# Spaying & Neutering Too Early



## acwarren

I wanted to share a post that I recently replied with elsewhere. My dog's storm anxiety has gotten so severe over the years, I'd like to save others and their pups from the distress he's experienced.

I've had my male Vizsla almost 7 years. Total sweetheart. The breeder suggested I wait until at least 12 months if not 18 months. My vet at the time was opposed to this viewpoint. The decision was a hard one to make, but I eventually went with the vet's opinion so I could continue taking my dog to play with the other dogs during the day. Within a year or so, he developed storm anxiety which has gotten increasingly worse over the years. IT IS VERY SEVERE. I've repaired many drywalls he's clawed holes in, raced home from work to give him medication for storm anxiety over the years, stayed up with him throughout the night while I was in graduate school and working, and had to make decisions about my day to day life based on the weather. He's also quite fearful of loud sounds in general. The dog behaviorist I met told me about a research study conducted by Emory University that found that Vizslas spayed and neutered before a year of age had sound and light sensitivity (so storm anxiety makes perfect sense). I haven't yet found this study but am still looking. In conclusion, I'd wait until later (check with trained professionals for a definite age) to have your dog spayed or neutered based on my personal experience. I'm speaking outside my scope of practice, seeing that I'm not the least bit trained as a veterinarian, but I had to at least share what I've discovered. Also, here's a random site I found that mentioned the behavioral side effects of spaying and neutering too early: http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/three-reasons-to-reconsider-spayneuter/


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## VizRunr

Thank you for this post. It is good to try to understand both sides of the issue.


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## InTheNet

Our breeder highly recommended waiting 2 years to neuter. She is going to have a contract soon that says you have to wait 2 years. I know it would be impossible to enforce, but she is adamant.

We are going to wait the 2 years so he will be fully grown. But boy oh boy at 8 months he is a humping machine!


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## cuddlebuglove

Question: I have been hearing about the tying off tubes male and female instead of the current spay or neuter procedures. Any info on this? Would it be a better solution health wise? Thanks . I am sorry for the anxiety that your Vizsla is going through- they should be happy go lucky.


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## Spy Car

cuddlebuglove said:


> Question: I have been hearing about the tying off tubes male and female instead of the current spay or neuter procedures. Any info on this? Would it be a better solution health wise? Thanks . I am sorry for the anxiety that your Vizsla is going through- they should be happy go lucky.


For males? Unequivocally yes. The issue is few Veterinarians are trained to do this very simple procedure, so one might have to hunt for one who can do a vasectomy. I expect this will change as the Veterinary profession and Schools of Veterinary Medicine face up to the results of repeated studies that show the profound health consequences of neutering. Castrating dogs has virtually no upsides for health and many downsides.

I'm less able to speak about females. Yes, a tubal ligation (or removal of the uterus while sparing the ovaries) would reduce the downsides of spay. There are, however, some legitimate cons to keeping a female intact. So a risk assessment would need to be done of the costs and benefits. Unlike neutering, there are some health advantages to a spay that would need to be considered against the advantages of forgoing the procedure.

Bill


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## 1notenough

dont do it. my boys are going turn eight soon and they have all their family jewels. great dogs no fuss


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## lyra

Spy said:


> There are, however, some legitimate cons to keeping a female intact. So a risk assessment would need to be done of the costs and benefits. Unlike neutering, there are some health advantages to a spay that would need to be considered against the advantages of forgoing the procedure.
> 
> Bill


Bill, with the research I've done I felt it was worth elucidating on the health risks from not spaying a bitch.

The most frequently quoted opinion is that spaying a bitch reduces the risk of breast cancer and is frequently given as a reason for spaying. Often the advice is that it is most effective if done before the bitches first heat. A quick internet search will show this advice time and time again. However, this only considers one element of spaying not the whole picture.

The most relevant research into the effect of gonadectomising Vizslas shows the *overall* risk of cancers *increases* if you neuter a Vizsla (dogs and bitches). This was a study involving 2,500 Vizslas. A summary can be found here http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2014/06/13/neutering-spaying-cancer-risk.aspx and the full paper can be found here http://mercola.fileburst.com/PDF/HealthyPets/61314_Pets_Lead%20Article_VizslaStudy.pdf

I would also point out that in a short haired dog like a Vizsla it is comparatively easy to spot a mammary tumour early (so having a better prognosis). Conversely, there is no way I can detect a blood cancer in my dogs until they are sick.


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## pixiexyz

I have NO INTENTIONS what so ever to neuter my boy. In fact...I truly don't agree with this at all.


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## sillybluecreature

I've spayed my dog with an ovary sparing spay which keeps an ovary so she still has her hormones but gets rid of the chance of pyometra. Her personality is still the same, she gets heats, just doesn't bleed (and still brings home the boys and is moody) and overall it was quick to recover from (we used no pain medication as per vet). The downside was that we needed to travel 6 hours away and stay overnight at another city for the procedure and it was with a vet we had never met (and if there were complications it would have been a long ride back). However, the vet was very experienced and was comfortable with us being there the entire operation. 

With males, in the city, there is a downside to being intact. If you use dog walkers or daycare, they are required to be neutered. Also they get beat up real bad by dogs that are neutered so although there may be no downsides to those that live in the countryside, it can be really really difficult to have an unneutered male in the city. For us, when Whiskey is at the worst week in her heat, we need to come back home to walk her during the day because she can be too much for the dog walkers if they have a male she is in love with. Also, fear of thunderstorms can develop as a dog gets older even if they are neutered....hard to know for sure. Although I do agree with keeping dogs natural as much as you can, I understand it's not always possible depending on the situation. The OSS spay for us was perfect.


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## cuddlebuglove

Spy said:


> cuddlebuglove said:
> 
> 
> 
> Question: I have been hearing about the tying off tubes male and female instead of the current spay or neuter procedures. Any info on this? Would it be a better solution health wise? Thanks . I am sorry for the anxiety that your Vizsla is going through- they should be happy go lucky.
> 
> 
> 
> For males? Unequivocally yes. The issue is few Veterinarians are trained to do this very simple procedure, so one might have to hunt for one who can do a vasectomy. I expect this will change as the Veterinary profession and Schools of Veterinary Medicine face up to the results of repeated studies that show the profound health consequences of neutering. Castrating dogs has virtually no upsides for health and many downsides.
> 
> I'm less able to speak about females. Yes, a tubal ligation (or removal of the uterus while sparing the ovaries) would reduce the downsides of spay. There are, however, some legitimate cons to keeping a female intact. So a risk assessment would need to be done of the costs and benefits. Unlike neutering, there are some health advantages to a spay that would need to be considered against the advantages of forgoing the procedure.
> 
> Bill
Click to expand...


Sorry it took me so long to respond. Thanks for your advice as always.


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## lyra

sillybluecreature said:


> I've spayed my dog with an ovary sparing spay


You're the first person I've come across who has gone for this procedure.

We had a really difficult time to find a vet who could do it and were prepared to travel just about anywhere in the UK. We eventually found a vet fairly local to us (just over an hours drive). She hadn't done the procedure before but as an ex president of the Royal College of Vets, she/we didn't have any concerns that that would be a problem. And it wasn't  She did want an initial meeting with me to discuss it. Primarily she wanted to check that I knew what I was asking for, and why, but she was very helpful and friendly about it.

Sadly our second Vizsla (a rescue) was spayed a month before we got her by the original owner so we didn't get the chance to do the same for her.


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