Pros & Cons of Neutering–Really? There are Cons?

Puppies rely on us to make informed decisions. Image Copr. Fernanda Cerioni/Flickr

By Amy Shojai at Amy Shojai’s Bling, Bitches and Blood

Yes, actually, there are and that may surprise you. It did me. After all, we’ve heard from animal welfare advocates for years preaching the gospel of spay/neuter.  Heck, I preached this myself and for the majority of dogs and cats (ESPECIALLY cats!), “the big fix” is the best thing that ever happens to them.

There’s new evidence, though, that for dogs at least the pros and cons are not so black and white. While the University of Georgia’s sample of 40,139 canine death records from the Veterinary Medical Database from 1984-2004 concluded that neutered dogs could be expected to live a year and a half longer (on average) than intact dogs, other studies point out potential increases in hip dysplasia or cancer. Oy.

So what’s a responsible pet parent to do? One possible solution is a new non-surgical sterilization technique called Zeuterin from Ark Sciences, that renders the boy dogs incapable of fathering puppies but let’s them keep about 50 percent of their testosterone that makes a beneficial health difference especially in certain breeds.

Read my newest article of Zeuterin and Pros/Cons of Neutering here. My best recommendation is to find out everything you can, consult with your vet, and only then make an informed decision. What do you think? Go ahead and comment–let ‘er rip! *s*

Amy is so right, spay/neutering is not a cut and dry proposition… no pun intended! JOMP!

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