Spay/ Neuter Ethics and Zoophilia

battlecrops · 10-23-2018, 01:22 AM

Currently it is not conclusive that spay/neuter in dogs increases lifespan or prevents health problems. In fact some studies have shown that spay and neuter, particularly early spay/neuter done before the dog is fully mature, may cause more problems than it prevents. Here's a copy/paste of a post I made in another thread here called "Of Of Interest" that links to the major study on adverse health affects of "speuter." The main concerns are joint, ligament, and bone related.

"The most commonly-referenced study is the UC Davis golden retriever study:
https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/golden-retr...og-health/


http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article...ne.0055937


Many vets, animal professionals, working/sporting dog people and show dog people are now shifting to preferring late spay/neuter if they want to get it done as opposed to pediatric (before 1-2 years depending on the breed). If someone wants to speuter it's much better for the dog, particularly as far as joint and bone development goes, to do it after maturity if they can responsibly keep the dog from breeding until then."


I know many non-zoophile show dog owners/breeders/sport competitors who keep their dogs intact their entire lives and they live long, healthy ones. The main risk is pyometra in unspayed female dogs. However it's not as common as many people make it out to be. Many female show dogs aren't spayed until late in life after their show career is over, if spayed at all, and do fine. If pyo is caught early, an emergency spay is the usual procedure. In the future I will likely elect for a later in life or an ovary-saving spay for any female dogs.


To my knowledge, in livestock females are not spayed unless there is a medical emergency because operations on large animals like that (especially horses) are very risky. Non-breeding males are castrated because behavior is generally much easier to manage and less dangerous. Male pigs are castrated because testosterone production causes their meat to taste foul. So far, the only studies on overall health of spay/neuter are on dogs.


I personally have a mix of altered and intact animals here. My rodents are not altered as it is impractical and unnecessary for the species. My dog was spayed early because I believed it was the healthy choice at the time, as those studies had not been released and I also wasn't very dog-savvy then. My cats are all altered because frankly intact cats don't make good housepets. My rabbit is not spayed due to weighing the risks vs benefits with my vet's advice. Any future male dogs will likely not be neutered because I don't personally see it as medically necessary, and (seeing the results of that study) I don't want to compromise physical health because they will be athletes. Future female dogs will have ovary-saving or late spay. I don't see spay and neuter as a "one size fits all" thing. I think it depends on both the individual animal (their age, lifestyle, activities, species) and the owner (how well they are able to manage an intact animal, what kind of behavior they are willing to train with, safety with large species, etc).

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