There are many important reason to neuter your dog. Dog sterilization helps the larger animal community by reducing issues brought on by overpopulation Sterilization can help the individual dog avoid a number of behavioral and health issues brought on by the reproductive organs. These can include keeping some dogs from becoming aggressive or lowering their risk of developing certain cancers.
If we learn the life expectancy of fixed dogs, we can determine whether or not neutered dogs live longer. However, while researchers have long hypothesized that sterilization might prolong a dog’s life, science has only recently been able to conclusively demonstrate that neutered dogs do in fact live longer. You may also be interested in:
Dog neutering is often confused with sterilization. Even though there are some similarities, it’s crucial to tell the two apart. Sterilization refers to making the dog sterile, i. e. they cannot reproduce. However, this can be temporary. For instance, if the dog has been chemically sterilized, once they stop using medications that prevent fertilization, they will be able to mate once more.
When a dog is neutered, it means that it has been permanently sterilized. This implies that they will be completely incapable of reproducing. Depending on the sex of the dog, this is done in one of two main ways:
It’s crucial to understand the distinction between sterilization and neutering in dogs because the former does not have the same impact on life expectancy. When full neutering has been performed, the risk of hormonal imbalance and diseases of the reproductive organs is greatly reduced.
Despite the fact that the neutering procedure is generally very safe, we must still keep an eye out for any complications. For more information, see our article on what to do if your female dog bleeds after spaying.
The researchers point out that the average life expectancy seen in this study is probably shorter than what would be seen in the general dog population. The study’s subjects were a population of ill animals who had been referred to a veterinary teaching hospital.
Daniel Promislow, a genetics professor at Franklin College and a co-author of the study, claims that when researchers have examined how reproduction affects human survival rates, the findings have varied from one study to the next. Our results suggest that focusing on how reproduction affects actual causes of mortality rather than its impact on life expectancy may help us better understand the potential costs of reproduction. “.
Creevy continued, “Our study tells dog owners that, generally speaking, sterilized dogs will live longer, which is good to know at the level of the individual dog owner. Additionally, if you plan to sterilize your dog, you should be aware of the potential risks of immune-mediated illnesses and cancer; if you plan to keep your dog whole, you should be on the lookout for injuries and infections. “.
The average age at death for intact dogs, or canines who had not been spayed or neutered, was 7 years old, according to research that examined a sample of 40,139 death records from the Veterinary Medical Database from 1984 to 2004. 9 years versus 9. 4 years for sterilized dogs. The study’s findings were released in PLOS ONE on April 17.
In particular, studies of men who are castrated for social or medical reasons have been done on sterilized individuals, according to Creevy. The castrated men tended to have longer life spans, which was an interesting difference. A physiological explanation for this is supported by the fact that the men in that study who weren’t sterilized also developed more infections. “.
Why do neutered dogs live longer?
Despite the study’s findings, the answer to this question is still not fully understood. What is known is that the absence of certain hormones caused by the neutering procedure increases the risk of some issues. The increased risk of infection may be caused by these hormones, which include progesterone and testosterone, which may suppress the immune system.
Another reason is behavioral. Male dogs frequently leave the comfort of their home to search for females in heat because they will try to find them. They can even get lost, have an accident, or even end up being rescued as an abandoned dog because the sexual drive is so strong. Dogs that have undergone neutering will be more inclined to stay at home and show little interest in escaping.
While there are some advantages to neutering your dog, you should also be aware that it is not a foolproof solution to all canine health issues. They still require the proper nutrition, mental stimulation, stress reduction, and preventive care in the form of vaccinations, deworming, and veterinary checkups. Ensuring their general well-being is a multi-faceted process.
More than 40,000 dog death records from 1984 to 2004 were examined by University of Georgia researchers using data from a national veterinary database. For dogs that hadn’t been fixed, the average age of passing was 7. They discovered that those who had been spayed or neutered lived to 9 years, compared to 9. 4 years.
Dogs naturally live alongside humans, so many of the same things that have an impact on our health can also have an impact on them. Progesterone and testosterone, which can both suppress the immune system and possibly make a dog or person more susceptible to disease, are among the reproductive hormones shared by our two species.
On the human side of the equation, some studies on castrated men have shown that they, too, tended to outlive men who had not been castrated, and also tended to get fewer infections, raising questions about how our sex organs may be impacting our lifespans and overall health.
The researchers discovered that dogs who had been spayed or neutered had higher rates of cancer or autoimmune diseases than their canine counterparts who still had gonads. The latter group usually passed away from an infection or trauma. (One caution: the average lifespan in this study is probably lower than that of dogs generally because this group of dogs represented a population of sick animals that had visited the veterinarian. ).
Responsible pet owners spay and neuter their dogs in order to reduce the number of unwanted animals that end up in shelters, or worse, but it turns out there’s another upside to “fixing” furry friends. On average, dogs that are spayed or neutered live longer than those whose goods remain intact, new research finds.