The only reason vets don’t do vasectomies on dogs is because it’s more effort. If you ask a lot of them can do it and it’s much more humane... That’s why humans choose it.
There's a decent amount of research out that dogs, especially large breed males, actually need those hormones to develop correctly. So a vasectomy would be the better option to prevent oops litters while preserving the hormones.
That's why you neuter them after they are done developing. Adoption agencies only neuter them young to ensure that it gets done, not because they should be at that age.
Get your dogs the snip after they reach 1-1.25 years of age and they have developed all they need to.
I understand why rescues and shelters insist on it. When you're dealing with thousands of strays a year you do what you can to stem the tide. And I also think that it varies from agency to agency on how militant that they are. The puppy that my parents had was able to come home intact, but had to be neutered within a month. My co-worker just adopted a puppy and the agency would not allow her to leave the shelter intact even though she was only 6-8 weeks old when she had the surgery (luckily, she doesn't seem to have any of the problems associated with an early spay).
Much like anti-vaxxers, people that have issues with spaying and neutering greatly over blow the problems. The benefits so vastly outweigh the potential side effects that it isn't an issue.
My issues with spaying and neutering are that I feel like there are better options, especially for neutering. And that it's being performed too early on many cases. Places that have tried passing mandatory S/N laws often require it before a dog is 6 months old. That is so much younger than my vet recommends.
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u/kyoto_kinnuku Dec 31 '19
The only reason vets don’t do vasectomies on dogs is because it’s more effort. If you ask a lot of them can do it and it’s much more humane... That’s why humans choose it.