FORGET THE HYPE! THE TRUTH ABOUT THE EFFECT OF EARLY SPAY AND NEUTER ON BEHAVIORAL DISORDERS IN DOGS DR. LISA RADOSTA, DACVB In the VETgirl webinar, “Forget the hype! The truth about the effect of early spay and neuter on behavioral disorders in dogs,” Dr. Lisa Radosta, DACVB, the owner of Florida Veterinary Behavior Service in West Palm Beach, Florida, recently reviewed the literature to help veterinarians understand whether early spay and neuter should be recommended in dogs from a behavioral standpoint.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
6 Spaying and neutering at any age does have benefits behaviorally, the largest being the elimination of unruly behaviors (such as urine marking and roaming) and will therefore, decrease the likelihood of animal relinquishment. 7 A risk-benefit analysis should be done with each individual patient when considering when to recommend spaying/neutering. If an animal is already affected by fear, anxiety or aggression, consider waiting until after 18 months of age to spay/neuter. In intact male dogs, consider leaving them intact depending upon their environment/ability to roam and exposure to intact female dogs. If the owner is not able to confine the dog or if there is increased likelihood that there will be an accidental pregnancy, spaying and neutering is best. Testosterone modulates the INTENSITY of behavior but doesn’t in and of itself, CAUSE aggression. Any decision to spay or neuter a pet should include consideration of the environment, owners willingness to confine the pet and disorders/diseases of other body systems which may increase or decrease with spaying or neutering. LEARN MORE
1 When assessing the controversy of spay and neuter, weigh the pros and cons: Pros of spay and neuter • Spaying and neutering at 6-7 months of age meets the current standard of care • Will decrease sexual behavior • Less chance of relinquishment as this is more commonly seen in INTACT animals • Energy level decreases seen in dogs after spay and neuter Pros of keeping animals intact • Some orthopedic, neoplastic and genitourinary diseases can be avoided or the onset of clinical disease can be delayed • Some studies show a potential link between increased aggression and anxiety and spaying and neutering dogs. 2 When reviewing the current literature on behavior, it is important to keep in mind that many of the studies - but certainly not all studies - involve a small population or a biased population of animals. To be considered good science, studies should be peer reviewed, the results should be repeatable and the conclusions should have validity regarding the question being examined.
3 Many of the studies rely on questionnaires, with C-BARQ surveys being the most commonly used as this questionnaire is validated. Even so, owner reporting is problematic as to accuracy, can be biased , and all factors may not necessarily be equal. 4 It is important to remember that behavioral disorders do not have a single etiology and are multifactorial. The limitations of several of the studies were that many different types of aggression were lumped together. Aggression can be divided into at least 10 individual diagnoses. Some diagnoses such as inter-male aggression may be decreased with neutering whereas fear induced aggression will not decrease with neutering. 5 In many of the studies, owners of spayed or neutered dogs reported MORE anxiety, aggression and fear than owners of intact male and female dogs, with the most significant fear and anxiety in the dogs neutered BEFORE 6 months of age. With that said, in general dogs spayed or neutered prior to 18 months of age were generally more likely to have either accelerated progression of their disease or increased likelihood of being affected when compared to intact dogs.
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