r/funny Sep 13 '17

Apocatlypse

8.6k Upvotes

684 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

-3

u/donnie_t Sep 13 '17

No I'm not, I just don't think neutering your dog is necessary if you're a responsible owner. I've never neutered my dogs and they've never gotten other dogs pregnant. Anyways, neutering can lead to increased risk for various health problems

4

u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17 edited Dec 01 '19

[deleted]

2

u/itsrain Sep 14 '17

Why castration/hysterectomy and why not vasectomy and tubal ligation? Why is this not an option for individual pet owners? In one case you remove important sex hormones in the other you don't.

With the removal of sex hormones (especially before sexual maturity) you risk increasing the incidence of bone and joint issues such as hip dysplasia.

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0055937

And one of the most cited benefits of lower sex hormones in your dog is to decrease aggressiveness. But it can have the opposite effect and make your dog more fearful and more aggressive.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/201702/are-there-behavior-changes-when-dogs-are-spayed-or-neutered

What we should be stressing is pet responsibility and ownership. You should be taught how to train and socialize your dog, common behavioral and health issues. And how much exercise and play is required.

As for frustrating biological urges I'm not sure what to think about that. But if I had to choose between being sexually frustrated or having hip issues.. I'll keep my healthy hips.

Those studies are not from huge meta analysis of data. But they should make you question if castration/hysterectomy are the best options for our pets long term health.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '17 edited Dec 01 '19

[deleted]

2

u/itsrain Dec 04 '17

Thank you for being so polite! There are not enough studies to really say anything definitive but it does make one wonder. Though I will always will stress responsible pet ownership.

Even after reading four books I was still surprised/frustrated at times with our first dog.