the traditional consensus view that all female dogs should be spayed at around
six months of age has more recently been challenged as more studies look
into the risks and benefits of our female dogs undergoing this operation
rather than make the decision easier though the choice has become more
confused and it's not as black-and-white as some would have you believe so then
when should you spay a female dog and should you even spay them at all I'm dr.
Alex Avery from ourpetshealth.com helping you and your pet to live a
healthier happier life so if it's the first time that we're meeting consider
subscribing to make sure that you don't miss out on future videos just like this
one so if you want my recommendations then I feel that the benefit of being
spayed certainly outweighs the potential drawbacks and so that all female dogs
who are not going to be used for breeding should be spayed for small
breed dogs I would still recommend spaying at around six months of age
before their first season for larger dogs though where there is no risk of
them becoming pregnant and where they can be successfully managed while they
are on heat I would actually recommend delaying this operation until they reach
about one year of age or a little older is this the right decision for you well
here are the potential benefits and drawbacks of being spayed which you can
discuss with your veterinarian to reach a decision you're completely comfortable
with okay so let's jump into the benefits of
being spayed and with the first benefit being really a reduction in mammary
cancer now it's generally well accepted that the earlier a bitch is spayed the
lower its chance of getting mammary cancerous it's said that if spayed
before their first season then the dog's chance of getting this disease is
reduced by around 99.5% so a really huge amount if spayed before their second
season the risk still falls by about 94% and if we do it before that third season
it falls by a respectable seventy five percent so it's still pretty good after
this there might not be so much benefit although for those dogs that do develop
mammary cancer if they are spayed either at the time of cancer removal or spayed
for up to two years before that cancer developed then they are expected to live
longer that those that weren't spayed
now although these are well-recognized points there are actually only a few
studies that have looked into this and so the evidence behind it might not be
as strong as we perhaps feel it to be having said that I cant remember
the last time that I saw a female dog with mammary tumors who had been spayed
when they were young it does seem to be incredibly rare so it's all well and
good reducing the risk of a disease but it only really becomes relevant to a
decision if we know how common and how serious that condition is well by the
age of 8 years 6% of dogs will have mammary masses and this increases to 13%
to 10 years of age this will only increase as they age further of these
half will develop malignant cancers and 60% of those will die as a result of
their cancer so that's 1 in 12 entire female dogs dying from mammary cancer
they develop by the age of 10 this is a significant disease that is
significantly reduced by spaying ideally at some point before their third season
so our next disease to discuss is pyometra now if you want a complete rundown
of this disease then there is a complete discussion about pyometra and its
treatment down below for now let's just say that this is a life-threatening
condition that affects one in four entire females by the age of ten and it
generally requires emergency surgery to cure even with treatment 5% of dogs will
die and without treatment death is an almost certainty spaying a bitch at any
age will virtually eliminate the risk of pyometra another very significant
disease prevented by spaying so our third and final major benefits of spaying
is an increase in life expectancy on average it seems that spayed females
live about 26 percent longer than their entire counterparts well that's a pretty
big increase it seems that neuter dogs are less
likely to die from an infection from trauma from degenerative disease and
vascular disease instead though they are more likely to die from immune-mediated
disease and from cancer also if a dog actually lives to twelve years of age
then there becomes less of a difference between
those neutered and those that are still entire there have been a couple of
studies to suggest that there is no difference in life expectancy but on
balance it appears that spayed female dogs do live longer the reduction in
trauma noted here is likely because neutered dogs are less likely to roam the
streets when they are on heat looking for a dog to mate with as a result they
are less likely to be hit by a vehicle on the road there are other behavioral
benefits to neutering too although these may be more noticeable and
important in males behavior clearly involves many different biological and
environmental factors which all interact with each other neutering then is not a
cure or a guarantee of prevention of particular behaviors
however neutered animals have generally less aggressive with other problem
behaviors and study in Vislas reported that those neutered before six months were
more likely to suffer from various phobias though if neutered after six
months then the only difference compared to entire dogs was an increase in storm
phobias behavioral issues are really important to consider as these are
actually the biggest cause of rehoming and deaths in dogs under the age of
three years just because of euthanasia proper puppy socialization plays a huge
role in preventing this and this is covered in a separate video again linked
below so this covers all the major benefits of getting your female dogs
spayed there are still some different benefits however which include
prevention of uterine and ovarian tumors although these are actually very rare
eliminating pregnancy related problems and the risk of caesarean
section and these can actually be fairly common in certain breeds
especially our squash nose big-headed breeds reducing sexually
transmitted diseases such as Brucella and transmissible venereal tumors now
these can either be very common or absolutely unheard of depending on which
parts of the world you live in and your vet can obviously discuss the risk of
these with you so you can get a true local picture now my final benefit of
spaying is the benefit to a population as a whole rather than to an individual
every year about one and a half million animals are killed in the US shelters
due to an inability to find new homes with about six and a half million
entering the shelter system annually in Australia an estimated 200,000 animals
are killed every year and in the UK this number is thought to be about 20,000 now
that's a huge number of dogs it's a global issue
and while some may have to be euthanized due to medical or behavioral reasons
many are simply victims of being unwanted and abandoned if your dog has
puppies can you really guarantee that none of them will end up as part of
these terrible statistics okay so those are the benefits but what about the side
effects of being spayed and do these vary depending on what age a female dog
is spayed well there are some potential negatives of being spayed and some of
these are definitely more serious than others as for whether these downsides
outweigh the benefits well that's up for you to decide
the first and perhaps the most obvious concern is the risk of the surgery itself any
anesthetic and surgical procedure carries a degree of risk spaying a
female dog it's a routine surgery however it's also likely to be the
biggest procedure that your pet undergoes in their life and it's not to
be underestimated it's more involved than most other common procedures while
the complication rate is reported to be anything from 3% to 33% the majority of
these complications they're really minor they require no specific treatment at
the other end of the spectrum though death rates are less than 0.1% complication
rate is something that does tend to vary from clinic to clinic and so given the
nature of the surgery then this is not something where you want to decide who
carries out in the procedure based on cost alone so the next risks of being
spayed is again well known and that's the development of urinary incontinence
it's generally accepted that the younger a dog is spayed the bigger the risk of
incontinence developing with those spayed before three months of age in particular
it's seeming to be at more risk now this is likely true however the evidence is
not consistent and it's not really strong to make firm recommendations it
is though for this reason that five to six months is the normal age from which
we have kind of spayed our normal pet dogs in the past and not generally
younger than this as for how often this happens I would say that this is a
reasonably common issue in those individuals spayed earlier but one
that's generally very well managed with medications often being treated so well
that the problem completely resolves so long as treatment is
maintained so these two issues are ones that we've realized for some time but
for many years they have influenced our recommendations as to age of spaying along
with the mammary cancer pyometra risks discussed earlier the other well-known
risk is the fact spayed animals have a great and tendency to gain weight and
develop obesity we need to recognize that once they have been spayed their
energy requirements change and exercise remains vital putting in a few
management strategies and making sure you're feeding the right amount goes a
huge way towards preventing or correcting obesity and its associated
problems and obesity is a really major issue and one that I've discussed in
several videos in the past over the last few years we have started to understand
though that there are other downsides to being spayed with this realization has
actually become more confusion and more difficulty in making the best decision
for each individual dog we all love to make generalizations and the temptation
is really that when some new research is published that we apply these new
findings to every single dog with spay timing however as you'll see the message
is mixed and what is true from one breed may well be the complete opposite
for a different breed even one that's closely related so let's jump into the
other big risks that may be associated with spaying at different ages so of
these cranial cruciate ligament or CCL disease is probably the most common
affecting up to nine percent of individuals in at-risk breeds with
larger breeds generally being at a greater risk now this is the same injury
in dogs as an ACL rupture is in humans the cruciate ligament it runs within the
knee and it can either fray or it can completely rupture and break now
this damage results in pain and instability within the joint and
treatment generally involves surgery to ensure the best long-term results now
this surgery it's not cheap especially in our larger dogs so while the
condition is correctable to a certain degree with arthritis in later life
becoming much likely despite treatment this is
definitely something that we want to prevent from happening if at all
possible so when does spaying increased the risk of
cruciate ligament damage well the answer to this is that the risk it really
depends on dog breed we have evidence for three breeds German shepherds neutered
before twelve months were found to have a higher risk compared to entire females
along the same lines golden retrievers spayed before six months of age were
found to have a higher risk of cruciate ligament rupture when compared to entire
females surprisingly though there was no difference in this disease regardless of
when an individual was spayed in Labradors it's a very similar related
breed to golden retrievers so what can we make of this well it
highlights that generalizations across all breeds they're difficult to make and
suggest the some breeds may be more likely to suffer from cruciate ligament
rupture if they're spayed before twelve months of age some if they're spayed before six
months of age it's really difficult later to draw any firm conclusions the
development of abnormal joints in the form of hip and elbow elbow dysplasia is our
next risk to consider abnormal joints again lead to an early onset of
arthritis and so a lifetime of pain management again we have mixed messages
depending on breed in German shepherds which are a breed that suffers with a
lot of joint disorders there has been shown to be no relation to being spayed
and either hip or elbow dysplasia golden retrievers for the same but when we
consider Labradors that were spayed before two years of age they seem to
have a higher risk of hip dysplasia again different risks for different
breeds okay let's talk about cancer next now this is the big headline risk that
many people will quote when advising against Spaying don't do it because your
dog will get cancer and die but is this true in our German Shepherds
recent studies found there to be no link to spaying and the incidence of cancer
although some early work suggested a possible varying inconsistent risk in
golden retrievers one study found an increased risk in blood vessel cancer
otherwise known as hemangiosarcoma in those females spayed after one year of
age however a similar study then found there to be no increase in risk with
Labradors and retrievers there may also be an increased risk in lymphoma in those
spayed between 6 to 11 months but again it's not really a consistent finding I
mean the problem is we're getting one or two studies and it's difficult to draw
firm conclusions so again mixed messages are given in different studies for
vislas there may be an increased risk of mast cell tumors lymphoma and hemangiosarcoma
as well as some other cancers appearing higher in spayed females
interestingly this risk appeared to be highest when an individual was spayed
after 12 months of age perhaps the most compelling piece of data reported to
date with regard cancer is the fact that in Rottweilers there is a 1 in 4 chance
of them developing osteosarcoma if they are spayed when they're younger than a
year of age now this is a particularly nasty and aggressive cancer with a
terrible prognosis and so one that should be avoided if at all possible in
rotties this one point alone would make me want to wait until they are at least
1 year of age before spaying in other studies that have looked at general pet
population rather than specific breeds there has again been shown to be an
increase in various different cancers in neutered compared to entire individuals
this means that the risk is likely to be real but given the fact that there is
much different evidence out there firm conclusions are difficult to come by
after all what exactly does an increase in risk mean does it mean that instead
of a one in a thousand chance there is now a 1 in 900 chance or rather like
our Rotties does it mean there is a 1 in 4 chance instead of about a 1 in 10 chance
of developing osteosarcoma clearly the latter is incredibly important but the
former may not be too much of an issue to be concerned about in most
cases we just don't know for sure the true answer to this question so a last
set of conditions to look at and one of the more recently studied ones is
autoimmune conditions these are caused by a breakdown in the function of a
normal immune system with the result being several different diseases
of the conditions looked at in half of them that did appear to be an
association between neutering and disease developing so having said that
the nature of the study actually doesn't prove that this association is caused by
neutering and while it may indeed play a role these conditions are generally
influenced by many different factors of which neutering is just one in fact
genetic and environmental factors have been implicated in many autoimmune
conditions it should also be pointed out that by and large these are relatively
unusual conditions although clearly significant for any animal who went on
to suffer from them so what does all this mean are you thoroughly confused
well if so I'm not surprised from all of this data it's impossible to make any
sweeping generalizations regarding neutering and some disease risk a simple
one-size-fits-all rules they're very much more appealing and far easier to
apply than a subtle complicated decision based on various risks and benefits that
are not fully understood if though there is one thing that should be clear it's
that's what's right for one individual may be completely wrong for another and
that might be because of the breed that they are or because of the different
risks that people are comfortable living with and what this means is that you
shouldn't feel under pressure to make the right decision there's not really
such a thing what I do feel is missing from all of these facts and the risks of
disease that we've discussed is a discussion on the cureability of the
condition along very much with the cost of treatment of that condition so some
people will choose not to spay and instead be quite happy to watch out for
signs of pyometra and act if they occur as well as having any mammary masses
removed as soon as they appear now it's true that this approach will
reduce the risks of these conditions being fatal although not to eliminate
them completely and it might be a perfectly reasonable balance between
these curable conditions and other non curable conditions that and an approach
that you really wish to take this approach though it does have the
potential to cost an awful lot of money that might be really really significant
and with around 38% of entire female dogs suffering from either a pyometra or
from mammary masses there is a one in three chance of your dog being affected
and needing major and expensive surgery it may though be that this would not be
something that you'd be able to afford and these treatable conditions then
become untreatable and fatal or you may decide that you decide that you're just
not prepared to take the risk from your dog dying from pyometra or untreatable
malignant mammary cancer you may place greater emphasis on the fact that our
spayed females do appear to live longer lives potentially by as much as 25% and
this thing comes back to my interpretation of all this information
and so the general recommendations that I make at this point in time so I
definitely feel that the benefits of being spayed outweighed the drawbacks
and believe that all female dogs who aren't going to be used for breeding and
you should really think if you do want to breed your dog I believe that they
should all be spayed but small breed dogs I'd still recommend spaying when
they are around 6 months of age before their first season and that's just to
reduce that mammary cancer risk by as much as possible for larger breed dogs
however where there is no risk of them becoming pregnant and also where they
can be successfully managed while they are on heat
I recommend actually delaying this procedure until they reach one year of
age or even a little older so you may disagree with this and that's absolutely
fine all I hope for is that you are aware of them and have considered all of
the risks and the benefits whatever decision you come to also you need to
understand that no option is completely free of risks now I know there is a lot
of information and figures to take in but to make a truly informed decision we
need to discuss we need to consider all of these facts
if you're still confused though please leave me a question down below and I'll
try my very best to answer you all so if it's your first time here consider
subscribing to make sure that you don't miss out some future videos just like
this one although they're generally a little bit shorter and not so
complicated and allow me to continue to help you and your dog to live healthier
happier lives so until next time i'm dr. alex from our pets health because
they're family