The Big Day

Snip snip snip :) Vito is officially an "it" today. I'm not really sure if I agree that every pet dog should be spayed/neutered, but because of our lifestyle I figured it was the best for him. I don't really know enough to really talk about it, but spaying and neutering isn't as great as we once thought it was.

From my understanding, neutering can actually increase the male's chance of getting cancer (especially prostate cancer, but others as well), especially if done under 1yr of age. Spaying can also increase the risk of cancer, although UNspayed females have a 7x higher rate of getting breast cancer. Spaying and neutering also make ligament tears more common and results in lanky looking dogs such growth plates close slower. From everything that I've gathered, most female dogs should be spayed before their first heat cycle, or at least before 3yrs of age to lower the risk of breast cancer and something complicated call pyometra; but males should NOT be getting neutered from a pure health perspective. Responsible owners shouldn't automatically be pressured into spaying and neutering pet dogs.

With all that said, I did decide to get Vito snipped. Although I would not be oppossed to owning an intact dog and dealing with the "behavioral" issues (or you know, just a dog being a dog), because Vito and Lance have to deal with such a large number of dogs each day between daycare and petsmart it is much easier without the complicating issue of hormones. I would have like to wait until he was a little bit older before having it done to have him fill out a bit more, but the wellness plan he is on includes the neuter and saves me hundreds of dollars if done before he turns 6 months.

Vito was VERY excited to see me when I picked him up this evening. There was definetly a "toller scream" to be heard as he squealed like a little pig! He has been pretty lethargic and cuddly ever since he has gotten back from the vet :)
And surprisingly Lance really missed the little bugger. Lance kept looking for Vito and wanted to spend ALL day outside sitting on the porch steps. He even went into Vito's kennel a couple of times. Who'd of thought :)

Oh, and if you're interested there are a ton of studies done on spay/neuter, but here's a link to one of the latest presentations at the Canine Health Foundation

www.akcchf.org/pdfs/whitepapers/3-23-08DiscoveriesArticle.pdf