Neutering dogs chemically

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I saw an article in a DVM newsmagazine that puppies can be neutered chemically using Neutersol. Does anyone have experience of doing this or know a dog who had this done?

 

[VeganSoprano]

From what I've heard, it's a very promising technology. For now, it's only approved for dogs age 3-10 months, but the hope is that it will be safe and effective for adult dogs and cats.

I'm really excited about it. Chemical neutering will increase the capacity of high-volume sterilization clinics, which will be a huge boost to the fight against pet overpopulation.

 

[dvm n 06]

I have seen a few shelter dogs neutered with Neutersol. Apparently it only decreases the testosterone by about 50% so while it does render the dog sterile, it may not get rid of some of the behavioral problems that are usually eliminated/lessened by neutering surgically.

I know of one dog that had to be neutered surgically several months after his neutersol injection because he was aggressive towards other dogs/people.

It also causes vomiting in about 50% of the dogs receiving the injection.

I think neutersol would be good for the macho guys who don't want to neuter their dogs and the shelter situations who don't have access to surgical sterilization. I personally think surgical sterilization is a better option when available.

Neutersol is also about 50 dollars per vial so it's not necessarily cheap.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[NCaggie]

Is it a one time injection? or does it have to be given as part of a regiment

 

[dvm n 06]

It's a one time injection into the testicles.

 

[Iheartmutts]

I saw that article as well; neutersol really interests me. I recently started a not for profit group with the goal of getting a vet or two and some vet techs to go to villages in Central America to spay and neuter dogs (the stray situation down there is devastating). So the idea of an injectable neuter alternative sounds amazing. I read up on it and I agree with dvm n 06, it may not be the best thing for your pet at home, but in a place like Guatemala, where the whole idea with the charity is that by stopping overpopulation we can lessen the suffering and starvation... Anyway, this is all very new to me, does anyone have any new info on neutersol? I'd love to pick your brains and get advice from you guys or if you have any ideas on how to make such a spay/neuter trip as effective as possible. Below is a link to an article on how a similar spay/neuter operation was done with successful results in Turks & Caicos
http://www.snapus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Consulting

 

[cowgirla]

Is there a link to the article? I'd love to read it.
On a similar note, but not to hijack the thread, I also recently read an article about birth control for female dogs. It kept them from going through heat, but they were still fertile when you took them off of it. Sounded like it was aimed towards professional breeders who were worried about accidental litters. I'll see if I can remember where I read it.

 

[bunnity]

Is there any way to tell if a dog has had the injection, like if a stray came into a shelter would there be a way to determine if he was altered? I can see the possibility of the dog going through a chemical neuter twice, or a chemical then surgical, in a situation like this. Even within a shelter it is so hard to keep records straight and a lot of the time there is confusion over whether something has actually been altered at the shelter (sad yes but true) and it really helps to be able to ...manually check.

Still an interesting idea though.

 

[cowgirla]

Is there any way to tell if a dog has had the injection, like if a stray came into a shelter would there be a way to determine if he was altered? I can see the possibility of the dog going through a chemical neuter twice, or a chemical then surgical, in a situation like this. Even within a shelter it is so hard to keep records straight and a lot of the time there is confusion over whether something has actually been altered at the shelter (sad yes but true) and it really helps to be able to ...manually check.

Still an interesting idea though.

I know a lot of shelters around here tattoo their females when they spay them--just a small blue dot on the inside of the right leg. That way they know at a glance who has been done, and who hasn't. Something similar might work for males? I can see it being feasible in most shelters, not so sure about other countries, since I'm not familiar with that situation.

 

[gracietiger]

If you guys are interested, this month's issue of Science has an article about chemical neutering. And, more importantly, who's funding it! Sounds promising!

 

[Bill59]

I also recently read an article about birth control for female dogs. It kept them from going through heat, but they were still fertile when you took them off of it. Sounded like it was aimed towards professional breeders who were worried about accidental litters. I'll see if I can remember where I read it.

Most of these are either progesterone (e.g. megestrol) or androgens (e.g. mibolerone). They have been used pretty commonly in racing dogs (which aren't allowed to race if in heat), show dogs and in some European countries where surgical sterilization is not politically correct or illegal.

Recently, GnRH agonists have become available and seem to have less side effects.

 

[Shanomong]

.

 

[gingersprout]

This is very interesting. I haven't heard much about it. I wonder if the technology will be extended to cats. I have a bit of experience with wildlife management and I know feral cat populations are devastating native bird populations, and the most common management technique is to kill the cats. If male cats can be chemically neutered it would be much easier to argue for capture-neuter-release programs to manage feral cat populations over eradication.

 

[katryn]

I'll be very interested to see where chem sterilization goes. I know a vet who tried it for 3-4 months and really didn't like it. Ended up surgically neutering several patients for severe swelling of the testicles shortly after the injection. I'm also wondering if it stops the urge to mate or just the ability to produce sperm. It would still be really obnoxious if your dog felt the need to wander, even if nothing comes out of it.

 

[bunnity]

This is just for males, right? It seems to me that the spay is the time consuming procedure... the shelter vets I've observed can neuter a cat in about three minutes and a dog in about ten. I don't know how much time would really be saved this way, and since a shelter neuter uses pretty much just a scalpel blade and some sutures / glue this injection might be more expensive (usually my shelter doesn't even put cats on iso or use a surgery pack for neuters).

(I'm really only talking about the pros / cons for high volume population control here; I'd be interested in how private practice people feel about it too)

 

[DVMDream]

This is just for males, right? It seems to me that the spay is the time consuming procedure... the shelter vets I've observed can neuter a cat in about three minutes and a dog in about ten. I don't know how much time would really be saved this way, and since a shelter neuter uses pretty much just a scalpel blade and some sutures / glue this injection might be more expensive (usually my shelter doesn't even put cats on iso or use a surgery pack for neuters).

(I'm really only talking about the pros / cons for high volume population control here; I'd be interested in how private practice people feel about it too)

I am going to agree. Chemically neutering a cat seems pointless since the surgery only takes a few minutes and does not use hardly any equipment. I can see how chemically neutering a dog might be worthwhile but is the cost of the injection really worth it when surgery is not that much more? Maybe in a shelter scenario it might be more cost effective. In a clinic, it is going to be harder to get clients to understand how it works and to convince them to actually use the injection vs. the surgery. (Just think of lady on other thread who said vets that close on weekends and holiays are "bad" vets). Some clients would not hesitate especially since it would be cheaper than the surgery, but other clients would rather just pay for the surgery. Chem. neutering would be worth it for dogs that are cryptorchid, then the vet won't have to go on a testicle hunt. Chem. neutering could have benefits but then there could be possible problems as well. But this is true with almost any procedure or injection. I am interested to see what comes of it.

ETA: I just realized that the injection is given into the testicle so this would not work for dogs that are cryptorchid. So those dogs would have to have surgery anyway.

 

[TrocarKarin]

ETA: I just realized that the injection is given into the testicle so this would not work for dogs that are cryptorchid. So those dogs would have to have surgery anyway.

Even if you could sterilize a cryptorchid, and prevent further breeding with chemical sterilization, you would still want to do a more traditional neuter. Retained testicles have a really high rate of becoming cancerous later in life.

 

[DVMDream]

Even if you could sterilize a cryptorchid, and prevent further breeding with chemical sterilization, you would still want to do a more traditional neuter. Retained testicles have a really high rate of becoming cancerous later in life.

Good Point.

 

[No Imagination]

Wow, I knew they were anti-docking and anti-declawing over there, but anti-sterilization? Wow. 😳

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think what (s)he means is its illegal to SHOW your dog if its been spay/neutered.

 

[rugbychick16]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think what (s)he means is its illegal to SHOW your dog if its been spay/neutered.

No, sterilization of pets is much less common across the pond, at least from what I've read. I don't have any good links available now, but there were some good discussions about it on VIN not too long ago.

 

[david594]

This is just for males, right? It seems to me that the spay is the time consuming procedure... the shelter vets I've observed can neuter a cat in about three minutes and a dog in about ten.

When it comes to population control I dont really see this helping a whole lot. You have 10 feral male cats and 10 feral females and you manage to get 9 out of 10 males for the injection, you are still going to have 10 litters. The females are really where we need the sterilization for population control.

And my shelter experience has been about 1 minute of doctor time for a neuter and the cost of a sterile blade, and a pair of hemostats and 2 pieces of gauze autoclaved. So for any feral cat that has to be put under anyways, I really cant imagine this would somehow be much more cost effective.

 

[bern]

Odd, this was just mentioned in my therio lecture a few days ago.

If I remember correctly, it was take off the market but might come back. I guess it worked ok, but dogs still had behavioral problems associated with high testosterone and it took a couple of months for it to actually work.

And I think my professor said something about reports of abscesses at the injection site.

EDIT: Oh, he also mentioned that OVH and castration are illegal in Norway--they're considered cosmetic. But with the crazy high risk of mammary cancer in intact female dogs, how could you call an OVH cosmetic?

 

[No Imagination]

Wow... Rugby, Bern (and others) - Thanks for the correction. I NEVER knew that some places banned sterilization. I'd like to say I was going to read up on it and educate myself some more on the mater... but a Cestode/Trematode exam on Wednesday begs to differ. Perhaps after I graduate I will have time 🙂

 

[smm482]

Even if you could sterilize a cryptorchid, and prevent further breeding with chemical sterilization, you would still want to do a more traditional neuter. Retained testicles have a really high rate of becoming cancerous later in life.

Took the words right out of my mouth! Also, I heard that there were a lot of complications with swelling of the testicles in regards to the Neutersol. Being able to identify animals that have been chemically sterilized also seems like it would be a big issue. I work at a spay/neuter clinic and we give every dog and cat, male or female, a small green tattoo on their abdomen to show that they have been sterilized. The tattoo takes 2 seconds b/c the animal is under anesthesia, but I think it would be much more time-consuming to tattoo animals while they are awake, not to mention the added stress on the animals.