neutering.

A new study says that pets who live in certain U.S. states may outlive pets who live in other states, according to USA Today. Banfield Pet Hospital, the world's largest veterinary practice, released its 2013 State of Pet Health Report, ranking the U.S. both in terms of dog and cat populations in each state, as well as dog and cat lifespans in each state. Interestingly, cats and dogs fared differently in different states. The fives states with the longest-lived dogs are South Dakota, Montana, Oregon, New Mexico and Colorado. Dogs lived the ...

New research from the University of Georgia has found that spaying and neutering your canine companions could lengthen the lives of your pets. Pet owners are encouraged to sterilize their dogs in an effort to help control the pet population; however, the study is now suggesting that the procedure is also good for a dog's overall health. Researchers looked at a sample of 40,139 death records from the Veterinary Medical Database from 1984–2004. They determined that the average age of death for dogs that had not been ...

I have a headache. I just read an article entitled "Neutering Dogs: Effects on Joint Disorders and Cancers in Golden Retrievers." It was well-written, did an admirable job of summarizing previously relevant research, and reported some important findings. Why then, you might be wondering, did it give me a headache? Well, it reported a significant increase in some important diseases in neutered dogs (males and females) in comparison to intact individuals, but didn't talk about the potential benefits of the surgeries. Evidence of a relationship between neutering and an increased risk of certain diseases has been mounting over the years, so although some of the details revealed in this study ...

You wouldn't think that an SPCA would have to speak out pleading with people to not neuter their dogs by wrapping industrial rubber rings around their testicles, causing intense pain and suffering. But that's exactly what is happening in Canada. Kaley Pugh, manager of protection services at the Saskatchewan SPCA, is fielding reports from vets about the practice, and she's had enough. She told CBC News, "This is not an acceptable practice in dogs. They really do suffer a lot when you do this to them." "The photographs I've seen are quite shocking," said Pugh. "Animals with significant wounds and bleeding and rotting tissue still attached to the animal." Pugh says the SPCA could start to ...

There are many advantages to spaying or neutering your cat. Spaying refers to removing the uterus and ovaries (or in some cases, only the ovaries) of a female cat. Neutering can technically mean altering the sex of either a male or a female cat. However, most commonly it is used to refer to the altering of a male cat. Spaying your female cat has several advantages: Cats that are spayed early in life, before the first heat cycle in particular, have a much lower risk of developing breast cancer later in life. Cats that are spayed also do not develop pyometra. For those of you unfamiliar with this disease, pyometra is a very serious and often fatal infection of the uterus. When a ...

Having grown up with parents who instilled a strong sense of do-gooding in me, I've always felt compelled to help better the lives of both pets and people through my veterinary practice. I've primarily worked within the safe, controlled, and clean environment of hospital facilities (and my clients' homes, which is another story), but my internal travel compass motivated me to pursue a "vets abroad" experience. My first veterinary philanthropic trip found me traveling to Peru with Amazon CARES (Community Animal Rescue Education Safety). Our M*A*S*H style, mobile veterinary service brought a variety of wellness treatments to communities in and around Iquitos, an urban jungle perched on the ...