From:
rhone@coam.net
Date: 2001-04-03 03:14:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Early neutering
This is interesting, as I have also just automatically added
the "early" to "neuter" when thinking about the theories regarding
adrenal disease causes.
While I appreciate that the ferret is a different species from any
other domesticated animals (except for fur-bearing mustelids, which
I assume are seldom altered), I would be interested to know if there
have been any neuter/disease correlations found amongst the more
heavily researched animals. Considering how long other pets (i.e.
cats and dogs, perhaps horses as well?) have been altered in mass
numbers, and the fact that the anatomy, physiology, and health of
these animals has been studied extensively (far more than ferrets,
I'm assuming), I am curious if there are any hints in the literature
regarding endocrine dysfunction resultant from (or at least
correlated with) neutering.
Perhaps there are similar hints in the study of the photoperiod of
other animals? I am very ignorant in this, but if I understand
correctly, other species have seasonal reproductive patterns, and I
wonder what research has been done on these periods, and possible
dysfunctions resulting from deviating from them.
--Rhone
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "Brett Middleton" <brettm@a...> wrote:
[snip]
> This information, in addition to the postings regarding retired
> breeding ferrets that developed AD a few years after neutering,
makes
> it pretty clear to me that we need to be more careful about using
the
> adjective "early" when we discuss spay/neuter vs. AD. Most
statements
> regarding the relationship seem to include "early" as a matter of
> course, leading us to focus on age as the issue, and leading many
to
> assume that late neutering is the solution. If we become fixated
on
> the age issue and a nice, juicy grant ever *does* come along, then
we
> may well end up spending it on the *least* productive approach to
the
> problem.