The way we have sterilised male and female dogs the past decades, is now showing signs of being the reason for A LOT of problems afterwards. Would you believe it, if I quoted

"degenerative diseases, higher incidence of obesity, urinary incontinence, bladder stones, allergies, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, Addison's, diabetes, hypothyroidism, immune-mediated thrombocytopenia, inflammatory bowel disease, hip dysplasia, cranial cruciate ligament tears, aggressive and fearful behaviour, cognitive dysfunction syndrome, prostate cancer, bladder cancer, and musculoskeletal issues (specially significant for large breed dogs)"

I am flabbergasted myself. Hip dysplasia? CCL tears? 4x higher risk of prostate cancer? Please follow at least part 5 of the Hormone Series of Dr Dobias and Dr Becker at hormonehealthfordogs.org but I believe they were quoting the article of Dr Kutzler, found here. Here you also find the article of the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA), where they acknowledge that our current techniques might not be in the best interest of the dog. Mildly put!

When we sterilise (male or female), in the process we remove receptors for the luteinising hormone (LH) (located in ovaries and testes). As there are no longer any the LH receptors to receive LH from the pituitary, the LH receptors cannot produce estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. Estrogen, progesterone and testosterone, once produced, normally lets the pituitary gland know: we are on it, thank you, you can stop. But after sterilisation, none of these 3 are produced, and thus no message is sent to the pituitary that it can stop sending out LH.

***LH reaches toxic levels in the body, and causes havoc elsewhere in the body:

Collagen production is disturbed: muscles, tendons and ligaments are weakened, and cannot pull the skeleton the way they should be able to; increased risk of ACL's have been noted. More aggression in sterilised dogs. Hip dysplasia??? Inform yourself.

***If not yet sterilised, ask you veterinarian or FIND one that has learnt the new way of hormone-sparing sterilisation!

Are you already (or hopefully planning) to be a vet providing hormone-sparing sterilisation? Add yourself to the Parsemus site, so people can find you!

***For dogs that have been sterilised the old way, do blood tests of LH to make sure it is not too high (this could be indicative of inflammation in the body). Contemplate starting them on Suprelorin. Or why not try holistic Hormone Replacement Treatment, perhaps with headtotailcaninenutrition. Correct levels must be supervised, as it is different for each individual dog. Do not accept anything less! Do your research!

So, in clear text, by sterilising the way we have done for years, we destroy the endocrine system. Sex hormones (= estrogen, progestereone and testosterone) help with so much more than reproduction.