14 DAY TRIAL // A new study whose findings were published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE on April 17 argues that, all things considered, sterilized pet dogs are likely to live longer than so-called intact dogs.
Presently, most dog owners choose to either spay or neuter their pets for the sole purpose of keeping a close eye on their population. However, as this study suggests, sterilization might also help add years to a dog's life.
The University of Georgia researchers now saying that sterilization helps dogs in more than just one way base their claims on information gathered while analyzing a total of 40,139 dog death records.
These deaths all occurred between the years 1984 – 2004, and were documented by the Veterinary Medical Database.
EurekaAlert informs us that intact dogs were found to live for about 7.9 years on average. On the other hand, sterilized dogs averaged an age of 9.4 years when passing away.
“At the level of the individual dog owner, our study tells pet owners that, overall, sterilized dogs will live longer, which is good to know,” researcher Kate Creevy commented with respect to the findings of this investigation.
“There is a long tradition of research into the cost of reproduction, and what has been shown across species is if you reproduce, you don't live as long. The question that raises is why would you die younger if you have offspring?” said specialist further argued.
These investigations also allowed the researchers to pin down the most common causes of death amongst intact and sterilized dogs.
Thus, whereas the former are more likely to die because of an infectious disease or trauma, the latter were proven more likely to pass away because of either cancer or an autoimmune disease.
“If you are going to sterilize your dog, you should be aware of possible risks of immune-mediated diseases and cancer; and if you are going to keep him or her intact, you need to keep your eye out for trauma and infection,” Dr. Kate Creevy stressed.