{"id":4373,"date":"2014-10-01T10:13:43","date_gmt":"2014-09-30T23:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/?p=4373"},"modified":"2021-08-02T17:47:18","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T07:17:18","slug":"labs-and-goldens-goldens-get-cancer-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/aboutblog\/labs-and-goldens-goldens-get-cancer-better\/","title":{"rendered":"Labs and Goldens: Goldens get cancer better"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ResearchBlogging.org\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

A recent study<\/a>, published in July this year, considered desexing in Labradors and Golden Retrievers and the long term health effects. This study doesn’t find anything revolutionary, but adds to the building body of evidence<\/a>\u00a0on the health impacts of desexing.<\/p>\n

In the US, 83% of dogs are desexed, and often desexing is performed before 6 months of age. The popularity of this elective surgery has increased over the last 30 years. This is in contrast to many European countries, where animals are left intact.<\/p>\n

This study<\/strong> considered\u00a01015 Golden Retrievers and 1500 Labrador Retrievers.\u00a0It used data on all Labs and Goldens admitted to a hospital between 2000 and 2012 (retrospective data).\u00a0It mirrors a study on Goldens in 2013<\/a>, and came up with similar results (which makes sense as it used a similar data set).<\/p>\n

Dogs in the study were split by breed, then split by neuter status and age\u00a0of neutering. So in each breed, there is a) desexed at <6 months, b) desexed at 6-11 months, c) desexed at 1 year, d) desexed at 2-8 years, and e) entire. (Dogs desexed at over 8 years were excluded from the study.)<\/p>\n

While the study looked at lots of conditions, in particular it considered: hip dysplasia, cranial cruciate ligament tear, hemangiosarcoma, mast cell tumor, and mammary cancer. At times, the study lumped together ‘joint disorders’ and ‘cancers’, with the logic: Surely if we want to avoid any and all, not just one type of cancer or one type of joint disorder!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"goldenphotoblog\"On Joint Disorders<\/strong><\/p>\n

In both goldens and labs, the incidence of joint disorders in intact dogs (male and females) was about 5%.<\/p>\n

Overall, though, it was found the earlier a dog was desexed, the greater the incidence of joint disorders.<\/em><\/p>\n

In Labrador Retrievers, neutering at earlier than 6 months doubled (to 12.5% in males) the incidence of one or more joint disorder. Golden Retrievers faired even worse, with the same\u00a0neuter-group having 4-5 times (27%) the incidence of one or more joint disorder.<\/p>\n

Basically, there was a sliding scale: Golden Retriever males\/females desexed at 6-11 months had a 14%\/13% incidence of joint disorders. Golden Retriever males desexed at 2-8 years had a 10% incidence of joint disorders. While figures for Labrador Retrievers were not as high, they had a similar trend.<\/p>\n

So, it seems from these results, the longer a dog is left entire, the healthier their joints.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On Cancers<\/strong><\/p>\n

While males in both breeds got off lightly when it came to neutering and cancer,\u00a0and female Labradors were not much different, female Golden Retrievers drew the short straw.<\/p>\n

There seems to be a ‘protective effect’ from gonadal hormones against cancers, especially in female golden retrievers.<\/p>\n

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The results reveal that neutering through 8 years of age [in female golden retrievers] increases the risk of acquiring at least one of the cancers at a level 3-4 times that of leaving the female dog intact.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Mast cell tumours didn’t occur in entire Golden Retriever bitches, but occurred at a rate of 6% in neutered bitches. Other cancers (lymphosarcoma, mast cell tumours, and hemangiosarcoma), in Golden Retrievers, also occurred more frequently in spayed than entire bitches.<\/p>\n

Mammary cancers were only seen in Golden Retriever bitches (not in Labradors). 1.4% of intact female\u00a0goldens were diagnosed with mammary cancer. If the bitch was neutered between 2-8 years, the incidence was increased to 2%.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pyometra!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Exclamation because I haven’t seen consideration given to pyo’ before in one of these studies. A good start!<\/p>\n

In Golden Retrievers, the incidence of pyometra in intact females was 1.8%.<\/p>\n

In Labrador Retrievers, the incidence of pyometra in intact females was <4%.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Conclusions<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s interesting that, while the Golden Retriever and Labrador Retriever are similar in looks, function, and size, it’s interesting that they have such a marked difference in terms of their incidence of joint disorders and cancers.<\/p>\n

For example, Goldens neutered at <6 months had a 20-27% incidence of joint disorders, while Labradors neutered at <6 months had a 11-12% incidence.<\/p>\n

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…for both breeds, neutering at the standard <6mo. period markedly and significantly increased the occurrence of joint disorders, although the increase was worse in the Golden than the Labrador.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Again, it’s important to recognise this is only part of a\u00a0growing body of research looking at the long-term implications of desexing. We have had studies before that have suggested:<\/p>\n