This article makes interesting reading. I wonder if we could have our own study of Champdogs members bitches - age of death, age of neutering etc?

My part of the CD study then...

Borzoi bitch, neutered around 5 years old, died 10 (long lived for a zoi)
Borzoi bitch, neutered at 3 years old, died 6
Borzoi bitch, neutered 6 years old, died 7
Borzoi bitch, not neutered, died 6

I've had several border collie bitches, all were neutered after first season and all lived to good ages. Rough ages of death are... 12, 14, 15, two at 17 and one at 19.

So, my own limited experience doesn't appear to agree to the study, however as I usually have male dogs I'd be interested in hearing from those of you who have had several bitches over the years.

Dalmatian bitch, spayed at 8 years, died of complications following the surgery.
Labrador bitch, spayed at 1 year, died aged 13
Dalmatian bitch, spayed at 1 year, died aged 15
Dalmatian bitch, spayed at 7 years, died aged 14
Dalmatian bitch, spayed at 5 years, died aged 15.

English Setter Spayed 7 (pyo) died age 13- Kidney
English Setter Spayed 4 died aged 12
English Setter Spayed 6 died age 7
Border Collie Spayed 5 still going aged 14 (although going a lot slower :-) )
Border Collie Spayed 6 (during c section) still going age 8

wispa fcr spayed at 6 died at 7 1/2 yesr old
brie spayed at 6 years ol still with us at 10 1/4 years old
blue and teyha not spayed 3/4 both died

gollies been spayed has i write this know she 8  1/4 yearold,

Basset Hound, spayed at 10 years, died at 12
Golden Retriever, spayed at 12 months, died at 17 years
Curly Coated Retriever, spayed at 18 months, still with us at 13 1/2 years.

GSD bitch spayed before the age of 3 died aged 14
GSD bitch spayed 1 year old due to pyo died a few months later to cancer
Rottweiler bitch spayed before first season (never again) died aged 7
Rottweiler bitch spayed before 1 year old died aged 8 1/2
Staffie bitch spayed before her first season (rescue) still here and 7 years old
GSD bitch spayed around 2 years old now 8 years and still with us
Akita bitch spayed at 18 mths due to problem seasons she'll be 5 in May
Rottie bitch not spayed 2 1/2
Rottie bitch 6 mths not spayed

Putting it into a spread sheet. Will do a graph when we have plenty of statistics

> Putting it into a spread sheet. Will do a graph when we have plenty of statistics

Fabulous, was thinking the same but am happy to leave the work to someone else :-) Not sure how it would work but I wonder if it's possible to list breeds, or at least giant breeds with shorter lifespans separately, so it doesn't muddy the water too much?

Pepsi, Golden Retriever, spayed 7, died 9
Heidi, Dobermann, spayed around 2, died nearly 14
Lottie, Dobermann, spayed 3, now 7 1/2
Winnie, Sussex Spaniel, spayed 1, now 6
Hattie, Dobermann, spayed 1, now 5
Esme, Golden Retriever, not spayed, now 2 1/2

Cocker/Lab bitch, spayed age 13 yrs (pyo) died cancer throat age 15yrs
Rott bitch, spayed 14mth (ish) died Aug 08 aged 13yrs 3mth.

Our Pom's never spayed and live on average to 16 years of age (we've had them over 30 years average lifespan for the bitches 14/16 years).

Dilita Spanish Water Dog, never spayed, pts at 121/2 due to going blind and deaf at the same time and she couldn't cope.  Her daughter Lydia PTS 15years and 3 months due to stomach cancer (well all through her life except last month) not spayed either.

Have 91/2 year old SWD not spayed running around like a spring lamb, hopefully she follows in her grandma's pawsteps.
Her daughter four and a half, not spayed fit and well, then her daughter almost two not spayed fit and well.  Youngest is 4 months old so doesn't count!

> I wonder if it's possible to list breeds, or at least giant breeds with shorter lifespans separately, so it doesn't muddy the water too much?

Thats what I've done :-) small, med lrg and giant

How many Poms roughly Perrodeagua, just to add to statistics?

Lab x - spay 1, died 14
Collie x - spay 2, died 16
Collie x - spay 1, died 15
Dobie - spay 18mths, died 12
JRT - spay 18 mths, died 17
Collie - spay 2, died 18

I prefer to own dogs but these are close family pets. Quite sad to think of them all again, they were great dogs.

Beardie  spayed at 11 months died age 14 years
Beardie unspayed died 11 years
Beardie  unspayed died 6 years

Leo bitch, spayed 5 years, died 10
Leo Bitch,unspayed died 10

58 so far not including Perrodeagua's Poms (just for me to keep tally)

Judy - PJRT - spayed at 1 year. died at 6 years.
Sally - crossbred flatcoat x collie spayed at 18 months  died at 4years.
Peggy - flatcoat entire died age 15 and a half years
Charlie - flatcoat entire died age 15 and threequarters
Sally - flatcoat spayed at 14 years due to pyo died age 16 and a half years
Jenny - rescue flatcoat spayed at two years when rehomed died age 10 years
Lucinda - flatcoat spayed at 10 years old died age 11 and a half years old
Rosebud - Flatcoat spayed at 10 years old due to pyometra died age eleven years
Tilly - Africanis spayed at 1 year old died age 1 and three quarter years (2 months off 2nd birthday)
Maxine - Africanis spayed at 6 years still alive at 10 and a half years.

The Africanis is an aboriginal type dog so interesting to see their results. Tilly did die due to illness.

done to here

|Three lived to 16, one to 13, we've got another 13 at the moment who looks as though she's got a good few years in her yet.  She can still jump into my arms LOL!  One died at 9 years due to heart problems.

Golden Retriever bitch - spayed 1year app, died 13yrs bless her

Abby, Golden Retriever, spayed 11 years old, died 14
Penny, Golden Retriever, spayed 9 years old, now 12 still with us

Youngsters
Bess, Lab X, unspayed, now 4 years
Ellie, Golden Retriever, unspayed now 3.5 years
Megan, Golden Retriever, unspayed now 1 year

Jan

Fanfare -  Lab -   Unspayed - Died 10yrs
Dicksy -   JRT -    spayed at 3yrs - died 17years
Dickler -   JRT -    spayed 3 years - died 10years
Daffodil -  Lab -    unspayed - died 9years
Lilly -       Lab -    unspayed - died 11years
Primrose - Lab -    unspayed - died 10years
Firth -      Lab x - rescue already spayed unsure of age, she was with us 7years
Connie -   ESS -   unspayed - 13years
Megan -   ESS -   unspayed - 9years (brain tumour)
Penny - - Lab -    unspayed - 6years
Emma -    Lab -    unspayed - 12years

Ellie -      Lab -    unspayed - 14months (cancer)
Xanthe -  Lab -    unspayed -15months (miss-adventure)

Done to here, still not showing much correlation, not enough data yet.

xbreed spayed 1, died 14.5
gsd spayed 5, died 5
gsd spayed 18 months, died 14
gsd spayed 4, still with us 8

Honor Golden Retriever - Unspayed died age 10
Callie GSD  - Unspayed - died age 4
Kizzy Flatcoat - Unspayed died age 10.5
Tessa Flatcoat - Unspayed died age 12.5
Wren Flatcoat - Spayed died age  11
Lark Flatcoat - Unspayed died age 10
Zoe Large Munsterlander - Unspayed died age 13
Ellie Flatcoat - Unspayed died age 11.2
Bonnie Flatcoat - Unspayed died age 10
Jessica Flatcoat - Unspayed died age 7.6
Birdie Flatcoat - Unspayed died age 15 months
Dusk Flatcoat - Unspayed died age 13yrs 10 mths
Dee Flatcoat - Unspayed alive age 7.5
Rosie Flatcoat - Unspayed alive age 4.7

Nikki - vallhund bitch - unspayed - 14 years
Karli - vallhund bitch - spayed aged 8 - 14 years

Gretchen - Mittel bitch - unspayed - 3 years - living
Kammi - Mittel bitch - unspayed 2 years - living

Border Collie bitch spayed aged 16 died 18

Anymore???

Hows it all going? I am curious to see the results.

meg gsp spayed after 1st season died  age 10 months
jade gsp spayed 1 year still with us age 12 years
maggie gsp spayed 1 year still with us age  8 years

Right ok.... start of results for medium bitches as this was largest group.

Medium sized Spayed bitches average lifespan: 13yrs

Medium sized Entire bitches average life span: 9.7yrs

right ok, sounds a bit of a shocker for such a small amount of data (24 medium spayed bitches, 25 medium entire bitches) so I'm gonna juggle with the data again as there are quite a few anomolies, so gonna have a better look mathematically for more accurate result. need loads more data for smalls and giants and quite a few more for larges

GSD Bitch, spayed at 6 years, died aged 12
GSD Bitch, spayed at 2 years, died aged 10
GSD Bitch, spayed at 2 years, died aged 7
Golden Retriever Bitch, entire, alive aged 3

Friends:
Rottweiler Bitch, spayed at 2 yrs, died aged 8

Boxer spayed aged  18mths-2 yrs - died aged 10 yrs 3wks old (cancer - kidney tumour)
Boxer spayed aged approx 5 yrs - died aged 11 yrs 1mth 2 wks old (bloat - did survive op died 12 hours after op)
Boxer spayed aged 3 yrs - still alive aged 8yrs 9mths
Boxer spayed aged 5 years - still alive aged 6yrs 3mths

(Boxers average lifespan tends to be 10 years old)

http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu125/Tanyap1989/Comparisonspayedvsentire1.jpg

Comparison of quartile graphs of spayed bitch vs entire bitch (medium sized)

Hover over image and click to zoom

Boxer Bitch Spayed at 6 died at 10
Unspayed Bitch died at 9.

It might be interesting to see how it varies by the age the spayed bitches lived to and when they were spayed. So put all bitches spayed within two years, then another comparison of all who were spayed between 5 and eight and then eight and over.

Prhaps it would be good to add whether or not they'd had a litter.

> Prhaps it would be good to add whether or not they'd had a litter.

Yes that might be a good way of looking at it too. Makes you wonder if neutered dogs have shorter or longer life spans too. I know it keeps them immature.

Ok, goint to do same thing now for:
Medium bitches spayed before 2
Medium bitches spayed between 2 and 6
Medium bitches spayed 6 and over

http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu125/Tanyap1989/mediumbitchwhenneuteredbetween3ages.jpg

medium bitch spayed before 2 mean age of death 14.3 yrs

medium bitch spayed before 8 after 2 mean age of death 7.5yrs VERY SMALL AMOUNT OF DATA

medium bitch spayed after 8 mean age of death 14

You're doing a brilliant job of this Tanya :-)

Our results then would seem to be in direct contrast to the study, so far anyway.

As we have so few responses I wonder if we could work out a formula to include all the dogs on one chart? Small and medium breeds tend to be quite long lived. Could we multiply the ages of death of the giant breeds by 1.5 say and include them? What do people think?

> Makes you wonder if neutered dogs have shorter or longer life spans too. I know it keeps them immature.

That, though, again depends on when neutered. So many vets recommend before 6mths.

I have cross posted this on another forum where I know there are a lot of giant owners on there so hopefully we should be getting more data on there too.

Going to try and rack my brains now for my family's past dogs - all bitches.

Cocker spaniel not spayed PTS aged 10 was blind from age 5 (PRA) and couldn't cope after house move.
Cross breed lab/collie/lurcher not spayed PTS age 12 mammary cancer.
Cross breed lab/collie first cross spayed under 2 years old, died age 14.5.
Cross breed collie/poss pointer, rescue, spayed young, died kidney failure aged 6.
Staff x whippet rescue, had a litter when stray, spayed under 4 years old, died age 14.
GSD not spayed died 9 brain tumour.
GSD not sure if spayed or not, still alive age 14.

Updated with bred from or not detail..

Boxer spayed aged  18mths-2 yrs - died aged 10 yrs 3wks old (cancer - kidney tumour) - Was not bred from
Boxer spayed aged approx 5 yrs - died aged 11 yrs 1mth 2 wks old (bloat - did survive op died 12 hours after op)
Had one litter at 3 years 2mths old.
Boxer spayed aged 3 yrs - still alive aged 8yrs 9mths - Was not bred from.
Boxer spayed aged 5 years - still alive aged 6yrs 3mths - Had one litter 3yrs 7mths old.

(Boxers average lifespan tends to be 10 years old)

Old English sheepdog spayed aged 3 yrs after one litter.  died age 12
Red  Setter  not spayed, died aged 11
Papillon spayed aged 5 yrs.  now aged 10 but had mammary tumour removed a few weeks ago.

My update:
Judy - PJRT - spayed at 1 year. died at 6 years. not bred from had mammary tumours develop from age 3 onwards.
Sally - crossbred flatcoat x collie spayed at 18 months  died at 4years. Not bred from.
Peggy - flatcoat entire died age 15 and a half years bred from died old age
Charlie - flatcoat entire died age 15 and threequarters litter mate to above. not bred from died old age
Sally - flatcoat spayed at 14 years due to pyo died age 16 and a half years bred from died old age
Jenny - rescue flatcoat spayed at two years when rehomed died age 10 years not bred from died old age Had ear problems, deviated septum and conformation problems.
Lucinda - flatcoat spayed at 10 years old died age 11 and a half years old bred from died old age
Rosebud - Flatcoat spayed at 10 years old due to pyometra died age eleven years not bred from died old age had chronic viral chest infection as a puppy.
Tilly - Africanis spayed at 1 year old died age 1 and three quarter years (2 months off 2nd birthday) died due to tick bite
Maxine - Africanis spayed at 6 years still alive at 10 and a half years still in very rude health! lol

Updated

Honor Golden Retriever - Unspayed died age 10 - not bred
Callie GSD  - Unspayed - died age 4 not bred
Kizzy Flatcoat - Unspayed died age 10.5 - bred
Tessa Flatcoat - Unspayed died age 12.5 - bred
Wren Flatcoat - Spayed (aged 7 due to medical reasons) died age  11 - bred
Lark Flatcoat - Unspayed died age 10 - bred
Zoe Large Munsterlander - Unspayed died age 13 - not bred
Ellie Flatcoat - Unspayed died age 11.2 - bred
Bonnie Flatcoat - Unspayed died age 10 - bred
Jessica Flatcoat - Unspayed died age 7.6 - bred
Birdie Flatcoat - Unspayed died age 15 months not bred
Dusk Flatcoat - Unspayed died age 13yrs 10 mths - bred
Dee Flatcoat - Unspayed alive age 7.5 - bred
Rosie Flatcoat - Unspayed alive age 4.7 not bred

Great piece of work Tanya.  Very interesting.