When you bring your puppy to the vet for the first time, the vet often immediately starts talking about castration or sterilisation. As a new puppy owner you may not have thought about whether you want that. At Woefkesranch we regularly receive questions about this topic. There may be some advantages to neutering or sterilising your dog, but there are certainly also many disadvantages!
What is castration?
In castration, the testicles are removed from a male dog and the ovaries and uterus are removed from a female. It is also possible to sterilise your dog, but sterilisation is almost never performed anymore. Although sterilisation is less invasive, castration is usually carried out.
Is castration advisable?
Castration has more consequences for a dog than it may seem at first, especially in young dogs. The hormones needed for general, physical and mental development are missing. This often results in negative effects. After the procedure, the animal lacks the much-needed hormones. For example, natural behavioural changes, including the development of adult behaviour in a male dog, do not always occur after the operation. Also consider muscle development and skeletal growth.
Unfortunately, we are seeing an increase in health problems in dogs that were castrated early. Think of skeletal abnormalities, patellar luxation, etc.
There are several long-term studies on the consequences of castration. They raise doubts as to whether the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. We may even have to conclude that castration, unless medically necessary, is an unwise and unnecessary medical procedure.
There are significant negative effects, especially when animals are neutered before they are mature, as it disrupts development. Both physically and mentally.
You can question the idea that neutered animals would be healthier, happier, or live longer.
Female dogs in heat and humping males
Also ask yourself whether you are really that bothered by the heat of a female dog, or by a male’s temporary macho behavior and humping.
The positive and negative aspects according to Laura Sanborn
The American veterinarian Laura Sanborn published an article about the results of a study she conducted on the effects of spaying and neutering dogs.
The conclusions from Laura Sanborn’s study are listed below:
In male dogs:
The positive aspects of neutering:
- Eliminating the small risk of testicular cancer (probably less than 1%).
- Reducing the risk of benign prostate problems
- Reducing the risk of fistulas
- Possibly reducing the risk of diabetes (no data available)
The negative aspects:
- If you have your dog neutered before the age of 1 year, the risk of bone cancer increases noticeably.
- Bone cancer has a very poor prognosis.
- An increased risk of the heart condition hemangiosarcoma (blood vessel cancer) by a factor of 1.6.
- The risk of mast cell tumors (skin tumors), lymph node cancer and all other forms of cancer increases significantly.
- The risk of an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) triples.
- The risk of becoming overweight triples.
- The small risk of prostate cancer (less than 0.6%) quadruples.
- The small risk of bladder cancer (less than 1%) doubles.
- The risk of bone problems worsens.
- The risk of adverse reactions increases by 27 – 38%.
- The risk of behavioral problems, especially anxiety/insecurity, aggression and/or reactive behavior, increases. If neutered at a young age, this also increases the risk of noise phobias and unwanted sexual behavior such as “mounting”.
In female dogs:
The positive aspects of neutering:
- If a female dog is spayed before she is 2.5 years old, the risk of mammary tumors is significantly reduced. Mammary tumors are benign in 50% of cases and malignant in 50% of cases. Because they can be felt externally, they are discovered relatively quickly and are then easily removed surgically. With timely detection, the prognosis is therefore very favorable.
- The risk of uterine infection (pyometra) becomes virtually zero.
- The risk of fistulas is reduced.
- The very small, namely less than 0.5%, risk of bladder, uterine, and ovarian cancer disappears.
The downsides:
- Neutering before the first year of life significantly increases the risk of bone cancer. Bone cancer has a very poor prognosis.
- The risk of spleen problems increases by a factor of 2.2 and heart problems by a factor of 5 or more. These are hemangiosarcomas (blood-vessel cancer). These relatively common cancers are among the leading causes of death in several breeds.
- The risk of mast cell tumors (skin tumors), lymphoma, and other forms of cancer increases significantly.
- The risk of reduced thyroid function (hypothyroidism) triples.
- The risk of overweight increases by a factor of 1.6 – 2.
- Spayed females have a 22 times higher risk of acute pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas).
- Neutering can cause urinary incontinence in 4–20% of females.
- The risk of chronic bladder problems and infections worsens by a factor of 3–4.
- The risk of vulvar problems such as infections increases, especially in females spayed before their first heat.
- The small risk of tumors in the urinary tract, namely less than 1%, doubles.
- The risk of bone problems increases.
- The risk of interactions increases by 27 – 38%.
- The risk of behavioral problems, especially anxiety/insecurity, aggression, or reactive behavior, increases.
- If neutered at a young age, this also increases the risk of noise phobias and unwanted sexual behaviors such as ‘mounting’.
Results of the study “Long-Term Health Risks and Benefits Associated with Spay / Neuter in Dogs”
by Laura J. Sanborn M.S.
If you want to read this article in full, you can click this link.
The effect of neutering on the dog’s coat
Neutering and/or spaying in dogs also has a major impact on their coat. In many cases the coat changes and we refer to a neuter coat.
We found a very interesting article about this. We found this article on doggo. This article was written on behalf of Groomers Europe by Jessica Kremer-Frijling of the Trimacademie:
Although there is little scientific evidence, owners, veterinarians, breeders and groomers do observe changes in the coat or even coat problems as a result. How a coat will react to neutering, however, depends on several factors such as coat type, the amount of coat before neutering, the age at neutering and undoubtedly other factors.
In broad terms we often see more undercoat formation, making the coat duller and less rich in colour. We also see that the coat becomes curlier. More undercoat hairs result in a softer coat that is less water- and dirt-repellent, so it stays wet longer, gets dirty sooner and starts to smell faster. Softer hair also mats more quickly. In Spaniels and Setters the coats often seem to ‘explode’ with many dull, soft and longer hairs. The hair (undercoat and guard hair) continues to grow and appears to have a much longer shedding cycle. In contrast, in rough-haired breeds we often see less (or suddenly hardly any) undercoat and plucking sometimes seems to become more difficult.
Alopecia X
A notable exception to the rule is the effect of castration on stokharen in dogs with the condition alopecia x. (Stokharen are dogs with double coats such as Bernese Mountain Dogs, Golden Retriever, Shepherds, Newfoundlands, Pomeranians et cetera.) The name says it: baldness caused by X. In this case X is unknown. The condition causes progressive hair loss, ultimately resulting in baldness.
Based on the results of a study, the cause appears to be a hormonal imbalance. In a study of 35 Pomeranians (male) of various ages that were followed for 10 years after castration, it was found that in 42.9% of the dogs the coat had fully regrown within six months of castration and remained so for the following 3-9 years. For this disorder, castration therefore has a positive effect.
What can groomers do?
As a breeder and groomer I am not in favor of castration, but I am pragmatic enough not to see things only in black and white. There are many examples to mention, including alopecia X, where castration is justified or even necessary.
More maintenance
For many owners, coat care after castration is, however, much more difficult than before: the coat becomes thicker, the dog has more difficulty going through the moult or even sheds all year round. In practice this therefore means more and more intensive maintenance for the owner. More frequent combing to keep the coat tangle-free, but not unnecessarily often either, because that would throw the shedding completely out of balance.
Would you like to read the full article? Then click on this link.
Conclusion
We are not in favor of castrating puppies before they are adult and fully grown. For castrating adult dogs, we ask you to carefully weigh the pros and cons.