Announcing Good Dog’s First Scientific Publication

In collaboration with Dr. Chris Zink of Canine Sports Productions, Good Dog is excited to announce our first scientific publication, “Vasectomy and ovary-sparing spay in dogs: Comparison of health and behavior outcomes with gonadectomized and sexually intact dogs“ now available for free viewing, open-access, in the highly regarded journal, JAVMA (Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association).

We were interested to learn more about alternatives to traditional spay and neuter for dogs, specifically vasectomies and ovary-sparing spays. These procedures prevent reproduction, but maintain sex hormones (estrogen and testosterone). We interviewed Dr. Zink about why we were conducting this survey in this webinar. Our goals were to better understand the possible benefits and risks of these alternative procedures, and how the health and behavior of dogs who undergo these procedures would compare to intact or spayed/neutered dogs.

We conducted a survey of dog owners, asking questions about their dogs’ health, behavior, and reproductive status (receiving surveys for over 6000 dogs, including many from our Good Dog community!). Then we were able to compare health and behavior outcomes for dogs who were still intact, who had traditional spay/neuter surgery, and those who had a vasectomy or ovary-sparing spay.

Our results suggested that longer exposure to sex hormones, whether through delayed spay/neuter, vasectomy/ovary-sparing spay, or leaving dogs intact, was associated with fewer health and behavior concerns. However, our findings also indicated that longer exposure to sex hormones is associated with an increased risk of reproductive health concerns, such as pyometra and testicular cancer. As found in previous studies, spayed and neutered dogs were reportedly at higher risk for orthopedic issues and obesity compared to intact dogs. 

One weakness of our study was that there were a small number of dogs with vasectomies or ovary-sparing spays represented. These procedures are less common, although we believe there may be an increased interest among the dog-owning population. The Parsemus Foundation provides a list of veterinarians who perform ovary sparing spays and vasectomies. 

Because these alternatives to traditional spay and neuter are not routinely covered in the veterinary curriculum, you may have to travel to get them performed on your dog. We recommend working with your veterinarian, and talking to others who have made similar decisions for their dogs, if you are interested in exploring a vasectomy or ovary-sparing spay for your dogs. 

We are thrilled to make a contribution to better understanding the health and behavior of dogs everywhere, and we also want to give a big shout out to the members of our community who participated in the survey!

You can read the original paper here.