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Originally Posted by ladyjane  My position is that this discussion is not fact based; therefore it concerns me greatly in terms of what the overall good is for people who come to YT for information about altering their yorkies. |
I agree that not all of the discussion is fact-based, and the title of this thread including the phrase "If ever" is unfortunate, since the "if ever" part is more a concern for some large breed dogs than for Yorkshire Terriers. For my part, I'm trying to keep my contributions as fact-based as possible. I found an excellent article on pros and cons of pediatric neutering (neutering dogs younger than 4 months of age) that I'm waiting to present when I have more time. It has a table that provides numerical scores to the risks and benefits so that the vet and owner can make a responsible decision as to when to neuter. For instance, the benefits of preventing mammary tumors and pyometra FAR outweigh the risk of obesity and CCL rupture in spayed females. However, the younger the dog, the greater the risk of spay incontinence (lack of bladder control), so it's best to spay the dog as late as possible before the first heat. Definitely the kind of discussion worth having.