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Neutered male urinary blockage
With new postings on urinary blockage in males, especially neutered ones, a
question comes to mind. The vet who dealt with my cat years back also told me that he was opposed to extremely early neutering - 10 - 12 weeks of age. His view was that the males need to grow and develop closer to maturity before removal of the testes. The lack of hormones is responsible for sexual organs and the external urethra not developing to a full adult size, thus increasing the odds of a blockage problem later. When neutered closer to full growth - 6 months of age or more, he felt that the risk of urinary problems was more greatly diminished. I realize that the push to spay and neuter at an early age is partly if not primarily to ensure that it gets done before the animals reach reproducing age, but is it possible that in our zeal to control population we jeopardize the health of the animal? Is there anything to what my old vet from years back says in clinically supportable statistics? |
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Neutered male urinary blockage
RobZip wrote: With new postings on urinary blockage in males, especially neutered ones, a question comes to mind. The vet who dealt with my cat years back also told me that he was opposed to extremely early neutering - 10 - 12 weeks of age. His view was that the males need to grow and develop closer to maturity before removal of the testes. The lack of hormones is responsible for sexual organs and the external urethra not developing to a full adult size, thus increasing the odds of a blockage problem later. When neutered closer to full growth - 6 months of age or more, he felt that the risk of urinary problems was more greatly diminished. I realize that the push to spay and neuter at an early age is partly if not primarily to ensure that it gets done before the animals reach reproducing age, but is it possible that in our zeal to control population we jeopardize the health of the animal? Is there anything to what my old vet from years back says in clinically supportable statistics? No. In fact there are dozens of reports stating that early spay/neuter has no adverse effects on animals. Google search "early spay" or "early S/N" and you will pull up the links. -L. |
#3
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Neutered male urinary blockage
The idea that early neutering has adverse effects has not been proven to
be true: http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/repo...ly-neuter.html Megan "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke Learn The TRUTH About Declawing http://www.stopdeclaw.com Zuzu's Cats Photo Album: http://www.PictureTrail.com/zuzu22 "Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way." - W.H. Murray |
#4
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Neutered male urinary blockage
"RobZip" wrote in message ... With new postings on urinary blockage in males, especially neutered ones, a question comes to mind. The vet who dealt with my cat years back also told me that he was opposed to extremely early neutering - 10 - 12 weeks of age. His view was that the males need to grow and develop closer to maturity before removal of the testes. The lack of hormones is responsible for sexual organs and the external urethra not developing to a full adult size, thus increasing the odds of a blockage problem later. When neutered closer to full growth - 6 months of age or more, he felt that the risk of urinary problems was more greatly diminished. That's an outdated myth that has been debunked by controlled, clinical studies and years of clinical experience. There is no difference in urethral diameter or urethral pressure. The vet is a little behind on his continuing ed. Another myth was early neutering stunts growth. Actually, early-neutered cats are normal size and sometimes even *larger*. Early neutering delays physeal closure (growth plate at the end of the long bones) so the long bones continue to grow. The sex hormones control physeal closure- without the hormones, the long bones grow a little longer. Many vets still question and resist early-age neutering simply because they're unfamiliar/uncomfortable with surgery and anesthesia on young kittens. Early-age neutering wasn't taught in vet schools until the last few years. Many vets learned neutering on traditional-age cats. I realize that the push to spay and neuter at an early age is partly if not primarily to ensure that it gets done before the animals reach reproducing age, but is it possible that in our zeal to control population we jeopardize the health of the animal? Absolutely not. Early neutering is less traumatic for the cat and healing is *much* quicker because there's less abdominal fat and muscle to cut through and heal. Less fat and muscle also affords much better visualization of the ovarian pedicle- which dramatically reduces the risk of ovarian remnant syndrome- leaving a piece of the ovaries that can be functional at any time in the future. Young kittens also require less anesthesia; their vessels are also much smaller which allows for precise hemostasis and virtually *no* bleeding- which shortens operative time. The shorter the anesthesia and surgery- the better- less chance of complications. Early neutering was originally devised to control population and allow more cats to be neutered before adoption, but it also affords many benefits for the individual cats. Its a win-win-win situation. Here's a short clip of an early neuter. The entire surgery takes 5 minutes. The kittens are up and playing a few minutes after surgery and eating within an hour! They pay virtually no attention to the incision- which is a good indication that it doesn't bother them. Many cats that are neutered at six months must have an E-collar so they don't rip out the stitches http://www.maxshouse.com/Early_Age_Spay-1.wmv Is there anything to what my old vet from years back says in clinically supportable statistics? Only in outdated literature that has been debunked by long-term studies. Phil |
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Neutered male urinary blockage
RobZip wrote:
When neutered closer to full growth - 6 months of age or more, he felt that the risk of urinary problems was more greatly diminished. The only male cat we have with urinary problems was neutered at almost a year old. the ones we had neutered at 3 months are both fine! Rhonda |
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