Does anyone have scientific studies or factsabout the health benefits and detriments of spaying and neutering?

Question

I'm doing some research for a little project. Please don't give your opinions or sermons. I'm interested in the animal's health, not social results of spaying and neutering.

I need plain scientific studies and evidence from reputable sources that show 1. how spaying and neutering is beneficial to a dog's health and 2. how spaying and neutering is detrimental to a dog's health.

Please provide links or documentation so that I can check the scientific research myself and include it in my project.

If you have information applying to other animals, especially cats, I'd welcome that as well.

Come on. Everyone out there advocating spaying and neutering and all the benefits you'll get from it and not one of you can come up with one scientific study that supports you???

Wow. Talk about a vendetta. I asked for both benefits and detriments to neutering and you think I have a vendetta? Or do you think anyone who researches scientifically is only interested in biased reports??? Hmmm... that's a little odd.

I really can't understand you. Of course I've done research on the health benefits and health detriments of neutering. I've found plenty of scientific studies. I was hoping someone might know of some additional ones. There are many strong supporters of neutering here, so I thought they might have some studies I missed.

It's bizarre to me how you can see a vendetta in a request for facts.

And, yes, there are plenty of scientific studies (published in scholarly journals) that show increased health risks in neutered dogs. There are also studies that support decreased health risks in other areas.

I don't know to what PDF you're referring. I've seen a few PDFs in my research, but so what?

It seems to me that you're afraid of the facts.

LiaChien, I don't know why you bothered to post. Not only did you insult my fair and honest research, you did exactly what I asked people not to do.

You spewed off random facts without giving any evidence to back it up. How hard is it to research what you believe and have real facts, instead of opinion, to back it up?

LiaChien, once again you're giving your opinions. Most of the documents mentioned cite scientific studies. I'm more inclined to believe scientific studies than some random person who doesn't like the scientific results saying that they're false.

If you have documentation that anything is erroneous, I seriously would love to see it. If you don't, nobody's interested in your opinion of scientific facts.

I don't know to which PDF you're referring. There are several of them.

Answer 1

Check out the References on pages 10-12 on the pdf in the source box.

51 studies and sources are cited, referring to both the health risks and health benefits of spaying and neutering.

P.S. I originally had them listed to show that it seemed these studies were pretty unbiased and well-balanced but there were so many it looked obnoxious.

Good luck!

Answer 2

I'm for spaying/neutering non breeding/show dogs simply because I think this "hypothetical" situation of a responsible owner being able to prevent their dogs from ever having an accident is really hypothetical. I'm a responsible dog owner and very attentive to my dog, but I want him neutered because I think that is my role as a responsible owner to prevent him from getting another dog pregnant. Life happens, and even the most responsible owner can't predict the future and be 100% positive dog-dog action won't happen at some time. Even the most responsible owners (especially living in a city) can have their dogs slip out the front door, and it only takes one time to have an accidental litter. Yes, there are many dog owners that can and have prevented this from happening, but I guess my attitude is "better safe than sorry". I don't think that having your dog get out of the house accidentally once or twice makes you an irresponsible owner, it makes you a human being capable of imperfection. But because we are humans, accidents like that can happen, so neutering/spaying prevents the accidental escape from turning into accidental puppies. We can never be sure, and no one can ever be a perfect dog owner all the time, so if you aren't a breeder or showing the dog, I personally wouldn't want to risk it, when there is such a sure way to prevent an accidental litter. Now, that being said, I'm sure it is different living in the country with a working dog or something, simply because if your dog gets away from you for a bit, there probably isn't a female/male within miles to meet up with, so the risk is lower. But as a city dog owner and dog park/park frequenter, I just can't see why I would take the risk. Also, I think that neutering (especially in males) prevents a lot of unwanted behaviour (i.e. dominance nad aggression) and that makes for a more enjoyable dog and training experience. And I think the happier the owner the happier and better life the dog will have. I do not like the idea of some of the really young ages shelter puppies get fixed at, I think that could be detrimental to their health, but if done at the right age (6-8 months) when it won't affect development, I see the benefits for the dog and family outweighing the risks. We all want healthy, happy dogs, and we can never sure if the health pro-cons will affect our dog, because we can't go back and undo a decision that is made when a puppy is 6 months old. But for the overall benefits, I personally think it is worth it.

Answer 3

I have provided the links below.

At the end of the research journal articles, there are references that you can also go back to(references that the veternarian used to do her scientific research.)

Thank you for a well educated question. I am kind of tierd of seeing questions that say my dog is not breathing, what should I do? You know????

Good luck to you! Let me know how it turns out! I 'd like to learn more about what you are doing with the research!






http://www.petresource.com/Articles%20of%20Interest/new_views_on_neutering.htm


http://www.spayusa.org/media/pdfs/prepubal_neutering.pdf

Answer 4

I don't know anything off the top of my head, but have you tried a database search from your local library? Galegroup, Infotrac, and a few scientific journals make articles readily available, and I would bet you could find a lot of information. Just check your library's website.

Answer 5

www.caninesports.com
www.sosdogs.org
www.thepethealthportal.com
Not sure if this is what you are looking for but all three has both sides.
From what i can tell the male dogs are the ones with the main issue.
But in the end it is healthier for them:
females--can benefit from spaying by reducing the incidence of uterine, mammary, ovarian cancers and uterine infections such as Pyometria
males--reduce the risk of prostate and testicular cancer
some vet say to fix your dogs between 5-16mos. while others disagree.

hope this helps

Answer 6

Do people actually read that long answer?

Great question

I only came up with the same ones that others have already mentioned.

Answer 7

The ones I always direct people to are:

http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf
http://www.caninesports.com/SpayNeuter.html

They site other studies that you can track down for yourself.

Answer 8

There are some good links here:
http://www.cobankopegi.com/blog/2007/08/dogged-blog-its-just-that-they-lie.html

Some are to articles, but others are to study results.

Answer 9

The PDF listed below is NOT scientific. It is fallacious and written only be someone hired to campaign against the California MSN bill, AB 1634, the Healthy Pets Act.

I am done here.

Answer 10

http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf


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