This is the information I have easily available- I’ll try to track some of my other stacks of notes down as I have time this week. It is a very controversial topic and the best that can be said there are things to be said on both sides-
6. Castration prevents most prostatic diseases in male dogs.
The prostate gland often becomes enlarged or infected in older intact male dogs. Diseases such as benign prostatic hyperplasia, acute or chronic prostatitis, perianal gland adenomas, and prostatic abscesses are common. Most of these diseases are eliminated if the dog is castrated (Cowan 1991, Krawiec 1992, 1994).
While I find this information to be a bit “strong” this vet has a conflicting opinion
The second concern regarding your dog's health is highly malignant prostate cancer. Virtually all malignant prostatic tumors in dogs occur in castrated dogs. Castrating your dog puts him at risk for one of the worst cancers he can get. While you remove the very slight risk of testicular cancer in castrated dogs, that's a small matter; the incidence of testicular cancer is so minimal. Also, almost all testicular cancers in dogs are benign. If we find a testicular tumor, we normally remove the testicle with the mass and leave the remaining one intact. The relative incidence and severity of the tumors of the prostate relative to tumors of the testicle makes the decision to keep your dog intact a virtual no-brainer. The information on the incidence prostatic malignancies was obtained through a very large study of the records at veterinary colleges. These findings have been published for several years.*
Mary C. Wakeman, D.V.M.©2003 for BREEDERVET
6. Castration decreases aggression problems.
Aggression problems are most common in intact male dogs, including dominance aggression (Line 1986, Crowell-Davis 1991) as well as fear-related aggression (Galac 1997), aggression between males (Hopkins 1976), and other types of aggression (Neilson 1997). Castration is a valuable part of the treatment for aggression problems, and is helpful in preventing problems from occurring in the first place. Roughly 50%-75% of the dogs who are castrated because of aggression problems will show signicant improvements or complete disappearance of their aggression. Of course, training is also an important aid in preventing and/or treating these problems! (Askew 1992, Beaver 1983, Blackshaw 1991, Crowell-Davis 1991, Fry 1987, Knol 1989, Line 1986, Neilson 1997)
From “Your Dog”- Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tuft’s University August, 2006
“The only behaviors that might be affected by castration are sexually based behaviors, such as strong attraction to female dogs or people”… “Non-sexually based behaviors will not be affected. For example, aggression, particularly fear-based aggression, will not be reduced.”
7. Castrated males are less likely to roam, to mark furniture, or to practice other objectionable sexual behaviors.
Major behavioral benefits of castration have been known for many years, including decreases in aggression, roaming, mounting behavior, and "mischievous" behavior (Combemale 1929, Hart 1976, Heidenberger 1990, Hopkins 1976, Maarschalkerweerd, Neilson 1997, etc).
See Above
8. Castration completely prevents testicular cancer in male dogs.
Testicular cancer is the most common cancer of the male reproductive tract, and is one of the most common cancers of intact males overall (Bastianello 1983, Kusch 1985). Once the testicles are removed during the castration procedure, the dog is free from the risk of this disease.
This is true- However I cannot find a value to compare to the risk of anesthesia- This is what I compare the risk with-
The end result is that in the only big study I know of
examining anesthetic risk, the anesthetic death rate in pets was about 1 in
400. In humans, the anesthetic death rate is lower but the cost of surgery
is dramatically higher, due in part to having a dedicated anesthetist.
Mike Richards, DVM- @ vetinfo.com 2000
There are risks involved with any surgery, both from the surgery itself and from the anesthetic agent. However, the rate of complications is very low, and serious complications are especially rare. Especially with newer anesthetic agents like isofluorane and newer suture materials, there are rarely any serious problems. Significant complications of sterilization surgeries occur in roughly only 1-4% of surgeries (Pollari 1995, 1996). Also, the surgical procedure actually appears to be *safer* when performed in younger puppies, with less serious complications occurring overall in young puppies than in puppies altered at later ages (Fagella 1994
Ione L. Smith, DVM [email protected] January 20, 2000
The 1:400 number just seems to great a risk for my personal self. There is information available to help decrease that risk however
9. Sterilization may help to prevent or treat other diseases, both infectious and non-infectious.
Some intact male dogs go through a "feminizing syndrome", which is related to sex hormone production. This disease can not occur in dogs which were castrated at younger ages (Dorn 1985). Older intact males also tend to suffer from perineal hernias, which are also prevent by castration (Dorn 1985). Several other sex-hormone related diseases occur in both intact males and females, and these are also prevented by sterilization (Heider 1990).
Some breeds of dogs tend to suffer from skin problems which are prevented or treated by sterilization (Albanese 1997, Kunz). Altered dogs also have a lower risk of contracting some serious infectious diseases, such as echinococcosis (Bessonov 1986, Shal'menov, 1984), brucellosis (a disease which is transmitted in the dog by sexual contact), intestinal parasites (Coggins), and parvovirus (Houston 1992).
I
have not heard either of these but the information is interesting
And the big reason I have concerns with surgical procedures in general unless there is a medical need:
It is very hard to predict reactions to anesthesia. The anesthetic death
rate in pets is higher than in humans, almost certainly because we do not
have dedicated anesthetists in the surgery room during veterinary
surgeries, in most cases. It is more difficult to accurately monitor blood
pressure in pets than it is in humans and blood pressure is probably the
earliest indicator of problems with anesthesia in many patients. Due to
this difficulty in monitoring, though, it is not common practice for blood
pressure to be monitored in pets. Pulse oximetry is used to monitor surgery
by many veterinarians and while this is a good practice, it doesn't always
allow early recognition of trouble. Continuous monitoring of patient
temperature is also helpful and is often available. It is unusual for
surgical anesthesia to be monitored by a another veterinarian and extremely
unusual for a practice to have a board certified anesthesiologist
monitoring patients. So when a crisis occurs, the veterinarian doing the
surgery suddenly becomes both the surgeon and the anesthetist, with crises
in both areas. This results in an inability to do a really good job dealing
with either the surgery or the anesthesia --- and the result is that
veterinary patients have a higher death rate from anesthesia. This is not
an allergy to anesthesia, nor is it even a particular sensitivity, in many
cases. Something unforeseen happens, such as a slight sensitivity to
anesthesia, or a drop in blood pressure due to surgical manipulations, or
surgical blood loss --- and a downward spiral in patient stability results.
In many instances in veterinary surgery the first visible sign of this is
cardiac or respiratory arrest, since there is no one monitoring the patient
to pick up on the more subtle signs that occur earlier. Cardiac or
respiratory arrest is a bad point to be starting the process of dealing
with the problem. It is the inability of our profession to provide
dedicated anesthesiologists, primarily due to cost factors, that leads to
this problem. The end result is that in the only big study I know of
examining anesthetic risk, the anesthetic death rate in pets was about 1 in
400. In humans, the anesthetic death rate is lower but the cost of surgery
is dramatically higher, due in part to having a dedicated anesthetist.
Mike Richards, DVM- @ vetinfo.com 2000
I do not have my other information readily to hand but will see if I can locate it- There were more specific information there. My pound puppy has been neutered and my females spayed- though my Sami nearly died post procedure. I have a valid reason for not neutering as many others who have experienced similar experiences. The worst piece of advice given me after my Willie died was someone saying “I hope this won’t keep you from neutering in the future”. Ummm…. My beloved dog just DIED- yes- until veterinary medicine is safer I will not neuter unless it is a life or death matter- I respect everyone’s opinion… but feel this is a decision best left with the owner and their vet.
