Reproductive Capability Is Associated with Lifespan and Cause of Death in Companion Dogs

Very, very interesting, thought you might appreciate a read. 

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0061082

Good grief that was a good read and a half....... :-) Needed two coffee's to get through that!

Well, I was hooked and interested right until the end where they stated that it had not been able to take into consideration the age of each dog when sterilized or how many times an intact dog/bitch had been used or had a litter, or if reproduction had happened in males and females previous to sterilization?.............. So it kind of defeats the object in many ways.

I was very pleased to read that they had discovered that sterilizing prior to maturity can cause other cancers to increase although of course decreasing mammary cancers. Vets take note!

They have taken into account an awful lot of variables which is good and it is a pretty thorough investigation but, on reading it again I can find a problem, as it may have helped to also know where the adults tested via veterinary reports were originally bred too, if they came from health tested lines or BYB's/Puppy farms as we all know that can make a huge difference to the health of a dog whether sterilized or not.

Perhaps millions of dogs should have been in the test group, not thousands as it is a tiny blip in the dog population and many could have come from a similar rearing background.

Interesting............. and on the whole I would agree, particularly with bitches, it seems that sterilization on the whole prolongs life, even though there are some big holes in the research I dare say it probably is about right IMO. :-)

Yes, it lacks in some areas but it is a huge leap forward in knowledge.

My Mum is a breast cancer survivor (had a radical mastectomy at age 50 and she'll be 95 in July :) )so I keep up with readings on it.  Apparently, as a daughter of a breast cancer mother and  myself a woman who has not had children and not breast fed I am at increased risk of breast cancer.  The risk is higher for women who did not give birth, who did not breast feed and who did but not before age 30.  So of course I agree that reproductive "capability" needs to be expanded into research on whether the bitch had a litter.  Whether a male was used too as my male is not and as far as I know he has never ejaculated.  Unless he got up and washed the sheets himself, LOL.

One of my thoughts was that some of the causes of death might be lessened by good owners.  Death by trauma was higher for intact dogs.  Want to bet intact males allowed to roam and hit by cars figures largely in that? 

Thanks for posting this.
I think that any research that is being undertaken is a help as so little is done.
Research is very expensive and very often not undertaken unless there is a commercial benefit.
Let hope that further research is undertaken both for animals and humans so that all have a better quality of life, and we get answers to how these dreadful diseases such as cancer occur.
I have currently been reading a lot of reports on Vaccinations and how they may have long term effects and their links to autoimmune disease and cancer.
There is research that has been done as far back as the 1970's but never been acted upon.
The more that is know and publicised the better, at least Vets and doctors can make informed recommendations and treatment plans. Rather than vague claims based on very little factual evidence.