For years veterinarians have been telling clients that they should wait until their animals are 6-12 months old before sterilizing them. Why 6-12 months? Several factors have been cited for this arbitrarily picked age of sterilization. They include the unscientific belief that there is some benefit to maturation prior to neutering, our limited anesthetics and anesthetic protocols for immature animals and most significantly because it has become a tradition in veterinary medicine.
If one accepts neutering (castration of males and spaying of females) as a form of population control, as a form of increasing health, good behavior, and as a form of extending the life of our companion animals, then the question becomes what optimum age should we perform surgery? At what age can one get the maximum benefit with the least amount of risk to our companion animal friends?
What scientifically or anecdotally based data do we have to suggest something other than a 6-12 month neutering range? Certainly, the first pioneers in early sterilization (animals < 5 months) were motivated to make a difference in pet overpopulation and to decrease the huge euthanasia rate in our country. This prepubertal neutering sparked a storm of controversy, because in veterinary medicine the mantra is "We fear change." Because of this controversy, many studies were undertaken to more fully evaluate the effects of early age sterilization in dogs and cats. In the last 10-15 years, the following findings have emerged concerning prepubertal neutering:
- Animals neutered prior to a full maturity live longer on average; dogs live 1-3 years longer and cats live 3-5 years longer.
- There is a sharp decrease in certain cancers, particularly mammary cancer.
- Prostatitis, perianal tumors, testicular cancers, perianal hernias, ovarian cysts, ovarian tumors, uterine tumors and pyometras are examples of common medical problems positively impacted by neutering.
- There are anesthetic agents and anesthetic protocols that are well documented for animals as young as 6-8 weeks.
- Young animals recover much faster from surgery due to their higher metabolic rates, less bleeding during surgery and smaller overall surgical sites.
- There is even growing evidence that early age neutering has positive effects on socialization and behavior in many animals.
- One clear physiological fact that has emerged is these animals tend to have slightly increased skeletal bone growth (they are taller) and stay leaner longer than their adult counterparts neutered at an older age.
-- A word from Dr. Young --
Having started prepubertal neutering in 1990, I have been on the cutting edge of this field in veterinary medicine. I speak about and teach spay/neuter technique nationally and internationally and would be considered an expert on perpubertal sterilization by any standard. To date I have personally sterilized over 160,000 dogs and cats which includes 25,000 early age sterilizations. Under the right set of circumstances I will do surgery on 3-4 week old animals. I certainly would consider a 6-8 week old animal a routine surgery, but I prefer the animals to be 8-16 weeks of age. The advantage to 8-16 week old animals usually is that they have had some vaccinations (better immunity), are in better body condition and can still get all the benefits of early age sterilization. It is becoming mandatory for humane organizations to sterilize all adoption animals prior to placing them in households. Sterilization at 6-8 weeks tends to be the norm under shelter conditions. More veterinarians and humane groups are going to early age neutering because it is a clear win/win situation for all parties involved. In an effort to stem the overpopulation problem in dogs and cats, the AVMA now fully supports prepubertal (8-12 weeks) neutering on our companion animal friends.
I strongly recommend all pet owners to sterilize their companion animals between 8-16 weeks of age and believe it is unethical for any humane organization to adopt prior to sterilization.
Sincerely,
Jeff Young, D.V.M.
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Why Spay and Neuter?
