About this Episode
My dog Chocolate Chip is currently in heat. Go ahead, gasp in horror! I’m used to it, because I take quite a bit criticism for this. There are a lot of people out there who say that you absolutely must have your dogs spayed or neutered, and the earlier the better.
Before we dive further into this topic, I’d like to offer a quick disclaimer. I don’t want to definitely come out and label either side of this issue right or wrong. I’m not an expert on dog hormones or surgery. What I do want to do is offer a different perspective for you to think about. Often, many veterinarians tell owners what to do without looking at all the information available.
A few studies have come out in recent years which show that neutering and spaying early isn’t actually a good thing. It can allegedly lead to higher rates of cancer, behavioral issues, and other problems. On the surface this seems sensible, and once you dig into the idea a little further it starts to make more and more sense.
Here’s why. When you spay a female dog, you remove her reproductive organs and a large chunk of her endocrine system along with them. Neutering a male dog produces similar results: removing the testicles and their hormones, you also take away many important growth hormones. Think about what might happen if you performed a hysterectomy on a five-year-old girl, or removed the testicles of an adolescent boy. These operations have been done for medical reasons, and they create hormonal imbalances and other health issues that often need to be corrected later. Plus there are many parts of the world where boys are sterilized at a young age, and they tend to develop many physical and mental health issues as a result.