Many studies have been performed on LARGE breed dogs and they found across the board, delaying neutering/spaying till 2 years of age dramatically decreases Hip dysplasia in large breed dogs. (yes goldens) and another studies with goldens found not only reduced hip and elbow dysplasia but also CANCER ! yes, the "C: word!! so I will require you to agree to wait. your vets usually are not in agreement. please read: pass onto your vets!
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Study finds neutering-disease link in Golden Retrievers
Posted March 20, 2013
Neutering and the age at which a dog is neutered may affect the animal’s risk for developing certain cancers and joint diseases, according to a study published Feb. 13 in the online scientific journal PLOS ONE.
An examination of health records of 759 Golden Retrievers by researchers with the University of California-Davis discovered significantly higher incidents of hip dysplasia, cranial cruciate ligament tears, lymphosarcomas, hemangiosarcomas, and mast cell tumors among neutered dogs, compared with sexually intact dogs.
“The study results indicate that dog owners and service dog trainers should carefully consider when to have their male or female dogs neutered,” said the lead investigator, Dr. Benjamin Hart, a distinguished professor emeritus in the UC-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
“It is important to remember, however, that because different dog breeds have different vulnerabilities to various diseases, the effects of early and late neutering also may vary from breed to breed,” he said.
While results of the study are revealing, Dr. Hart said the relationship between neutering and disease risk is a complex issue. For example, the increased incidence of joint diseases among early-neutered dogs is likely a combination of the effect of neutering on the young dog’s growth plates and the increase in body weight that is commonly seen in neutered dogs.
A small body of research has indicated that neutering can have adverse health effects for certain dog breeds. A study of the relationship between life expectancy and ovary removal in Rottweilers found Rottweilers spayed after they were 6 years old were 4.6 times as likely to reach 13 years of age as were Rottweilers spayed at a younger age (see JAVMA, March 1, 2010).
Against that backdrop, Dr. Hart and colleagues launched their study, using a single hospital database. The study was designed to examine the effects of neutering on the risks of several diseases in the same breed, distinguishing between males and females and between early or late neutering and not neutering.
Researchers focused on Golden Retrievers because of the breed’s popularity and its vulnerability to various cancers and joint disorders. The breed also is favored for work as a service dog.
The research team reviewed the records of female and male Golden Retrievers, ranging in age from 1 to 8 years, that had been examined at UC-Davis’ William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital for hip dysplasia, cranial cruciate ligament tear, lymphosarcoma, hemangiosarcoma, and mast cell tumor. The dogs were classified as sexually intact, neutered before 12 months of age, or neutered at 12 months of age or later.
The disease rates for all five diseases were significantly higher in both males and females that were neutered either early or late, compared with that of sexually intact dogs. Specifically, early neutering was associated with an increase in the occurrence of hip dysplasia, cranial cruciate ligament tear, and lymphosarcoma in males and in the occurrence of cranial cruciate ligament tear in females.
Late neutering was associated with the subsequent occurrence of mast cell tumors and hemangiosarcoma in females.
In most areas, the findings of this study were consistent with that of earlier studies, suggesting similar increases in disease risks. The UC-Davis study, however, is the first to specifically report an increased risk of mast cell tumors and hemangiosarcoma with late neutering.
Furthermore, the new study showed a 100 percent increase in the incidence of hip dysplasia among early-neutered males. Earlier studies had reported a 17 percent increase among all neutered dogs, compared with all non-neutered dogs, indicating the importance of the new study in making gender and age-of-neutering comparisons.
The study is available at http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0055937.
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https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/golden-retriever-study-suggests-neutering-affects-dog-health/
Neutering, and the age at which a dog is neutered, may affect the animal’s risk for developing certain cancers and joint diseases, according to a new study of golden retrievers by a team of researchers at the University of California, Davis.
The study, which examined the health records of 759 golden retrievers, found a surprising doubling of hip dysplasia among male dogs neutered before one year of age. This and other results were published Feb. 13 in the online scientific journal PLOS ONE.
“The study results indicate that dog owners and service-dog trainers should carefully consider when to have their male or female dogs neutered,” said lead investigator Benjamin Hart, a distinguished professor emeritus in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
“It is important to remember, however, that because different dog breeds have different vulnerabilities to various diseases, the effects of early and late neutering also may vary from breed to breed,” he said.
While results of the new study are revealing, Hart said the relationship between neutering and disease-risk remains a complex issue. For example, the increased incidence of joint diseases among early-neutered dogs is likely a combination of the effect of neutering on the young dog’s growth plates as well as the increase in weight on the joints that is commonly seen in neutered dogs.
Dog owners in the United States are overwhelmingly choosing to neuter their dogs, in large part to prevent pet overpopulation or avoid unwanted behaviors. In the U.S., surgical neutering — known as spaying in females — is usually done when the dog is less than one year old.
In Europe, however, neutering is generally avoided by owners and trainers and not promoted by animal health authorities, Hart said.
During the past decade, some studies have indicated that neutering can have several adverse health effects for certain dog breeds. Those studies examined individual diseases using data drawn from one breed or pooled from several breeds.
Against that backdrop, Hart and colleagues launched their study, using a single hospital database. The study was designed to examine the effects of neutering on the risks of several diseases in the same breed, distinguishing between males and females and between early or late neutering and non-neutering.
The researchers chose to focus on the golden retriever because it is one of the most popular breeds in the U.S. and Europe and is vulnerable to various cancers and joint disorders. The breed also is favored for work as a service dog.
The research team reviewed the records of female and male golden retrievers, ranging in age from 1 to 8 years, that had been examined at UC Davis’ William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital for two joint disorders and three cancers: hip dysplasia, cranial cruciate ligament tear, lymphosarcoma, hemangiosarcoma and mast cell tumor. The dogs were classified as intact (not neutered), neutered early (before 12 months age), or neutered late (at or after 12 months age).
Joint disorders and cancers are of particular interest because neutering removes the male dog’s testes and the female’s ovaries, interrupting production of certain hormones that play key roles in important body processes such as closure of bone growth plates, and regulation of the estrous cycle in female dogs.
The study revealed that, for all five diseases analyzed, the disease rates were significantly higher in both males and females that were neutered either early or late compared with intact (non-neutered) dogs.
Specifically, early neutering was associated with an increase in the occurrence of hip dysplasia, cranial cruciate ligament tear and lymphosarcoma in males and of cranial cruciate ligament tear in females. Late neutering was associated with the subsequent occurrence of mast cell tumors and hemangiosarcoma in females.
In most areas, the findings of this study were consistent with earlier studies, suggesting similar increases in disease risks. The new study, however, was the first to specifically report an increased risk of late neutering for mast cell tumors and hemangiosarcoma.
Furthermore, the new study showed a surprising 100 percent increase, or doubling, of the incidence of hip dysplasia among early-neutered males. Earlier studies had reported a 17 percent increase among all neutered dogs compared to all non-neutered dogs, indicating the importance of the new study in making gender and age-of-neutering comparisons.
Other researchers on this UC Davis study were: Gretel Torres de la Riva, Thomas Farver and Lynette Hart, School of Veterinary Medicine; Anita Oberbauer, Department of Animal Science; Locksley Messam, Department of Public Health Sciences; and Neil Willits, Department of Statistics.
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https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/new-study-neuter-risk-hip-dysplasia-dogs/
Recent studies have shown that neutering can have an adverse effect on the health of a dog. To further delve into this new information, a team of researchers at UC Davis recently examined the veterinary records of 759 Golden Retrievers for hip dysplasia, cranial cruciate ligament tear, lymphosarcoma, hemangiosarcoma and mast cell tumor. The dogs were grouped as intact, neutered before 12 months of age or neutered after 12 months of age.
The study, which is to be published today, revealed that the disease rates were significantly higher in both males and females that were neutered both before and after 12 months of age. Early neutering was associated with an increased incidence of hip dysplasia, cranial cruciate ligament tear and lymphosarcoma in males and of cranial cruciate ligament tear in females. Neutering after 12 months of age was associated with an increased risk of mast cell tumors and hemangiosarcoma in females.
The most notable results from this study include a doubled risk of hip dysplasia among males neutered before 12 months of age and the increased risk of mast cell tumors and hemangiosarcoma in dogs neutered after 12 months. Previous studies reported only a 17% increase in risk of hip dysplasia in neutered dogs and this is the first study to report an increased risk of cancer in dogs neutered late.
Of the five diseases measured, the study reported that:
There were no cases of cranial cruciate ligament rupture diagnosed in intact males or females, but in early-neutered males and females the occurrences were 5% and 8%, respectively
Almost 10% of early-neutered males were diagnosed with lymphosarcoma, 3 times more than intact males
The percentage of hemangiosarcoma cases in late-neutered females (about 8%) was 4 times more than intact and early-neutered females
There were no cases of mast cell timor in intact females, but the occurrence was nearly 6% in late-neutered females
Of early-neutered males, 10% were diagnosed with hip dysplasia, double the occurrence in intact males.
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https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2014/11/05/neutered-golden-retrievers.aspx
Story at-a-glance
A recent study at the University of California, Davis compared intact and neutered or spayed male and female Golden Retrievers (a total of 1,015) and Labrador Retrievers (1,500) for development of three joint disorders and four types of cancer.
Intact dogs of both genders and breeds experienced one or more joint disorders at a rate of five percent. But in dogs neutered or spayed before six months of age, the rate of hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, and cranial cruciate ligament tears doubled to 10 percent in Labrador Retrievers, and in Golden Retrievers, it jumped to 20 to 25 percent that of intact dogs.
Intact male and female Labs, and intact female Goldens develop one or more cancers at a rate of three to five percent. However, 11 percent of intact male Goldens develop cancer, and the UC Davis study results indicated that neutering doesn’t seem to have much of an impact on cancer rates in males. Spaying female Labradors increased the incidence of cancer only slightly, but in female Goldens, neutering at any age over six months increased the risk of cancer three to four times over the level of intact females.
The researchers confirmed that the removal of hormone-producing organs during the first year of a dog’s life leaves him or her vulnerable to delayed closure of long-bone growth plates, which can result in joint disorders. They also concluded that especially in female Golden Retrievers, the sex hormones have a protective effect against cancers throughout a dog’s life.