Some Issues On Early Spaying And Neutering

Here are three articles, the first written with many references from veterinary research and the second is about a modified technique of spaying while the third is written by “an angry vet”, all of which discusses some disadvantages of the conventional spaying and neutering, particularly if it is done at an early age, before the animal reaches maturity.

Based on the knowledge from vets, all these years, we have often suggested that rescued females be neutered at 4-5 months and rescued males at 1 year (to allow the testicles to descend completely). But now, based on these two articles, it seems to suggest that ideally, females too should be allowed to reach maturity before they are spayed (around 1 year old, at least). This is, of course, if we have the means and luxury of ensuring that she does not become pregnant before that.

Please read the articles with an open mind and you are highly encouraged to find out more from your vets. I learnt a lot from the three articles too, and proceeded to have some discussions with several vets as well. One of the vets totally disagrees with partial spaying (leaving the ovaries intact) because he has encountered many cases where the animals contracted pyometra after that.

As for castration vs vasectomy for male animals, particularly dogs, we learnt this: There are some advantages of castration, it can prevent prostate hyperplasia and infection, perianal tumour, perianal hernia, territorial, aggression, urine marking ( human advantage ), and breeding . Castration can prevent all the above. Vasectomy can only prevent breeding.

Hmm…castration certainly did not prevent urine marking for Cow, Bunny and Indy. In fact, they started urine marking after they were castrated, but this also coincided with my bringing in new cats frequently for fostering and rehoming. From my limited experience, I think urine marking has more to do with the personality of the cat rather than whether the cat has been castrated or not. If the cat is alpha and has a constant need to stamp his mark, he will urine-mark.

Ultimately, it’s a decision that the rescuer/caregiver/owner has to make. It also depends on whether the animal is adopted, rehomed, placed at a shelter or returned to colony.

“Tampering with nature” has a cost, of course, but we practise the lesser of the two evils.

3 reasons to reconsider early dog spaying/neutering: http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/three-reasons-to-reconsider-spayneuter/

The modified “ovary-sparing” spay for dogs: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/09/23/modified-spay-procedure.aspx

From “the angry vet”: http://www.angryvet.com/spaying-and-neutering/

A fair compromise:

The best compromise, if any of these things is too much to deal with, would be to spay and neuter at a minimum of one year if not two years of age. Allow your pet to reach full maturation and reach adulthood before considering surgery. We have seen shelters that spay and neuter at 6 weeks of age!  Clearly, this aggressive a surgery at such an early stage of development is not warranted.

Understand that there are options.  Educate yourself and take the approach that best suits you and your pet.  Use this website (and others) as a resource to ask and answer questions.

– See more at: http://www.angryvet.com/spaying-and-neutering/#sthash.BYzSyonn.dpuf

Source: https://myanimalcare.org/2016/02/29/some-issues-on-spaying-a..

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AnimalCare is a registered society that promotes caregiving to street animals and helps in their neutering and medical needs. AnimalCare has a Medical Fund, Food Fund and Education Fund.

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