Animal Welfare Professionals

Per a request from Judith Pearson, I am moving my post from Dr. Levy's kitten conversation to it's own thread.

I am going to jump in on this discussion to say that while I agree there is broad consensus that there are no contraindications to pediatric S/N in cats, I strongly disagree that the topic is, or should be, controversial in dogs.

There are a handful of deeply flawed studies that have purported to demonstrate correlation (CAUSATION has never been documented) between pediatric S/N and a number of health conditions (mostly cancer and orthopedic disease) in dogs. I say deeply flawed in that they are limited to purebred dog breeds already known to be at increased risk for these conditions, are based on skewed data from tertiary care facilities (referral hospitals/university vet schools) or owner surveys without medical records, and demonstrate (at most) a small (sometimes not even statistically significant) increase in risk. There are a number of other weaknesses and flawed methodology that I won't bore the group with unless requested. On the flip side, we know for sure that dogs that are not S/N are at high risk for a number of potentially fatal diseases such as pyometra, mammary carcinoma, prostate cancer/adenocarcinoma, dystocia, TVT, not to mention the associated behavioral problems that are common reasons for surrender to shelters. Also, while there are no studies that demonstrate increased risk of S/N in mixed breed dogs, there are a number of studies from multiple countries that find that S/N dogs are overall healthier and have longer lifespans than intact dogs.

The other issues with these studies and the push to delay or eliminate routine S/N in dogs are the socioeconomic ones...when S/N is delayed until maturity, the costs for these procedures increase dramatically, particularly for large and giant breed dogs. I have seen quotes for >$2500 for routine S/N in large dogs...well out of reach of many owners. When these dogs develop pyometra or become pregnant and have complications such as dystocia, spay becomes an emergency procedure with quotes as high as $10-15,000+ for surgery and hospitalization. When these dogs develop behavior problems associated with reproductive hormones (roaming, marking, aggression, bleeding/house soiling during estrus, etc.) they are at risk of becoming lost/stray or surrendered to shelters by frustrated owners. 

My shelter has seen a significant increase in intake of dogs that are intact, both stray and O/S. In 2019,  20% of O/S dogs and 50% of ADULT stray dogs were intact. In 2024, those numbers have jumped to 40% of O/S dogs and 70% of strays. When we offer FREE S/N to owners when they reclaim their stray dogs, they are increasingly declining S/N (even for adult dogs) because they have "heard that it is bad for them". There are real implications to this trend for shelters that are already full to bursting with large-breed dogs, many with behavioral barriers to adoption.

While I respect an owner's right to make choices regarding S/N for their individual pet, I don't think most people actually understand the risk/benefit analysis. And we in the animal welfare/shelter world should consider these evolving recommendations and their implications for the work we do and the communities we serve carefully and thoughtfully.

Sorry to co-opt a kitten conversation but this is a really important issue IMO :-)

Edit to add: Pediatric S/N is endorsed by many veterinary organizations including:

Association of Shelter Veterinarians (ASV): chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com/ASV/fa11b6a5-ea22-45cc-9b33-416a24d44499/UploadedImages/Policy_Stmts/Early_Age_SN.pdf

American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA): Pediatric spay/neuter of dogs and cats

American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA): https://www.aaha.org/about-aaha/aaha-position-statements/#:~:text=Position%20statement%20for%20pediatric%20neutering,Last%20revised%20January%202018.

Additionally, even the highly controversial, recently released, WSAVA Guidelines acknowledge that considerations for S/N recommendations for shelter animals may be different than those for owned pets.

I recently put together a 45-minute presentation for my entire shelter staff (targeted to lay folk) including an extensive literature review and discussion of the risks and benefits from an objective standpoint. I would be happy to present to any organization that is starting to struggle with these questions :) After nearly 23 years as a vet, having seen far too many intact animals die prematurely due to entirely preventable diseases, it deeply saddens me to see S/N rates start to decline. If a pet only gets to see a vet one time in it's life, I believe S/N is the single most important healthcare they can receive to help improve their welfare and live longer, healthier lives (that and some core vaccinations!)

Even though leading veterinary organizations support the "Fix by Five" initiative targeting sterilization of cats at 8-20 weeks of age, our new research in collaboration with Vetsource and funded by PetSmart Charities shows that private practices are still waiting until 6 months or older for most cats. We are still analyzing data for publication. That's far too late to prevent the "oops" litters that contribute to overcrowded animal shelters and preventable harm to unwanted cats.

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Julie Levy, DVM
Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida
Maddie's Million Pet Challenge
https://sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu
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