11/02/2025
I agree with this post whole heartedly
IMO thatās the first ātraumaā in a dogās life experience that either startās behavioural issues or the dogās display behavioural issues and the vet automatically suggests sterilization in which i believe makes behaviour WORSE! Ruins trust.
*Preventing unwanted litters is a goal we all shareābut it's time to rethink the surgical approach. Hysterectomies and vasectomies, which preserve hormonal balance, can safely be performed as early as 8 weeks of age, making dogs sterile without disrupting their natural hormones.
New peer-reviewed study published in Nature:
How a dogās lifetime exposure to his own hormones (before being neutered) affects how well he handles aging and frailty later in life.
Study Background
ā¢ Frailty = when older dogs (and people) become weaker, less resilient, and more prone to illness and death.
ā¢ Most research looks at how to prevent frailty ā this study looked at what makes some dogs bounce back better after frailty sets in.
ā¢ The focus was on the HPG axis ā the hormonal system that produces testosterone and controls reproduction.
Key Findings
ā¢ Dogs neutered very young (before 2 years old) had:
o A much higher risk of death once they became frail.
o About 16% higher mortality for every small increase in frailty.
ā¢ Dogs kept intact longer (more than ~10 years) showed:
o No increase in mortality linked to frailty.
o Their hormones seemed to ābufferā the negative effects of aging.
ā¢ Each extra year of natural hormone exposure reduced frailty-related death risk by ~1%.
What It Means
ā¢ Hormones from the te**es may protect against the worst effects of aging later in life.
ā¢ Removing them too early could make dogs less resilient to age-related decline.
ā¢ Frailty isnāt just about getting old ā itās also shaped by early-life events like the timing of neutering.
ā¢ This supports a ālife courseā view: what happens early in life affects health decades later.
Why It Matters
ā¢ The study suggests timing of neutering might influence how well dogs age.
