Quote:
Originally Posted by pstinard  From this table, the biggest pro's are reduction of pyometra (score of +100) and mammary neoplasias (breast cancer; +24). The biggest cons are urinary incontinence (-66), surgical complications (-20), obesity (-14), and CCL rupture (-11). Surprisingly, the biggest negative effect was the chance of urinary incontinence. Based on the numerical scores, overall, the pro's outweigh the cons. Note that this table is for female dogs overall, and is not broken down by size or breed. |
From the same study, further on towards the summary.
For both species and genders, obesity is a significant detriment of gonadectomy.
Veterinarians can use this opportunity to talk to clients about proper nutrition and exercise
for maintenance of normal body weight. Setting aside obesity, the clear benefit
of ovariohysterectomy for bitches and queens is evident. For male dogs, the high incidence of BPH artificially increases this impact factor. Because castration at the time of clinical manifestation of BPH is curative and because dogs are unlikely to develop clinical manifestations of this disorder until 2 to 3 years of age, castration can safely be
deferred until that time in most dogs.40–42 Well I will say Benign is just that Benign and not Cancerous. A slight enlargement of the prostate gland will not have any effect on the male dogs health. And even this author says there is no overt health reason to neuter a male dog early. Once again a study that does not show cause and effect. The assumption which may or may not be valid, that obesity after s/n is a direct owner mis-management fault is just that an assumption. It needs to be studied, because obesity has many health risks associated with it. THe metabolic effect of s/n might just be a clue that could elucidate on what breeds and what sexes s/n at different ages is. Of course the study would have to be designed to measure metabolic rates before s/n, and for some years after s/n.
At this time, my thoughts are that there appears to be no definitive guidance on what studies can be attributed to all breeds/mutts/mixes/designer dogs, and what is the scientific basis on which you can safely determine this study (which ever one it is), can be applicable to all breeds.
It also appears that at this point we don't have any studies that even tries to look at "cause and effect".
Perhaps getting the full mapping of each dog breeds Genome might help in future design of studies.