary-sparing spay patients with both sexually intact dogs and those with gonads surgically removed as is the current standard practice. It’s a small sample for dogs who’ve had those surgeries, but the results look interesting. I tried to include most of the important points. The full list of health conditions compared is long, but researchers grouped them as follows:
– Orthopedic problems, including blown knees
– Cancer
– Obesity
– Endocrine disorders (thyroid disease, diabetes)
– Reproductive disorders
– Other health problems (dental, heart, kidney, and eye diseases and disorders)
– Problematic behaviors (aggression, anxiety)
– Nuisance behaviors (mounting, marking)
Friday, October 9, after a LONG wait for Clover to go into heat (in hopes of solving her UTI issues) and then more waiting for her to recover from an exceptionally long false pregnancy that lasted WAY longer than a real one, Clover will be spayed. I’m very much looking forward to having this surgery behind us, but I’m also a total wreck. Once you’ve lost an amazing dog to something that should have been routine (a rabies vaccine), it’s hard to look at anything — big or small — as no big deal.
Prior to Clover, the female dogs in my life got spayed early — before or after adoption. That means I didn’t really know what I was getting into when we decided to allow Clover to go through one heat cycle, on the advice of our board-certified veterinary internal medicine specialist in hopes of solving the issue of back-to-back urinary tract infections (UTIs) in our puppy-girl. Here’s how things went, these last 20-some days. (I promise, this post is NOT gross or graphic.)
By now, you’ve likely read several book reviews of Pukka’s Promise: The Quest for Longer-Lived Dogs by Ted Kerasote. I’m a little late to the party. It took me a while to read the book (a) because it’s long and (b) because I’ve been busy taking care of Lilly, after her latest setback (antibiotic-resistant infection and sudden inability to walk / stand). Below, I hope you’ll find a uniquely Champion of My Heart look at Pukka’s Promise.
