Should I neuter my Basenji?

[Zande]

@tanza & @sanjibasenji There is a piece on my (long neglected cos of the database taking all my time) own website. http://www.zandebasenjis.com/rutting.htm Basenji Boys Have A Rutting Season Too - which bears out your point, Pat. It is not easy to collect sperm from them when they know it is not the time of the year when the very survival of the Breed depends on THEM ! Difficult to show a dog dirty pictures. . .

Wandering can always lead to an RTA. Which is why, 40 years ago, we cut all our hedges in half and installed heavy duty wire on independent posts before letting the hedges grow back normally. During the rutting season I never walked the boys in the same direction as the girls. They went up the drive and up the road to the north, through the village always on leads, and the girls went out of the front gate and down the country lanes away from the centre of habitation. This is a tiny hamlet in a farming community and working dogs abound - so if they had been interested in non-Basenji breeds, I could have had problems.

You are really making an effort, @sanjibasenji , to train your wee boy which is really to be applauded. And you are getting good results which OUGHT to encourage others that it is possible !!!! (why amn't I convinced it will ?)

There is a worry over here now, that, with the vast increase in demand for puppies, more people will try to cash in and breed without proper study, knowledge or health checking. I should hate for Europe to develop a need to neuter.

[sanjibasenji]

@zande said in Should I neuter my Basenji?:

Difficult to show a dog dirty pictures. . .

Google's loaded with images! All positions! Ha!

[sanjibasenji]

@tanza said in Should I neuter my Basenji?:

If in the US it is typical that spay/neuter is done as we have way too many backyard breeders or puppy mills.

Can you explain this to me? I don't get the connection between neutering one's pet and backyard breeders. Sounds to me like good breeders just don't want buyers to breed the dogs they buy from them. Sally, being a breeder opposed neutering, seems to be objective since it's not in her interest in this regard.

Helle Devi posted a link to a UK-published book claiming that there are many negative health side effects from neutering. At first, I wasn't sure I trust that source, but according to the AKC,

"An increasing body of evidence shows that neutering (including spaying) male and female dogs can have adverse health effects such as an increased risk of certain joint disorders (hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, and cranial cruciate ligament rupture) and cancer (lymphoma, mast cell tumor, hemangiosarcoma, and osteosarcoma). However, this risk varies depending on the breed, age at neuter, and sex of the dog. With funding from the AKC Canine Health Foundation (CHF), researchers examined medical records from the University of California, Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital to analyze these risks. They have created guidelines based on breed, sex, and body weight regarding when to neuter a dog in order to avoid increasing the risks of these joint disorders and cancers."

Curiously, contradicting this information, the title of the article is, "What is the Best Age to Spay/Neuter Your Dog? It Depends." It ought to be, "Evidence that Neutering has Adverse Health Effects"

There is more. From one of the links to Frontiers in Veterinary Science, there is this:

"Neutering (including spaying) of male and female dogs in the first year after birth has become routine in the U.S. and much of Europe, but recent research reveals that for some dog breeds, neutering may be associated with increased risks of debilitating joint disorders and some cancers, complicating pet owners' decisions on neutering."

From "Assisting Decision-Making on Age of Neutering for 35 Breeds of Dogs: Associated Joint Disorders, Cancers, and Urinary Incontinence"

Indeed complicating pet owner's decisions, to put it mildly. No Basenji's in this study.

It is widely assumed in the US that one should neuter their dog. The main reason for this to my knowledge is to prevent homelessness, disease. According to the ASPCA, about 3.3 million dogs enter shelters, and 670,000 are euthanized each year. Yikes.

But if one is a responsible dog owner, and doesn't let their pet wander off, then why neuter? I think I'm the only Basenji owner in my town, so wandering shouldn't be an issue for me if there are no females. One thing is for sure, it won't hurt to wait. Once done, there's no going back.

[sanjibasenji]

But then one finds research like this:

https://www.animalhealthfoundation.org/blog/2012/06/how-spaying-and-neutering-benefits-pets-health-and-behavior/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwweyFBhDvARIsAA67M71Ca2gKGXRXBkcDROVbjn-qn6HL27Ktp_U9TIokwix1MWkAd2wHw0waAp_BEALw_wcB

[tanza]

@sanjibasenji - In the US, pet owners typically are "not" into having intact bitches that come in season that they have to confine for at least 30 days or watch that any neighborhood dogs (in tact) can access... they do not want the bother or the "clean up". With Basenji males, "rutting" season is or can be a pain... Basenjis KNOW that time of year. My very first male in the early 90's cried the entire month of October and stopped eating and I even had a bitch in the home (she was not in season).... and even more important that they do NOT roam the neighborhood looking for a mate. As far as puppymills and backyard breeders, they buy puppies and then breed them every year for dollars and dollars only.... Placements by responsible breeders are very, very careful who they place a puppy with as the home is the most important. As far as spay or neuter, many of the things you can read really refer to early spay/neuter as it before a year or 2yrs when they would be full grown. And of course it depends of the breed....
It is a fact that many in the US think it would be great to have a litter to show their kids the "wonders" of birth having no idea the cost and care involved with raising a litter properly.

[eeeefarm]

A long time ago, when I was a kid, just about nobody neutered male dogs. Many or most spayed bitches that were kept as pets. The perception seemed to be that it was a lot of trouble to keep a bitch in season from getting nailed by a local roaming male and then you had puppies to deal with. Males were preferred as pets because one didn't have the added expense of spaying or the nuisance of having a bitch in heat to deal with. If I recall correctly, males were often priced higher because of the added expense of having a bitch. Back then, many dogs roamed loose and there were no leash laws as such. The rules where I lived were that the loose dog must be on its own property or "under the control" of the owner. A lot of dogs were trained to stay home but there were always those that did wander. Our family Sheltie was trained to stay on our property and he did not abuse our trust....if he wanted out we just opened the door to our unfenced yard, and he respected the property lines he had been taught to stay inside. On a walk he always came to heel to cross a road. Times are different now!

[Zande]

@sanjibasenji If spaying females prevented cancer etc, we'd all have spayed our daughters and then where would the human race be ?

In fact, we probably wouldn't be here either (at least I wouldn't be !)

[sanjibasenji]

@tanza said in Should I neuter my Basenji?:

cried the entire month of October and stopped eating and I even had a bitch in the home (she was not in season).... and even more important that they do NOT roam the neighborhood looking for a mate.

Thanks for the response. I see.

[sanjibasenji]

@zande said in Should I neuter my Basenji?:

where would the human race be ?

True, and this response is off-topic, but where governments created such policies for humans -- India, China, etc. -- the results, not to mention the human rights violations, have been largely disastrous. On the other hand, "where would the human race be"? It's in a rather dark place for most people now, not only because wealthy countries' global health policies led to explosive human population growth 1945-1980 in poorer countries, and will settle at about 9-10 billion by 2050 or so, but that's closely tied to the parallel intensification of stark global inequalities.

[Zande]

I was referring to spaying of females - but yes, you have the right of it across the board.