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Originally Posted by gemy  REal life stories are all fine n good and are very sad, but they are anecdoctal
, but research looks or should look at a large sample size.
Now here is one such study out of Sweden, you will recall that Sweden does not allow s+n unless for medical reasons: Breed variations in the incidence of pyometra and mammary tumours i... - PubMed - NCBI This study shows a rather large cross section of dogs - info gleaned from I believe an Insurance company. It shows a higher rate of both mammary cancers and pyrometra than I have seen in North American studies. And as the abstract was only available to me, I don't know if that study only looked at 2 health concerns.
Again the decision to s+n should be a well thought out one, taking into account the breed you own, your particular dog and a comprehensive understanding of all risks vs benefits. |
From the abstract of that paper (which has phenomenally large sample sizes):
"In all breeds, the overall proportion of the bitches that developed disease by 10 years of age was for pyometra 19%, MTs 13%, and either or both of two diseases 30%"
A 30 percent chance of developing pyometra or mammary tumors in unspayed dogs seems like an awfully high risk to take, unless there are factors that counterbalance the risk. The abstract doesn't give the data for Yorkies, but if the rate is anywhere near 30%, that seems like a strong argument for spaying before first heat. If I have time, I'll try to check out the full text of this article on Monday and I'll let you know if it has data specific to Yorkies.