Pet quality Chinese Cresteds should be neutered. Breeders routinely include a spay/neuter clause in their sales contract. We are well aware of all the reasons why pets should be neutered. From a breeder’s standpoint, we want non-breeding stock neutered to ensure that these dogs have no opportunity to reproduce. Withholding registration papers or providing only limited registration privileges may help to discourage the idea, but it’s certainly no guarantee. Learning that the pet quality male you placed last year is the proud father of an accidental litter of Chinese Crested Dachshunds is upsetting. Finding good homes for the resulting puppies can be a challenge. It’s a no win situation.

However, it’s not nearly as horrifying as discovering that one of your pet dogs is the foundation sire of a line of pet shop/puppy mill stock. Preventing these appalling possibilities this is the primary reason why breeders insist that pets be neutered. It’s a perfectly valid reason but typically not the one we use to convince pet owners. We stress the mental and physical health benefits.

Males neutered before maturity are far less likely to indulge in typical macho behaviors like territorial marking or reactive aggression. Neutering prevents any possibility of testicular cancer, torsion of spermatic cord, and clinical symptoms of androgen dependant diseases.

Spaying definitely prevents a number of behavioral and psychological changes linked to estrus. Females spayed before age 2 ½ have a drastically reduced risk for mammary cancer and absolutely no risk for uterine disease and estrogen mediated disorders.

These are all scientifically sound, well-documented reasons. That can make it easy to disregard any potential drawbacks of neutering.

Number one among these is surgical risk, which is always greater for toy breeds. New protocols have drastically reduced dangers associated with anesthesia but no anesthetic procedure is ever 100% safe. Every dog has slightly different reactions to the same amount of the same drug. There is no fail/safe amount that can be given without risk. Otherwise, you would not be asked to sign the little release form before your pet undergoes surgery. 

Post-surgical pain is another significant consideration. Neutering, safe and routine so often appear in the same sentence, we are inclined to forget that even routine safe surgery is traumatic and pretty painful. Until recently, little thought was given to the possible repercussions of pain after neutering such as stress due to poor appetite and lack of sleep.  Dogs instinctively mask pain, making the problem less obvious. Many vets felt that a little pain was good to ensure that pets remained immobile during healing. Several recent studies have shown that administering pain meds speeds recovery time. Vets are now more willing to prescribe post surgical analgesics.

Other post surgical complications can be immediate or long range. Postoperative bruising and swelling, hemorrhage or infections at the incision site are rare, but they happen. Fortunately, they are usually noticed and treated quickly. At worse, they can result in an extra day or two of hospitalization.

Other possible complications may not be immediately apparent. Reactions to routine vaccinations are more common in neutered dogs. Neutering may increase a male’s predisposition to pancreatitis and males neutered before maturity may fail to develop some breed specific secondary sex characteristics (which may or may not be big deal depending on the breed).  The most commonly reported side effects in both sexes are obesity and urinary incontinence. Research has not established any reason why neutering should cause obesity. Decades of anecdotal evidence usually blame it on pet owners mismanaging their pet’s diet. However, one 1986 study found obesity to be twice as prevalent in spayed bitches.

Various studies have documented a 3%- 20% incidence of urinary incontinence in spayed females; with occurrences ranging from immediately after surgery to as much as ten years later.

A number of human studies have been conducted to investigate possible links between estrogen and a variety of health issues. There have been no comparable canine studies to date.

Lowered estrogen levels after spaying definitely prevents some of the behavioral and psychological changes linked to estrus, but others can worsen as estrogen levels drop and testosterone rises. Mounting, leg lifting and dominant aggression can become more pronounced in spayed females.

Puppy vaginitis is a fairly ordinary problem, especially in longhaired breeds. Most cases clear up without treatment after a bitch’s first season. It’s theorized that this is due to pre-estrus estrogen secretions improving disease resistance in vaginal tissue, or possibly enhanced immune function that comes with maturity. This is part of the reason why spaying as a treatment for juvenile vaginitis is controversial, some contend that it will prolong rather than resolve problem. Females with poorly developed external genitalia are more prone to repeated bouts of puppy vaginitis, a reason why it’s more prevalent in bitches spayed before sexual maturity.

Other hormone related side effects include hair loss, known as bilaterally symmetrical nonpruitic alopecia, and an increased rate of bone remodeling. Osteoporosis is not a recognized problem of spayed bitches but the rate of bone turnover increases after spaying and bone resorption eventually outstrips bone formation. One study of spayed females in a Beagle colony found a 15% vertebral bone loss 11 months after spaying.

Puppies of both sexes are generally neutered between the ages of 5-8 months, although no study has ever been conducted to show this to be the ideal age. In recent years, prepuberal gonadectomy, early spay/neuter of puppies 6-12 weeks old, has gained wide acceptance and extensive media attention. The practice has been endorsed by the AHAA, the BVA, and many high profile humane organizations. It’s most commonly performed in animal shelters but the media has begun promoting it to hobby breeders.

The procedure is confirmed to be medically safe. But there have been no studies to investigate possible long term physiological or behavioral consequences of sudden alteration of hormone levels in growing animals.

Hormones are not only responsible for controlling the development of secondary sex characteristics; they also regulate many aspects of temperament, growth, and immune function. All of these traits are mutually supporting and biologically based. Puppies neutered prior to puberty not only exhibit reduced development of physical secondary sex traits, juvenile behaviors, like hyperactivity, that are normally moderated by the hormonal effects of maturity, can remain more pronounced.

Gonadal steroids also stimulate cartilage growth and the maturation of long bones. Early deprivation of these hormones can prolong the growth phase of long bones by delaying closure of the growth plates. This has been observed in puppies neutered at various ages before sexual maturity. To date, there have been no studies to determine whether this increases the possibility of subsequent susceptibility to fractures.