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posted by martyb on Friday August 14 2020, @07:48AM   Printer-friendly
from the how-much^W-big-is-that-doggie-in-the-window? dept.

Big Dogs Face More Joint Problems if Neutered Early:

It's standard practice in the U.S. and much of Europe to neuter dogs by 6 months of age. This study, which analyzed 15 years of data from thousands of dogs at UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, suggests dog owners should consider their options carefully.

"Most dogs are mixed breeds," said lead author Benjamin Hart, distinguished professor emeritus at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

[...] Researchers examined common joint disorders including hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia and cranial cruciate ligament tears, a knee injury, in five weight categories.

[...] The risk of joint disorders for heavier dogs can be up to a few times higher compared to dogs left intact. This was true for large mixed-breed dogs. For example, for female dogs over 43 pounds, the risk jumped from 4 percent for intact dogs to 10-12 percent if spayed before a year of age.

"The study raises unique challenges," noted co-author Lynette Hart, professor at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. "People like to adopt puppies from shelters, but with mixed breeds it may be difficult to determine just how big the dog will become if you don't know anything about the dog's parents."

Neutering prior to adoption is a common requirement or policy of humane societies, animal shelters and breeders. [...] Shelters, breeders and humane societies should consider adopting a standard of neutering at over a year of age for dogs that will grow into large sizes.

Journal Reference:
Hart, Benjamin L., Hart, Lynette A., Thigpen, Abigail P., et al. Assisting Decision-Making on Age of Neutering for Mixed Breed Dogs of Five Weight Categories: Associated Joint Disorders and Cancers, Frontiers in Veterinary Science (DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2020.00472)


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  • (Score: 2) by Common Joe on Saturday August 15 2020, @08:34AM (5 children)

    by Common Joe (33) <{common.joe.0101} {at} {gmail.com}> on Saturday August 15 2020, @08:34AM (#1037012) Journal

    Yes, but Barbara was pointing out that doctors tend to treat everything with a pill and ignore the obvious cause. There's a lot of truth to what she says. I haven't had that exact conversation with my various doctors, but very similar ones. I cannot tell you how often my doctor recommended a cure worse than the disease.

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  • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Saturday August 15 2020, @01:09PM (4 children)

    by Reziac (2489) on Saturday August 15 2020, @01:09PM (#1037055) Homepage

    Oh, get me started on how doctors treat the test results rather than treating the patient...

    --
    And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
    • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Saturday August 15 2020, @05:28PM (3 children)

      by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Saturday August 15 2020, @05:28PM (#1037153) Journal
      It's not just psychiatry. Most doctors are totally unaware of the psychiatric side effects of common drugs prescribed for physical problems. Hypertension - a Japanese study of more than 3,000 patients uncovered a connection between blood pressure medication and suicidal ideation in diabetics. I found that out the hard way - was prescribed blood pressure meds, went into a serious suicidal depression for most of a year, discovered the study, went of the drug, cured within a couple of weeks. Found plenty of law suits against the manufacturer for exactly this problem.

      Was convinced to go back on a different brand, 5 years of absolute hell and antidepressant use, which made the whole depression far worse. Finally got fed up, stopped all the drugs 6 months of hell, then life started getting better.

      Was over at my sisters talking about this (pre-covid, obviously - none of us allow visitors or visit friends in their homes because we take this shit seriously, and yesterday the Canadian government said we will probably never have a really effective vaccine, and that we're in for what will probably be a much larger second wave, followed by successive smaller waves). My brother in law is a retired pharmacist. He got out the automatic blood pressure machine, I told them it won't work properly on me. First test - your blood pressure is dangerously high. Told him to try again. Your blood pressure is dangerously low. See? Try again. Your blood pressure is dangerously high.

      As expected. Totally inconsistent readings because the mechanics of the test don't work properly with people without shallow blood vessels in their arms. Taking a blood sample from me is often more hit than miss. Sometimes they can't find one in either arm and have to take it off the back of the hand. I'm aware of the problem, so I ignore results, which is okay because the recommendations have changed so much over the years that what was considered dangerous isn't any more. Plus I have a really serious "white lab coat " reaction to blood pressure tests. Given a few minutes to adapt, and it goes from dangerous to lower than normal. So the medication was never needed in the first place. And neither were the antidepressants, which also caused serious leakage of exudates in my retinas for years. 6 months after stopping the drugs, they no longer had cotton wool patches that covered half the surface. And the holes in both healed spontaneously.

      I've had one large bleeder since, but it dispersed quickly, and I took it easy for a while to let the clot anchor itself. One in almost 2 years I can live with.

      Should have expected that drugs that affect brain cells negatively would also affect the retina negatively, and the OCT scans and retina photos show the correlation. Antidepressants do a lot of harm, with no independent studies showing effects over that of a placebo, and twice the suicide rate of those with the same tested severity who opt for other forms of treatment.

      Booze would probably be better. You can share it, so decreased social isolation, and the negative physical side effects take a lot longer to manifest. And people who aren't naturally drinkers won't have the stigma of "going off their meds," whether it's for a week or forever.

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      • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Wednesday August 19 2020, @03:52AM (2 children)

        by Reziac (2489) on Wednesday August 19 2020, @03:52AM (#1038696) Homepage

        That whole mess of symptoms are in the spectrum for hypothyroidism. And when that's the cause, treating symptoms (especially depression!) often makes things worse, or unstable -- it's like painting the house to fix a failing foundation. As noted the hefty estrogen dose is probably keeping your thyroid going strong, thereby fixing all manner of vague and seemingly-unrelated issues. (Look up "300 thyroid symptoms" -- a non-exclusive list.) Anyway, I'm glad you're doing well. If things start going pear-shaped, get a detailed thyroid/endocrine workup and go from there, before trying to treat anything else. Tho given your age, if you're stable now, you're likely to remain so.

        High blood pressure is a common but generally unrecognized result of low thyroid (via two different mechanisms). Wild fluctuations can happen when potassium and sodium levels get out of whack (either secondary to thyroid or due to goofy dietary intake, such as not enough sodium). You can see how HBP meds can be the wrong answer.

        --
        And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
        • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Wednesday August 19 2020, @10:12PM (1 child)

          by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Wednesday August 19 2020, @10:12PM (#1039072) Journal
          Thyroid function is fine.
          --
          SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
          • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Wednesday August 19 2020, @11:16PM

            by Reziac (2489) on Wednesday August 19 2020, @11:16PM (#1039093) Homepage

            Good. Here's to your continued good health.

            If you go unstable, thyroid should be the first thing checked (and not just the accurate-but-misleading TSH test). But as noted, with the high estrogen, it's likely to stay put.

            --
            And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.