Non Surgical Sterilization is here (breeding, rescue, neutered, pups)

[no kudzu]

Would you try this? Wish they had it for men.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/1...ype=blogs&_r=0

[LakesideAnnie]

I can't get to the article. However, I did hear about this last night. We agree that it sounds great for rescues and animal shelters.

However, I have a lot of friends in the Dog Show world. They are scared. Scared that if this gets into the hands of the wrong person (people) so much damage can be done. Sometimes when showing or competing with dogs, you might be handling one dog while others wait in crates. Say someone gets their hands on some of these sterilization pills and decides they want to destroy your breeding program... Or an angry "animal-loving organization" decides to target a large dog show? This could be devastating!

Does the article address the availablity, and to which people?

[ldydrgnfly]

Originally Posted by LakesideAnnie

Say someone gets their hands on some of these sterilization pills and decides they want to destroy your breeding program... Or an angry "animal-loving organization" decides to target a large dog show? This could be devastating!

I was able to access the article and it states that this procedure comes in the form of an injection not a pill...and "...is injected directly into a dog’s testicles..."

[LakesideAnnie]

Thanks ldydrgnfly!

[ldydrgnfly]

No problem, LakesideAnnie...even though it can't be administered as easily as giving a pill, it still makes me wonder how we would know for sure if a pup has been sterilized in this manner. What happens if a dog gets rehomed a couple of times (or more) and has this procedure multiple times? Truth be told, I have only ever had female dogs so far, so I have never dealt with neutering a male...but when I had my male cat neutered surgically, there was an obvious difference between the "before" and "after".

[willow wind]

The thought has been that the dog would be be

1) microchipped at the same time with perhaps a letter like " Z " as either the first or last digit with the understanding among all that would indicate the procedure has been done

2) tattooed in the genital area with the same letter

[young92]

This type of sterilization removes the production of semen but does nothing to decrease testosterone. So a male dog will still go after the girls, still roam and still try to be the big man on campus if that's the kind of guy he is. If all you are trying to do is remove the production of pups, perfect. It doesn't solve any of the temperament issues that often causes a dog to end up in the shelter.

LakesideAnnie - that is a very good point. There are A LOT of AR people out there who would have no qualms of injecting someones dog without their knowledge. People who show dogs are often targets for this kind of thing.

[ReturningWest]

I think this is great for rescue operations of mixed breed dogs, a simple microchip could confirm and something that could be done with a lot of areas, my first thought would be the Indian Reservation dogs, often times surgical procedures are out of the question but this could lead to a good alternative.

I would also be concerned for the purebred group and possibility of dogs being rendered sterile through accident or not accident.

[lewis24]

The downside is this drug has been linked to necrosis and even death in some dogs. I wouldn't touch this without further study and/or it being release long term with no reports of problems. While new drugs seem to be exactly what is needed it may cause more problems than benefit.