So for years and years people have been Spaying and neutering their dogs and in most cases they do it young. As a breeder I’ve come up against philosophies about even Spaying and neutering young puppies before they walk out the door and something about that always sat wrong with me despite my lack of knowledge to the truth of how in fact it really is an unhealthy choice.  A few years ago science unleashed the truth about female dogs being spayed. The study group was Rottweilers that we’ve always been told are a large breed dog that according to longevity statistics  it states they will live 9 to 10 years. I have friends that were breeders of Rottweilers and they will tell you the same that most of their dogs pass on by about age 10.

What no one ever seems to have taken into consideration for all the hundreds of years before now is that Spaying or neutering a dog early in life could weigh in on longevity statistics.

Consider this for a moment one year of a dogs life equals seven of a human so therefore a one-year-old dog equals a seven-year-old child and a two-year-old dog equals  a 14-year-old child and a three-year-old dog equals a 21-year-old young adult. If we spay or neuter in the first year or two we are a essentially castrating or doing a hysterectomy on a young child that is not yet developed fully physically.

Do you think that hormones contribute to physical development?

Naturally! Take for example just a young girl and her menstruation and then after that what happens to her body: she starts to develop breasts and hips. For a young boy obvious signs are development of musculature and a beard or mustache. So absolutely hormones contribute to physical develop . And what if this physical development isn’t where you can’t see it and contributes to standards of good health? I am asking these questions and wanting to provoke you to think about it because until now they were only questions however science now supports this logical thinking.

It was also once believe that the earth was flat but science has proven otherwise in essence ” reshaping intellectual terrain”

Read Rottweiler study links ovaries with exceptional longevity

The understanding now is that the ovaries produce the hormones which if removed decreases the chances of living a longer life. In fact Rottweilers that were not spayed until after six years of age have 4 1/2 Times the chance of living until the age of 13.  It appears that how long a dog keeps her ovaries influences how long she lives. Typically the statistics says Rottweilers live to be on average 9 1/2 years , that would be sans ovaries apparently.  With ovaries she will live longer.

This research is mirrored in human studies. It was found that females that had high risk of cancer that we’re having a hysterectomy is done as a preventative measure for benign uterine diseases, that this was actually outweighed by And increased mortality rate from other causes. So women’s lives are cut short when their ovaries or taking away before the age of 50 compared to the women that keep their ovaries till at least 50 years of age.

Although there are still many questions to be answered it’s recommended at least to consider your options and not just do as you’re told because that’s the way it’s been for the last hundreds of years. If you don’t need to “why” ask yourself?

Sparing Spay

And other interesting alternative I’ll be it hard to find a vet that will do this as of yet is what is called a partial spay. This is when the dog is spayed however the ovaries are kept.

1) It is called the ovary sparing spay.

Have you heard the expression having your cake and eating it too. Ha ha well this kind of a spay could be giving you the benefits of not having unwanted pregnancies but also to prevent risks for ovarian cancer or other health problems which is another benefit of keeping the hormones flowing . The way the surgical procedures are referenced is as a typical spay is called an ovariohysterectomy were the whole entire female reproductive tract is removed.

The surgical procedure referred to as a partial spay or an ovary swearing spay that is just the hysterectomy where they only are removing the uterus and ovaries are left in place.

What we are not certain of though is how well or how long the ovaries will last for. This is being studied in humans presently and there is some debate over this issue. There have been cases where ovaries eventually shrivel up and die.

2) LINK:  www.medscape.com/viewarticle/861875

Scientific studies tested for hormone levels in women that had surgery were the ovaries were spared versus women that did not have surgery at all and the outcome was in the post surgery group that hormone levels decreased more quickly and bringing on menopause a few years sooner than women that did not have the surgery at all.

People usually call me with a specific gender in mind I want to boy or I want to girl and unless they have another dog I always say that nature traits are not gender specific. Most everybody comes in to the equation of getting a girl dog just thinking they’re going to spay so they never consider that getting a girl dog means if you in fact want her to have a healthier life with more  hormones flowing for the first five years minimum that  you will have a dog in heat every six months and you will need to act responsibly so that the dog doesn’t have an unwanted pregnancy.

Resposibility

I’ve seen this and play with owners that have a male and a female unspayed or unneutered who believe they can easily handle it and then they carelessly didn’t use the appropriate restraint methods and the had an unwanted litter of blue french bulldog puppies which tortured their lives for 8 weeks . It was for them a very trying experience.  Breeding this breed is more difficult than anyone would ever know.

It’s not without good reason that these dogs are so expensive because without all the cautionary measures most of the puppies would not even live.

Trust me you don’t want an unwanted litter of French Bulldogs please so you need to decide before getting your female dog that you are ready to do what it takes to be a responsible pet owner with an unspayed female.

3) Third furthermore the latest studies on male dogs that are altered versus not indicates that dogs that are altered have a higher risk of auto immune disease.

BMC veterinary research evaluated gonadectomy affects on the risk of immune disorders in Dogs. This has never been done before and unfortunately it was determined that many more auto immune disease developed in dogs that had been neutered and in females it was even far worse.

Do What is Right

There are events that will still try to talk you in to altering your dog in the first year to year and a half. They will even argue that risk of cancer is increased in male dogs. Here’s the crazy thing that risk of cancer is about prostate cancer which absolutely can be an issue after the age of eight years so neuter your dog before then. But prostate cancer is an issue for humans as well in fact 95% of men will have prostate cancer by the age of 90 if they live that long does that mean that we go castrating men in their 50s or their 20s have you or at the age of 14 to prevent something that happens in old age

I hope you will take the time to follow the links above and make educated decisions in what you do for your life stock you can make the difference of having your dog in your life for many more years.

If you feel the inclination I would love to bounce ideas back-and-forth you can call me whether you bought a dog for me you’re not and just talk about the issues so I hope this helps I’m personally passionate about the subject and thank you for reading this article.