Short-term effects of prepubertal ovariohysterectomy on skeletal, physical and behavioural development of dogs up to 24 weeks of age

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of ovariohysterectomy performed at 10 weeks of age on body weight, behaviour, bone length, serum calcium and phosphorus concentrations and gonadal hormone (progesterone and oestradiol) levels until 24 weeks of age in 31 clinically healthy mixed-breed female puppies. The littermates were randomly assigned to three groups. Group I (n = 11) was completely ovariohysterectomised, Group II (n = 10) was incompletely ovariohysterectomised with one ovary left intact, and Group III (n = 10) was sham operated. No significant differences were found between the groups for any of the parameters evaluated. It was determined that, except for two measurements of two animals in Group II at 20 and 24 weeks of age, all animals had undetectable concentrations of oestradiol 17-β. These findings suggest that an ovariohysterectomy performed on a mixed-breed dog at 10 weeks of age does not affect her skeletal, behavioural or physical development in the period studied, i.e. until 24 weeks of age.

Suppression of Fertility in Pre‐pubertal Dogs and Cats

“…, ,b), as observed by others (Rubion et al. ) and in one study on pre‐pubertal ovariohysterectomy (Sontas and Ekici ). Yet, there was in addition no difference between groups concerning the size of the vulva (Kaya et al.…”

“…This bitch in addition showed a concurrent increase in E. Only one animal from the 4.7-mg group showed a similar increase in E around the 3rd and 10th week, respectively, but, according to the P4 (Kaya et al 2012). Body development was undisturbed in all bitches (Kaya et al 2012(Kaya et al , 2013a, as observed by others (Rubion et al 2006) and in one study on pre-pubertal ovariohysterectomy (Sontas and Ekici 2007). Yet, there was in addition no difference between groups concerning the size of the vulva (Kaya et al 2012).…”

A Prospective Cohort Study Investigating the Impact of Neutering Bitches Prepubertally or Post-Pubertally on Physical Development

“…Despite the potential errors, height data were reported due to the importance of considering growth differences between dogs neutered before or after puberty, and the results indicate an impact on growth in a direction that was expected: greater change in height for bitches neutered before puberty with lower levels of oestrogen. Other studies [26,[37][38][39]41] have used radiographs to measure the long bone length and identify age at growth plate closure, which would likely provide more accurate 'height' data. However, this was not possible within the present study due to ethical constraints.…”

“…Of the two studies that examined long bone length in surgically neutered bitches, both reported increased bone length following early neutering, but the differences were only significant in one of the studies for bitches neutered at seven-weeks of age [26]. For the other, no significant differences were identified, and the authors suggested that there were no skeletal developmental implications of prepubertal gonadectomy [41]. Both of these studies included small numbers of bitches with no consideration of power analysis or adjustment of alpha for the sample size.…”

“…However, the study included only small numbers and did not consider the timing of neutering in relation to puberty. In contrast, when radial lengths were compared between 11 mixedbreed bitches ovariohysterectomised at 10-weeks of age and 10 bitches that underwent sham surgery [41], no significant differences were identified, and the authors concluded that skeletal development was not impacted by prepubertal gonadectomy. However, final measurements in this study were taken at 24-weeks of age, at which time, their growth may not have reached a stable level.…”