Pros and cons of desexing male dogs

What you should know about sterilisation: Development and your dog’s sex hormones

A condition of sale of your puppy is that you will sterilise (otherwise known as desex, spay, or neuter) your puppy.

Sterilisation should occur between 12-24 months old.

Desexing too young can have detrimental effect on your dog’s life including the following diseases:

• Hip and elbow dysplasia
• Cruciate ligament injury and tear
• Arthritis and joint disease
• Lymphosarcoma
• Hemangiosarcoma
• Mast cell tumour
• Shorter life expectancy

Research now shows that desexing before 12 months old (in larger breed dogs) signficantly increases the risk of joint disorders, in particular cruciate ligament tears and dysplasia.

Some research suggests this risk increases by as much as three times if the dog is spayed at a young age.

For the dog’s sake it is very important that they be allowed to reach sexual maturity (in females, this means having one to two heat cycles) before being desexed.

Until a dog reaches sexual maturity, their bones and joints are still developing and o

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